Investigation: the same investment platform, a different celebrity in each country
In short: our database holds 321 celebrities impersonated in fraudulent investment ads, and 319 appear in only one country. The platforms, by contrast, cross borders: 34 advertise in two or more countries. If you see someone you trust from your own country in an ad, that same platform is probably using someone else in another country.
The data
We analysed the 705 detections we recorded between 26 October and 5 November 2026, covering 256 platforms in 24 countries. That is nine days of records: enough to show the pattern, not to measure the whole scam.
- 34 platforms appear in two or more countries, and 6 in three or more.
- Between them, those 6 platforms use 65 different celebrities, and only 1 appears in more than one country within the same platform.
- 33 platforms use five celebrities or more, and 4 use ten or more.
Four examples
| Platform | Countries | Celebrities used | Who they use in each country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quantum AI | 12 | 36 | United Kingdom: James Dyson. France: Bernard Arnault. Italy: Flavio Briatore. Ghana: Samson Lardy |
| Wasserfall Investtra | 5 | 9 | Switzerland: Philippe Gaydoul. Spain: Marc Vidal. Italy: Maurizio Landini. Belgium: Sofie Merckx |
| Majak Auriorum | 5 | 8 | Italy: Diego Della Valle. Spain: Mario Conde. Switzerland: Lukas Hässig. Belgium: Sofie Merckx |
| Ordalvek | 3 | 9 | Portugal: José Gomes Ferreira. Italy: Fabio Panetta. Spain: Jordi Évole |
None of these people has any connection with these platforms. They are victims of impersonation.
Why they do it
We cannot ask the people behind it, but the logic seems clear. A global face is recognised everywhere, but it is also watched more closely and feels less familiar. A newsreader from your own country, the governor of your central bank or a local business leader inspires more trust and attracts less attention abroad.
That is why the most used celebrities in our database are national figures. Bruno Vespa, in Italy, appears on 22 platforms. Marcos Galperin, in Argentina, on 13. Martin Lewis, in the United Kingdom, on 12. You can see the full list in the ranking of the most used celebrities.
It also explains why this is hard to spot from a single country. Anyone looking only at ads in Spain sees a Spanish celebrity with a platform that looks Spanish. You have to compare several countries to see that it is an international campaign, and that the platform’s name is the only thing that repeats.
What this means for you
- Someone from your own country does not make it more credible. That is exactly what they are after.
- No celebrity recommends platforms like these. If you see an interview or a news story about a “secret investment”, it is fake.
- Search for the person as well as the platform. In the list of impersonated celebrities you can see whether we have already detected their image in ads.
- Always check with your country’s regulator whether the company is authorised. We explain how in how to check if a broker is regulated.
Limitations of this data
- We only count what we have detected, over nine days of records. Some platforms are probably in more countries.
- A person appearing in only one country in our data does not mean they are not used in others.
- A detection is an ad or a page we have seen, not a measure of how many people have seen it.