“An Investment Advisor Contacts You Through Private Apps. What Would You Do?”: CySEC Asks

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has launched a campaign to help retail traders and investors recognise investment scams involving forex, contracts for differences (CFDs) and crypto. As part of this, it has introduced a short quiz.

12 Questions to Prepare You Against Scams

Announced today (Monday), the quiz has 12 questions in total, covering different scenarios: “You are interested in an investment from an online platform that claims to be CySEC-regulated. What do you do?” and “A friend shares an investment platform offering high returns and says it is safe because they have already received profits. What should you do?”

Another question asks how you would respond if “an investment advisor frequently contacts you through private messaging apps while seemingly avoiding official email channels.”

The quiz comes amid a rapid increase in investment scams promoted through misleading ads that promise high and quick returns to lure investors.

The regulator highlighted that the quiz is designed to test the ability of retail investors and traders to identify scams and strengthen their skills in protecting themselves.

Read more: Fake CySEC Officials Resurface as Regulator Urges Investor CautionDr George Theocharides, Chair at CySEC

“With this new quiz, CySEC provides investors with a practical and accessible tool to assess their knowledge while becoming familiar with the warning signs and risks of online scams,” said Dr George Theocharides, Chair of CySEC.

“There is also an obligation on CySEC-supervised firms to proactively adopt innovation in fraud management and integrate advanced fraud prevention mechanisms,” he added.

CySEC has been actively flagging fraudulent platforms that target traders. However, warnings often come only after victims have already been scammed. It is difficult for regulators to keep up, as new websites can be created quickly after one is taken down.

Make Ad Platforms Accountable

Recently, the European Commission also took steps to curb the promotion of fraudulent platforms by sending letters to several social media and digital platform companies, including X, Meta, TikTok, Alphabet, Telegram, Snap, Amazon, Apple, Google and Reddit.

While CySEC is limited to warnings and quizzes, regulators in Italy and Australia are also blocking access to fraudulent or suspect investment platforms. Italy has extended this to blocking social media ad campaigns, while the Australian regulator recently gained the power to take down social media advertisements.