Key Highlights
- 30, 2025 at 1:07 pm UTC Share Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate.
- Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
- Investors logged into glossy crypto trading dashboards showing five-figure “profits,” then found themselves blocked from withdrawing a cent unless they first wired extra “taxes” or “loan repayments” to overseas accounts. When victims tried to cash out, the platforms demanded advance fees to “unlock” their accounts, yet never released any money. On Dec.
- 22, the SEC charged three purported crypto trading platforms and four investment clubs over an alleged $14 million fraud that ran from January 2024 to January 2025. Playbook in five stepsThe complaint reads like a manual for how these schemes work, and the structure is clean enough to serve as a warning checklist. The first step consisted of social ads in WhatsApp clubs.
- According to the SEC, AI Wealth, Lane Wealth, AIIEF, and Zenith advertised on social media and then ran “investment clubs” on WhatsApp, fronted by “professor” and “assistant” personas in each group. The groups gave the appearance of exclusive access to expert guidance, a technique now common enough that Investor. gov has issued specific alerts warning that unsolicited investment clubs in messaging apps are a primary gateway for scams. The second step started with AI “signals” and curated screenshots.
