📱Modern variants

Pump and dump

A group quietly buys a small, thinly traded share or token. Then it gets promoted hard, the price shoots up, and precisely then they sell to the people who bought in. No company did anything wrong and there was no hack. The organisers' profit IS the late buyers' loss. The tell: an unknown name suddenly appearing everywhere, with plenty of enthusiasm and no numbers.

The fake broker

You see an advert with a familiar public figure endorsing the product, these days often with a manipulated video. You transfer money to a platform that looks professional and watch your profit climb. Withdrawing is the only thing that doesn't work: first there's a tax, then a verification, then a deposit. That profit never existed; it was a screen. Always check whether the provider is licensed with the financial regulator in your own country, and look it up via that regulator's own site, never via a link they supply.

Source: Virtually every regulator publishes a warning list of unlicensed providers.

The friend you never met

Someone approaches you on social media or a dating app, builds a rapport over weeks, and only later mentions their investments in passing. This works because it isn't a sales pitch, it's a relationship. The rule that protects you is simple and absolute: money you transfer to a platform an online contact recommended is money you've lost. Even if you like them. Especially then.

Stocky says

Ask yourself one thing: would I do this if this person hadn't said it? If no, you're investing in the person, not the product.