Scam investigation: the seven scripts that fake investment pages keep repeating
In this article
In short: we read the text of 421 screenshots of pages that celebrity investment ads lead to, taken between 2 and 6 November 2026 in 25 countries. The names and languages change, but the scripts are few and they repeat. The two most common, almost tied: the celebrity who “reveals the secret” on television and the fake government programme (about 105 screenshots each). If you recognise the script, you recognise the scam even if you don’t know the name of the platform.
| Script | Screenshots | % of the 421 |
|---|---|---|
| The celebrity reveals a secret in a debate or an interview | 106 | 25% |
| Official or government-backed programme | 105 | 25% |
| The broadcast is cut off live | 60 | 14% |
| The celebrity tries it in front of the camera | 29 | 7% |
| A journalist says they have checked it | 26 | 6% |
| The banks want to stop it | 26 | 6% |
| Shooting, assault or arrest | 18 | 4% |
One page can use several scripts. In 146 screenshots we did not identify any: many show only a fragment or the form, and in Greek the text could hardly be classified. All the dialogue and quotes are invented: the people named said nothing of the kind.
1. “What they don’t want you to know”
It is a fake debate. A celebrity explains on television how they make money, the presenter or a banker disagrees and the celebrity holds up their phone. The argument is there to answer the doubts the reader has: “isn’t this illegal?”, “isn’t this a scam?”. In France, one page puts these words in an entrepreneur’s mouth: “Ce n’est pas réglementé !”. And the reply knocks it down straight away.
It is common in France (13 of 30 screenshots), Spain (13 of 36), Turkey (7 of 10) and the United Kingdom (7 of 12).
How to spot it: look for the programme on the broadcaster’s website. A real interview doesn’t end in a form.
2. The government programme
The page says that the state, the central bank or the president has launched a system for citizens to invest. In Argentina, one of them talks about a “state investment mechanism”. In Colombia, about a “National Strategic Alliance”. It is the dominant script in Colombia (20 of 31), Italy (27 of 60), Portugal (9 of 20) and Argentina (15 of 46).
How to spot it: no government asks you for a deposit through an ad’s form. Go to the official website yourself, without using the link. We also cover it in how they use regulators.
3. The broadcast cut off
The celebrity is about to say the name, a phone rings, security comes in and the interview ends. The cut explains why you have never heard it on the news. We saw it mostly in Italy (13), Switzerland (9) and France (7). In the United Kingdom, a Prizantment page ends with a presenter looking at the camera and an empty chair.
How to spot it: something like this would lead every news bulletin. If it is only on that page, it didn’t happen.
4. “Give me your phone”
The celebrity signs up in front of everyone or shows their balance. In Turkey, a page says that Yılmaz Özdil takes the presenter’s phone and opens an account in three minutes. In Japan, 前澤友作 shows an account that supposedly went from 40,000 to 720,459 yen.
How to spot it: that figure is written by the scam itself. A balance on a screen proves nothing: it is the same thing you will later see on your own dashboard.
5. “We checked it”
A well-known journalist says that they verified it before reporting it. In France, a page claims that Laurent Delahousse wanted to check it himself.
How to spot it: look for the story on the outlet’s real website. If it isn’t there, it is a copy.
6. The banks want to stop it
The banks are cast as the enemy: they lose customers, they pressure and they threaten. In Colombia it appears in 10 of 31 screenshots, with phrases such as “The bankers threatened us”. In Argentina, another page goes further and says that “the powers that be” want to ban it, with a supposed leaked chat of Luis Caputo.
The aim is practical: to stop you believing your bank when it calls to warn you. If they tell you your bank is going to try to stop you, you already have the answer.
7. The shooting or the arrest
The invented incident is the most aggressive script: a shooting, an assault or a journalist arrested. We analyse it in the “attacked” celebrity.
The promises repeat too
- The deposit: of the 209 screenshots that give a figure, 98 ask for 250, in euros, pounds or francs. We explain it in why so many ask for 250.
- The profits: in euros, francs or pounds, the median of the monthly promises is 6,800 a month (67 phrases from 35 platforms). The daily ones are around 1,000 a day.
- No experience needed: 95 screenshots insist that you don’t need to know anything.
- The returns: only 8 screenshots give a success rate, and 7 of them say 97 or 98%.
- The rush: 48 screenshots mention limited places or a deadline.
A return like that does not exist in any real investment.
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Limitations of this investigation
- These are partial screenshots from five days: many show only part of the page.
- We classified the text extracted from the images with the help of an automated tool. In a review of 25 random screenshots, the script was wrong or incomplete in 6, almost always because one was missing. Deposits and profits had no errors in the amounts. The numbers in the table are indicative and probably fall short. In Greek, the figures were read correctly, but the scripts were not.
- The same page appears several times if several contributors saw it. The figures count screenshots, not distinct pages.