Fake eToro Scam！Unregulated & Illegal

After BrokersView exposed scammers posing as Gemini, a US cryptocurrency exchange, we discovered another group of scammers pretending to be a legitimate company. The scammer impersonates as eToro, a well-known forex service provider.

One user stumbled across an investment ad while browsing on Facebook, and was so intrigued that she contacted the one claiming to be an eToro financial advisor "Hasnizah" through the contact information on the ad.

Hearing that the user wanted to learn more about the advertised investment program, Hasnizah introduced her to the advantages of investing with “eToro” - low deposit requirements, high returns, and short investment cycles. Persuaded by the advisor, the user chose "Plan A" and paid RM400 to the bank account specified.

Although she did not personally open an account or participate in the transaction, about five hours later, the investor was informed that her trades have "earned" RM15,688.5, while she was also required to pay an additional fee due to "overtrade."

Hasnizah explained that the profit could have been withdrawn directly into her bank account, but the trader ended up making more than the original target, she had to "overtrade" her account, or else she wouldn't have been able to make any profits.

In order to make the investor put her guard down, the scammer also falsely claimed that the fee would be returned to the user after one hour. But the victim doubted it and refused to pay.

BrokersView reminds you

The user in this article is not the first victim of a fake eToro scam. Earlier this year, several other victims of fake eToro told us how they were scammed. It's impossible to say for sure if this is the same group of scammers, but the tactics used by the scammers are almost identical.

They first lure investors into investing small sums of money, ranging from tens to hundreds, and then falsely claim that a trader has made huge profits for the investor. Next, they compile all kinds of confusing pretexts, taking advantage of investors' desire for profits to ask them to make more payments.

Therefore, investors must be vigilant, develop the correct view of financial management, and not believe those unrealistic promises of huge profits. Otherwise, you will let the scammers empty your pockets with ease.