January 5, 2026
The digital age has brought unprecedented convenience and connection, but it has also provided fertile ground for fraudsters to refine timeless investment cons. In 2025, while the core principles of deception remain the same, scammers leveraged new technologies, social engineering tactics, and a climate of economic uncertainty to ensnare unsuspecting individuals. The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) 2025 Enforcement Report has identified the top threats targeting investors nationwide.
| Rank | Threat | Description |
| #1 | Digital Assets and Cryptocurrencies | Investment scams that exploit the hype and excitement surrounding digital assets and their underlying technology are at number 1, for the third consecutive year, as the leading threat to investors. Cases involving digital assets are often tied to highly complex and evolving schemes that promote high-yield, but also high-risk opportunities. Oftentimes, investors do not receive essential disclosures to understand these high-stakes risks, and the actors are unlicensed. |
| #2 | “Pig Butchering” Scams | Investment schemes in which fraudsters build trust with victims before luring them into bogus investment opportunities. These scams heavily rely on relationships developed via social media, messaging apps, dating apps, and other affinity-building online forums. These scams give the impression of positive earnings and investment success to encourage reinvestment. Then, investors are abruptly cut off. The account closes, the website is down, and the phantom earnings are gone. |
| #3 | Promissory Notes, Ponzi, and Pyramid Schemes | Persistent traditional scams that typically involve unregistered offerings. They include the use of new investor money to pay earlier investors (Ponzi). They induce investors to reinvest and new investors to pay in with the payout of small sums or a future return. |
| #4 | Social Media Fraud | Investment frauds connected to social media usage. Scammers exploit platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and others to target and reach unsuspecting investors. With an increasing number of people turning to social media for investment advice, the landscape is ripe for Finfluencers to capitalize on. |
| #5 | Real Estate Investments | Identified as a top threat, it often involves investments in real property for development. Don’t be fooled by unsecured, unregistered real estate investment offers. The scam often involves investments in real property for development, but the individual selling the parcel of land may not own it or have permission to sell. |
The rapid advancements in AI tools, along with the increased reliance on social media, have coincided with the continued proliferation of these top scams. AI is being used to create a new level of deception, including “AI washing,” where perpetrators falsely claim their trading tools use AI to improve success. AI-generated trade charts and even realistic renderings of real estate developments are becoming increasingly prevalent in investment schemes. Impersonation of legitimate securities industry firms and professionals nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024.
Sophisticated impostors leverage fear and authority, contacting victims with urgent demands about their accounts. They might claim a security breach, outstanding overages, or even threats, pressuring individuals to liquidate securities from legitimate brokerage accounts and directing them to the fraudsters’ personal accounts cloaked in official but artificial web pages, dashboards, apps, or interfaces. The digital age facilitates this by allowing scammers to spoof phone numbers, create convincing fake emails, create official-looking documents out of whole cloth, and even conduct initial interactions through seemingly legitimate video calls, making their impersonations more believable than ever before. The best line of defense is critical thinking and slowing down. Remember, you’re in control of your accounts. With these spoofs, fraudsters can’t steal your money without your involvement.
Protecting yourself requires vigilance and a healthy dose of skepticism when looking into an investment offering. Stay informed, stay skeptical, and safeguard your assets against the cunning twists of timeless deceit. When in doubt, time out. Call a trusted friend or family member. Run some Google searches. Call your broker directly. Contact the financial institution the person calling or contacting you claims to be representing. Or, call the Utah Division of Securities at 801-530-6600. Creating a sense of urgency is the primary tradecraft of financial fraudsters. There is nothing so important that it cannot wait a day or at least a few hours.If you believe you may have been a victim of a financial scam and have not been contacted by law enforcement, please file a complaint with the Utah Division of Securities online at securities.utah.gov.
