Capital.com backs BrokerChooser’s fight against investment scams
Capital.com shares BrokerChooser’s research results and explains how investors can protect themselves from fraudulent brokers.
BrokerChooser, a resource for comparing brokerage services, recently conducted an in-depth study to shed light on the rise of online investment scams – and the growing presence of unreliable financial service providers across Europe. We take a look at some of the key findings and their recommendations for tackling the issue.
Key takeaways
- Scale of the issue: the study flagged 67 entities targeting EU investors, which garnered 1.3 million Google search impressions in just the first half of 2024.
- Regional focus: Germany, France, Poland, Italy, and the Netherlands accounted for 86.4% of the EU’s search activity, suggesting concentrated efforts or heightened awareness in these areas.
- Scam sophistication: the nine most-searched scams falsely claimed to use AI and other advanced tools to give traders an ‘edge’.
- Popular assets: cryptocurrencies dominated, with 6 out of the 9 biggest scammers promoting them. Other markets included forex, CFDs, real estate, and precious metals.
- Beyond Europe: these scams aren’t just a local issue – they’ve attracted searches from over 50 non-EU countries.
BrokerChooser’s recommendations
Based on these findings, BrokerChooser has proposed the following recommendations to regulators and other industry stakeholders.
- Integrating regulatory warnings: incorporate warning lists directly into search engine results to flag any suspicious results.
- Boosting digital ad scrutiny: use analytics to trace financial transactions in ads to better aid scammer identification and prosecution.
- Disrupting fraudulent domains: partnering up with domain hosting providers to swiftly shut down sites linked to known scams.
- Raising public awareness: launching targeted campaigns to highlight regulatory warning lists and protect consumers.
While this isn’t a new problem and it won’t be resolved overnight, addressing it at every level is crucial for driving progress. Together, we can start to pave the way for a more transparent and fair industry. At Capital.com, we’re proud to support this initiative, standing firm in our commitment to empowering traders.
You can find the full research on BrokerChooser.com.