locale: en title: "Anti-scam" slug: anti-scam summary: "Recognise fraud, manipulation and unrealistic promises — protect capital and data." status: published pillar: hub translation_of: it/hub/anti-scam updated: 2026-06-23
Anti-scam
Protect capital and data before it's too late.
Anti-scam educates users to recognise fraud, manipulation, unrealistic promises, fake brokers, fake gurus, pump & dump, romance scams, pig butchering, miracle bots and clone platforms.
Essential for retail, crypto, exchange, trading bot and community audiences — complement to psicologia (emotional manipulation) and discipline-ai-markets (what AI can and cannot do).
SEC Investor.gov flags: unlicensed operators, aggressive sellers, promises "too good to be true", guaranteed returns, "risk-free" opportunities. FBI describes pig butchering and crypto investment fraud among the most damaging. FINRA documents pump & dump: accumulate, promote, dump on final buyers.
Frequent red flags
| Signal | Why it's suspicious |
|---|---|
| Guaranteed returns | No legitimate market guarantees profits |
| Risk-free / paid secret | Marketing, not education |
| P&L screenshots | Easily faked |
| «AI bot» without audit | Black box + broker affiliate |
| Time pressure | «Last spots», urgent deposit bonus |
| Opaque offshore broker | Licence not verifiable on regulator site |
| Signals without drawdown | Incomplete track record |
| Five-figure training | Often more profitable than trading |
| Recovery scam | «We recover your lost funds» — second fraud |
Terms to link
| Term | Status |
|---|---|
| Pump and dump | pump-and-dump |
| Rug pull | rug-pull |
| Pig butchering / Romance scam | pig-butchering · romance-scam |
| Fake exchange / Fake broker / Clone website | fake-exchange · fake-broker · clone-website |
| Recovery scam | recovery-scam |
| Signal group scam | signal-group-scam |
| Fake trading bot / Fake prop firm | fake-trading-bot-scam · fake-prop-firm |
| Phishing / Seed phrase theft / Wallet drainer | phishing-gergo · seed-phrase-theft · wallet-drainer |
| Social engineering | social-engineering-gergo |
| Wash trading / Spoofing / Market manipulation | wash-trading · spoofing |
| Ponzi / Guaranteed returns | ponzi-scheme · rendimenti-garantiti-gergo |
| Honeypot / Rug check | honeypot · rug-check |
| Red flags / Due diligence | red-flags · due-diligence |
| Aggressive CFD marketing | cfd |
| Market maker conflict | market-maker |
Protection checklist
- Regulation — Verify licence (FCA, SEC, ASIC…) on the regulator site, not only the broker.
- Risk — Costs, spread, leverage, deposit/withdrawal terms.
- Track record — Verified history with scepticism (audit, letters — not screenshots).
- Separation — Never give passwords, 2FA or «account management» to strangers.
- Education before deposit — At least bronze-path.
- AI promises — Read discipline-ai-markets for real limits.
Institutional sources
| Entity | Role |
|---|---|
| SEC Investor.gov | Investment red flags |
| CFTC | Commodity/crypto fraud |
| FBI | Pig butchering, cyber fraud |
| FINRA | Pump & dump, brokers |
| FinCEN | AML, crypto |
| Chainalysis / TRM Labs | On-chain intelligence (crypto) |
Links
| Resource | Content |
|---|---|
| psicologia | FOMO, social pressure |
| discipline-ai-markets | Realistic AI vs marketing |
| discipline-systematic-trading | Validation vs «miracle system» |
| cfd | Instrument often abused in marketing |
Recommended path
- Red flags — overview — entry coming
- Broker due diligence — entry coming
- psicologia — why we fall for it
- discipline-ai-markets — fraudulent AI bots
- bronze-path — foundation before depositing