The investment scams in the investment scam tracker are based on consumer complaints reported to the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI). The tracker includes brief descriptions of fraudulent or deceptive scams as reported by complainants. The factual details and losses reported have not been verified by the DFI. This tracker is designed to alert the public to potential threats and make it harder for perpetrators to deceive more investors.
A Note for Victims: The likelihood of you recovering your investment funds is slim to none. This is due in large part to the scammers operating overseas and using a highly sophisticated network to launder scammed funds. DFI does not recover funds lost in cryptocurrency-related scams.
A Note on Website Takedown: DFI will report suspected fraudulent websites to domain registrars and web hosts and request the website be blocked. If a suspected fraudulent website is blocked, scammers will often contact victims and tell them that they have updated their website and provide them with a new web address. Updates to websites do not require a new web address. In actuality, the scammers are directing you to a new web address because they’ve lost access to the old one.
A Note for Companies: If you believe you or your company has been included in the tracker in error, please contact the DFI's Division of Securities by emailing dfi@dfi.wa.gov or calling1-877-746-4334.
Available Resources: If you’ve lost money to a scam, you are not alone. You may find these resources helpful.