SEC – the US Securities and Exchange Commission – along with CFTC – Commodity Futures Trading Commission – have recently issued a warning for investors, against deceitful web pages which disguise themselves as advisory and trading businesses.

The warning was made following the recent 13-count indictment of 2 scammers sued for bitcoin (BTC) investment scheme that promised 50% zero-risk returns.

According to the warning, the professionals from said organizations have come across numerous investment frauds in the crypto field, where scammers attempted to offer false “digital asset or ‘cryptocurrency’ advisory and trading businesses”. These scammers sometimes even offer to invest customers’ money into particular crypto trading platform or mining farms, with promises of returned funds.

Specifically, these con artists usually expressed high confidence in their schemes – with a guaranteed returns fall somewhere between 20-50% – with minimal risks to the clients. In an attempt to provide protection for fresh investors, the 2 agencies have listed out 6 red flag signals which outline common fraudulent operations, and strongly advised investors to thoroughly examine any crypto-related business offers before accepting it.

Apart from the often encountered guarantee returns and risk-free investment promises, other characteristics of these scammers include the use of complex jargon and opaque, as well as baffled language use to cover the flaws in their offers.

Furthermore, investor should cross-check the license and registration of their business partners on Investor.gov before proceeding.

Both agencies also warned against unprompted sales pitch from an unidentified party. Specifically, a fraudulent organization may present false name and deceptive pictures on their website, as well as provide US contact numbers while operating offshore.

Finally, should investors come across the phrases – “too good to be true” and “Pressure to buy RIGHT NOW” – it is most likely such business cannot be trusted.