Investigation: how scams use regulators and central banks to win trust

Updated on November 7, 2026 · 6 min read

In short: we read the screenshots of 345 fraudulent ad pages and 54 (one in six) name a regulator or a central bank, across 33 platforms. They do it mainly in four ways. The most dangerous is not claiming to be authorised: it is inviting you to check a list they are not on yet, or presenting official warnings as proof that they work.

What we did

We extracted the text from screenshots of the pages the ads led to between 2 and 5 November 2026, and checked every mention of a public body by hand. The screenshots show only part of each page, so the real figures may be higher.

The bodies cited most often were the CNMV, the Bank of Spain, FINMA, the central banks of Argentina and Uruguay, France’s AMF and the Bank of Portugal. None of them backs these platforms. Everything that follows is what the scams say, not reality.

Trick 1: “We are supervised”

This is the most direct. We found it in 21 screenshots from 11 platforms, in eight countries. The statements are emphatic:

• They say the platform is regulated by the country’s securities commission and that the central bank backs the funds.
• They say the central bank exercises “direct supervision” under a licence.
• They say the regulator “took part in supervising the programme” alongside major banks.
• They place the regulator’s logo and the government’s next to that of a guarantee fund.

How to take it apart: a central bank does not back the money you put into an internet platform, and no regulator “takes part” in an investment programme for individuals. Nor are there government programmes you can sign up to through an ad.

Trick 2: “Don’t believe me, check it”

This is the most sophisticated, and it is new to us. We saw it in 9 screenshots from 4 platforms in Switzerland, Spain, France and Belgium. The page takes the tone of someone protecting you:

• One devotes a section to “checking” the platform “in the official registers” of the Spanish regulator, with real figures about its warnings.
• Another claims that every financial provider can be verified in the Swiss regulator’s public registers.
• Others urge you to look at the regulator’s blacklist or warning list before investing, because “that is what really lets you rule out scams”.

It looks honest. But notice what they send you to look at. These platforms change name every few days and the ads are only hours old. A newly invented name is not on any blacklist, so the check comes back clean. And the person doing it is left feeling they have been careful.

How to take it apart: do not check whether it has a warning against it, check whether it is authorised. They are two different lists. Search for the exact company name in your regulator’s register of authorised firms, and get there by typing the address yourself, not through a link on the page. If it is not there, that does not mean it is clean: it means it cannot offer you investments. We explain this in how to check a broker.

Trick 3: “They want to block it”

We found this in 6 screenshots from 6 platforms. The text gets in ahead of any warning:

• They say the central bank governor asked the regulator to block access to the platform, “and failed”.
• They say people asked for it to be put on the list of “unauthorised firms” or on the blacklist.
• They say the regulator issued a statement after a broadcast, and that a complaint was filed.

This trick works like a vaccine. If you later see a real warning, or your bank stops you, the story has already prepared you: “they told me they would try to stop it”. The warning becomes the proof that the platform is annoying the powerful.

How to take it apart: if a regulator warns about a platform, it is a warning, not a conspiracy. When your bank asks you about a transfer, it is protecting you.

Trick 4: the TV showdown

In 12 screenshots from 10 platforms, the page describes a live argument between a well-known figure and a central bank governor or senior official. The governor gets angry, stands up or walks off the set. One of them sums it up like this: he warns against the system “because he is afraid”.

It is the same idea in the form of a news story. The scene never happened, and what looks like a report is a fake interview. It is adapted to each country: the names, the programme and the bank change, but not the script.

How to take it apart: look for the programme on the broadcaster’s website. A row like that would be everywhere, not just on a page you reach through an ad.

The bank that “takes part”

As well as regulators, the pages name well-known commercial banks in 63 of the 345 screenshots (18%). Sometimes they appear as partners in the “programme”, with their logo. Other times, as the destination of your withdrawals: the page promises the money will reach your usual bank. Those banks have no connection with the scam and are victims of impersonation too. Seeing your bank’s logo says nothing about the platform.

When the register is fake too

We have not seen this in our screenshots, but regulators are already warning of a further step. In March 2026, Dubai’s financial regulator warned of copies of its public register on fake domains, created to give the scam a legal appearance. That same month, the Ontario regulator warned of platforms with invented licence numbers that lead to regulators that do not exist.

That is why how you reach the register matters. If you get there through a link from the platform or an “advisor”, you may end up on a copy. Type the address yourself or look for it on your central bank’s official website.

What this means for you

1. Naming a regulator means nothing. Anyone can write its name or copy its logo.
2. Not being on the blacklist is not the same as being authorised. Check the register of authorised firms.
3. Distrust anyone who gets in ahead of the warnings. If a website tells you that banks or the authorities will try to stop you, get out of there.
4. Check for yourself, outside the page. Type the regulator’s address into your browser or call its helpline.
5. If you have already paid, follow the victim guide and report it.

Limitations of this investigation

• We analysed 345 screenshots from four days. They are partial: they often show only a section of the page.
• The text was extracted automatically and we checked it by hand, but some cases may have been missed.
• We classified each screenshot by its main use. A single page may use several tricks.
• The redacted screenshots are on each platform’s page.