Illustrative stock photo: Centre for Ageing Better / Unsplash. The person pictured is not identified as a scam victim.
How a convincing approach can develop, what to check before sending money, and how to help someone you care about.
Here at Sterling Appreciation, we want to help you make more of your money and the life it supports. Part of that is knowing when to step back from an opportunity that looks promising.
An investment scam may arrive dressed as a useful tip, a professional service or a friendship. The person making the approach may be patient, knowledgeable and interested in you. That can make the moment when money enters the conversation harder to judge.
Whether you are considering an investment yourself or worried about a loved one, a few independent checks can give you room to think.
Already sent money and suspect a scam? Contact your bank immediately using its official app or the number on your card. The steps below explain what to do next.
The scale of investment scams
UK Finance’s Annual Fraud Report 2026 recorded £221.5 million lost to investment scams in 2025, up 40% on the previous year. It recorded 14,893 cases, a rise of 26%. Investment scams accounted for the largest share of losses within its authorised push payment fraud figures — scams in which someone is persuaded to transfer money themselves. UK Finance’s 2026 findings
Those figures come from UK Finance’s members and cover the payment fraud they report. They are not a count of every investment scam in the country, or of individual victims.
Behind each loss may be money saved for retirement, a house move or helping family. There can also be a loss of confidence in people and in your own judgement.
A BBC report published on 24 July 2025 shows what this can mean in practice. A £6 million investment fraud targeted more than 150 people, mostly older adults, using pressure, befriending and convincing paperwork. One person lost £250,000. The report also described a victim’s difficulties sleeping and loss of trust in others. The 2025 report covered sentencing for a fraud investigated from 2016; its lesson remains relevant: an apparently credible offer can carry both financial and emotional costs. Read the BBC report
How they may contact you
An investment approach can come through an advert, a phone call or a social media message. Some offers use a familiar company name or a supposed celebrity endorsement. A polished website can make the proposal look established. The FCA describes these methods in its guide to online trading scams.
Other approaches begin much more casually. An unexpected message might appear to have reached the wrong person. A brief exchange becomes a longer conversation, and eventually a friendship.
The example below shows the kind of opening worth treating cautiously. An unexpected friendly message gives you no reliable information about who is behind it.
From conversation to trust, and then money
Once a conversation feels familiar, an investment suggestion may seem like a personal favour. Someone describes their success, offers to show you how it works and directs you towards a trading platform.
The FCA warns that some fraudulent platforms initially show returns to encourage confidence. People may then invest larger amounts before discovering they cannot withdraw their money. How online trading scams develop
A balance on a screen is not independent proof that an investment exists. Nor does an apparent early return establish that the person or platform can be trusted.
Consider this hypothetical situation: you make a small deposit, see a profit and are encouraged to add more before an opportunity closes. When you try to withdraw, you are told to pay a fee first. Each step makes it tempting to keep going because you have already committed money.
That is a good moment to stop and get help. Sending another payment may deepen the loss.
When romance becomes part of the approach
A relationship can make an investment proposal especially difficult to question. You may feel that doubting the offer means doubting someone who has become important to you.
The profile below was created using AI for illustration. It is a fictional illustration, not the profile of an identified scammer.
Age UK explains that AI can be used to produce convincing images, imitate voices and create fake video content. A believable photograph or familiar-sounding voice therefore needs more than a glance to verify. Age UK’s guide to AI scams
Individuals you meet online are not necessarily who they say they are, and a close conversation does not establish that an investment is legitimate.
There is no need to become suspicious of every new connection. Keep financial decisions subject to the same independent checks, however warmly the suggestion is made.
Warning signs worth taking seriously
Scammers often combine a believable story with pressure. The government’s Stop! Think Fraud guidance explains how urgency, authority and emotional manipulation can push people into acting before they check.
Pause if an approach includes:
- A deadline that discourages checking: you must act today or lose the opportunity.
- Impressive returns with little apparent risk: the promise deserves independent scrutiny.
- Secrecy: you are asked to keep the investment from family or your bank.
- Borrowed authority: a familiar name, logo or registration number is offered as proof.
- Pressure through the relationship: questioning the investment is treated as disloyalty.
- An extra payment to release your money: the platform says you must pay again before withdrawing.
These signs are reasons to stop and verify. You do not need to prove that something is fraudulent before declining it. FCA scam-prevention guidance
How to check before committing money
Firstly, keep the investment decision separate from your feelings about the person suggesting it. Meeting someone in person would not remove the need for checks either.
- Give yourself time
End the call or leave the conversation while you investigate. Avoid making a payment simply to secure the offer. A proposal that cannot withstand a period of consideration is a poor basis for a significant financial decision.
- Check the firm and its permissions
Go directly to the FCA Firm Checker. Check whether the firm is authorised and has permission to provide the service being offered.
The checker does not guarantee that an investment suits you, or that compensation or ombudsman protection will apply. Some products fall outside FCA regulation, so you also need to understand what you are buying and what protections exist.
- Verify who you are speaking to
Fraudsters can copy the details of an authorised firm. The FCA calls these clone firms.
Use contact details obtained independently through the FCA’s official service to contact the real firm. Do not rely on the phone number, website link or documents supplied by the person approaching you.
- Get another perspective
Talk the proposal through with someone you trust. For a substantial commitment, consider independent financial advice. Be able to explain where your money will go, what could cause a loss and how you would withdraw it.
If you cannot independently verify the firm, the contact and the offer, leave your money where it is while you seek guidance.
Protection tools worth keeping to hand
A few useful tools can make checking an approach easier. Each answers a different question, so use them together with the independent checks above.
- FCA Firm Checker: is the firm authorised for this service?
Use the FCA Firm Checker to check authorisation and relevant permissions. For more detailed information, including individuals, follow the FCA’s link to the Financial Services Register.
A listing does not establish that the person contacting you represents that firm. Verify the contact independently, and remember that authorisation does not guarantee an investment’s suitability or compensation cover.
- Ask Silver: does this message or website show signs of a scam?
Friends Against Scams links to Ask Silver, an AI-powered scam checker. Its Ask Silver guidance page explains how to enter a website address or upload a screenshot of a suspicious text, email or letter.
Before uploading, remove personal and sensitive details. The guidance specifically asks you not to upload telephone numbers, postal or email addresses, photographs of people you know, or financial information such as bank and card details.
The service is powered by Ask Silver and signposted by Friends Against Scams. It should be treated as an additional check: Friends Against Scams warns that its results are not guaranteed to be correct.
A reassuring AI result is not permission to send money. Continue to verify the firm and the offer independently.
- Friends Against Scams: tools and guidance in one place
The Friends Against Scams website links to its app for Apple and Android, bringing together scam alerts, the Ask Silver checker, quizzes and toolkits.
Its protection steps page also points to website-checking tools and advice about additional protections you can discuss with your bank.
You could bookmark these pages with a loved one, making it easier to find help when an unexpected request arrives.
If you are worried about a loved one
It can be upsetting to watch someone put their trust in an offer you find troubling. Try to make the first conversation an invitation to check together.
You might say: “I can see why this sounds interesting. Could we look at the firm and the payment details together before any more money goes across?”
Ask what they have been offered, how the contact began and whether they have already paid. Listen before making judgements. If the approach involves a friendship or romance, acknowledge that the connection may feel important.
A practical next step might be checking the FCA details together or calling the bank through an official number. With their agreement, you could establish a habit of discussing unexpected financial requests before acting.
Age UK’s guidance on being worried about someone is useful for approaching wider concerns about wellbeing and safety.
Support should reflect the person’s circumstances. Being older, or having been scammed, does not by itself mean someone cannot make their own decisions.
If money has already been sent
Act promptly, even if you are still unsure what has happened.
- Contact your bank or payment provider immediately. Explain that you suspect an investment scam and ask about stopping or recalling payments, securing the account and assessing reimbursement. Use official contact details. Recovery is not guaranteed.
- Keep the evidence. Save messages, payment records, website addresses and the details you were given. Avoid deleting conversations before recording them.
- Report the fraud. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, use Report Fraud or call 0300 123 2040. In Scotland, contact Police Scotland on 101. Report Fraud’s current guidance confirms the different routes.
- Secure affected accounts. If you shared passwords, change them. Tell your bank if someone had remote access to your device and seek help securing it.
- Be cautious about recovery offers. Someone promising to retrieve your money for an upfront fee may be attempting a further scam.
Age UK provides practical and emotional support guidance after a scam. You do not need to deal with the aftermath alone.
For suspicious messages, GOV.UK advises forwarding emails to report@phishing.gov.uk and texts free to 7726. These message-reporting routes are additional to contacting your bank and reporting a financial loss. Official phishing-reporting guidance
Other types of scams
The same habit of pausing and independently checking is useful beyond investing. Age UK’s scams and fraud hub covers phone calls, post, doorstep approaches and pension scams.
If you would like to learn alongside a relative or friend, Friends Against Scams awareness training offers a short introduction to recognising scams and helping others.
Protecting your savings can begin with one small decision: giving yourself time to check. A second opinion is worth seeking whenever an offer, or the person behind it, leaves you uncertain.
UK guidance checked on 2026-10-11. This article provides general information. Individual investments and rights to reimbursement depend on the circumstances.
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