10 SIGNS OF A SCAM CRYPTO
OR FOREX TRADING WEBSITE
The vast majority of frauds involving cryptocurrency or foreign currency trading,also known as forex, begin on social media or through messaging apps. If
someone contacts you out of the blue, or you meet someone online who introduces
you to a trading website you’ve never heard of before, chances are it’s a fraud.

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It doesn’t matter how much scam trading websites claim you will earn, or how easy or risk-freethey say it will be, you will lose any money you give them. Besides trolling for victims on social
media or messaging apps, here are 10 other telltale signs an online trading platform is a fraud:

1. It isn’t registered to trade forex,futures, or options.
Many scam websites offer a mix of crypto
assets, forex trading, binary options, futures, orother derivatives. But in order to solicit U.S.
customers, entities that trade forex or derivatives
must register with the CFTC and be members of
the National Futures Association. You cancheck registrations at
nfa.futures.org/basicnet.

2. Trades crypto, but not registeredas a money service business.
Cryptocurrency trading platforms are considered
money service businesses (MSBs) by the U.S.
Treasury and must register with the FinancialCrimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Manystates also have requirements forcryptocurrency trading websites to register. To
see if a site is registered, visit fincen.gov/msbregistrant-search. Registration alone won’t
protect you from fraud, but most scams involve
unregistered entities, people, and products.

3. No physical address, it’s clearlyfake, or offshore.
If a centralized cryptocurrency or forex trading
platform doesn’t display a company address, itmeans the site’s owners don’t want you to know
where they are. If there is an address, run a
street-view map search to see if the address isreal and looks like a legitimate place ofbusiness. Avoid companies that don’t have a
U.S. headquarters. If the trading platform isoffshore, you may have little or no protections if
something were to go wrong.

4. There is no customer service
phone line.
Just like missing addresses, no customer
service phone number is a sure indicator of ascam trading platform. Fraudulent trading
websites might display messaging-app phone
numbers, but these are easy to fake and easy tochange. It’s also common for scam sites to onlyoffer live chat (often a chat-bot), email
addresses, or “contact us” web forms. But whenscams are exposed, the websites disappear,
along with any way of communicating with them.

5. The website’s age doesn’t matchits claims.
Look up domain registrations atlookup.icann.org. The search results will tell
you when the web address was created. If thecompany claims to have been around for severalyears, but the domain registration is only a few
weeks old, you’ll know it’s a scam. Other trading
websites may claim to have millions ofcustomers or conduct billions of dollars intrades, but such claims would be highly unlikely
if the site were only weeks or months old. Also,
be suspicious of websites that look or soundsimilar to other well-known brands, or that don’t
end with dot-com.

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6. The website won’t accept
transfers from your bank.

9. Winner of so many awards you’ve
never heard of.

Scam trading platforms won’t connect tolegitimate financial institutions because they’ll be
discovered as frauds. Instead, the scammers will
walk you through how to convert dollars tocryptocurrency on a legitimate trading platformfirst, and then ask you to transfer the crypto tothem. Remember, blockchain transactions don’t
have anti-fraud security systems like ACH banktransfers or credit card purchases. Instead, they
obscure the scammers’ true identities and areirreversible. By the time you discover yourmoney’s been stolen, it’s too late.

Scam sites like to try to build credibility byshowing off awards and trophies that read “BestSite,” “Customer Satisfaction,” or somethingequally generic. If you’ve never heard of theawards and it’s not clear who gave them, don’t
trust them.

7. Investment returns are based on
how much you invest.
Many fraudulent trading sites offer “investmentplans” that promise returns of 50, 75, 100, 200
percent or more depending on how much you
give them. When it comes to investing in crypto
assets, there are no risk-free investments orguaranteed returns. These kinds of plan
upgrades are ploys to coax victims out of moremoney.

10. Raving testimonials.
Fake testimonials are another way scamwebsites try to build trust. Be critical of customer
reviews that appear on the website. Instead, run
a search using the site’s domain name alongwith the words “scam,” “fraud,” or “reviews” tosee if previous users have posted warnings.
Also, check websites that detect or track frauds,
like cftc.gov/redlist.

Report suspicious sites:
Visit cftc.gov/redlist to report unregisteredwebsites offering forex or derivatives trading.

To report fraud, contact:

8. Broken links, poor spelling, andbad grammar.

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Scam sites generally have short life spans. Assoon as a fraud is discovered, the website will
disappear only to pop up again under a different
brand and web address. This means scam sites
are often put together in a hurry. Criminals willoften use translation software to run their scams
in multiple countries. Be suspicious if you spot
misspelled words, obvious grammatical errors,odd syntax, or other such mistakes. Likewise,
broken links and pages “under construction,” arecommon on scam sites.

•••

The CFTC at cftc.gov/complaint
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint
Center at IC3.gov
The Securities and Exchange
Commission athttps://www.sec.gov/tcr
The Federal Trade Commission atreportfraud.ftc.gov
Your state regulator, attorney general,and local law enforcement

Learn more at: cftc.gov/LearnAndProtect

Commodity Futures Trading Commission
1155 21st Street NW
Washington, DC, 20581
cftc.gov | 866-FON-CFTC (866-366-2382)
This publication was prepared by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Office of Customer Education and Outreach. It is provided for
educational purposes only and does not provide legal or investment advice to any individual or entity. Please consult with your own legal orinvestment advisor before taking any action based on this information. The CFTC cannot attest to the accuracy of information contained in any
nonCFTC references or websites. References in this publication to any organizations or the use of any organization, trade, firm, or corporation
name is for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by the CFTC.