Check a platform before you pay

From the advert to the withdrawal that never comes

It usually starts with an advert on social media, often a video or a fake news article in which a public figure appears to recommend the platform. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) notes that the fraudsters impersonate public figures, including Federal Councillor Karin Keller-Sutter, and use deepfakes.

You leave your details on a form, and a so-called adviser then calls you, and calls again, before opening an account for you and getting you to pay in a first amount, often a modest one. A dashboard then shows your capital rising, and you are encouraged to pay in more. On the day you want your money back, you are asked for a fee, for charges or for a verification, and then for a further sum once the first has been paid.

The NCSC received 3,485 reports of fake investment adverts in the first half of 2025, nearly five times as many as a year earlier.

Where to check a platform

First note the exact address of the website, copied from the address bar, and the full name of the company that runs it. Then look the company up among the institutions, individuals and products authorised by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), where any company presenting itself as a bank, securities firm or asset manager in Switzerland should be found. As a second step, consult the FINMA warning list, which lists companies that may be carrying out activities requiring authorisation without being authorised, and search it for both the company name and the website address.

In 2025 FINMA added more than 300 entries to its warning list, a record, and opened around 450 investigations into companies and individuals potentially operating without authorisation.

I-SCAN, the portal of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), brings together the warnings published by financial regulators worldwide. Finally, the commercial register (Zefix) lets you check that the company exists and that its name and address match those given on the website.

When to decide against paying

Each of the following signs is reason enough to walk away, even when everything else seems serious. An advert in which a public figure recommends an investment is one of them, as is a return presented as safe or regular. The same applies when the adviser chases you every day or asks you to install remote access software, and when you are asked to pay fees in order to withdraw your own money.

You have already sent money

1. Stop all payments, since no fee, even one presented as the price of releasing your funds, will bring your money back.
2. Inform your bank immediately, because some transfers can still be blocked or recalled.
3. Uninstall any remote access software and change your passwords from another device.
4. Keep the website address, screenshots of the dashboard, the numbers that called you and the bank details or cryptocurrency addresses used. The evidence checklist sets out what else to gather.
5. File a criminal complaint with the police, as the NCSC recommends, and bring these items with you.

If someone later offers to recover your funds for a fee, do not pay them, as this is frequently a second scam, described in the fund recovery scam entry. The assess your situation questionnaire helps you work out what comes first in your case.