Scam Sites

Why It Matters

The activity risks significant investor losses and erosion of trust in financial professionals; FINRA’s rapid takedown efforts aim to protect investors and preserve market integrity.

Summary

Scammers are building fake websites that impersonate legitimate financial advisors by using real registered representatives’ names and linking to their FINRA BrokerCheck profiles, while substituting fake photos and promoting fraudulent crypto and stock schemes. These sites have already stolen millions and continue to proliferate, exploiting investor trust in familiar advisor identities. FINRA says it is proactively identifying these fraudulent sites and collaborating with member firms to have them taken down. Since 2025, the regulator reports helping remove hundreds of fake websites as part of its FINRA Forward initiative.

Original Description

Scammers are impersonating legitimate financial professionals by creating fake websites that link to real BrokerCheck profiles to defraud investors through fake investment schemes. FINRA has proactively identified and helped take down hundreds of these fraudulent sites since 2025, leveraging its self-regulatory model to protect investors and maintain market integrity as part of FINRA Forward.