Cybercrime is booming. Research conducted by leading cybersecurity provider, Surfshark, make for sobering reading: “Since 2001, the number of online crime victims has increased nearly 17-fold, from 6 to 101 victims every hour, while financial losses have surged over 690 times, rising from $2,055 to more than $1.4 million lost per hour.”
And amidst a backdrop of geopolitical tensions, turbulent markets, and accelerated innovations in AI, this problem is only set to increase in frequency and volume. Ranking towards the top in terms of how damaging and wide reaching its impact is, would be Investment Fraud. According to the AAG compilation of Cybercrime statistics, “In 2022, investment fraud was the most costly form of cyber crime, with an average of $70,811 lost per victim.”
But just what is investment fraud, and how easy is it to spot. And most importantly, what can we do to make sure we never fall foul? We sat down with Valerija Jerenkevič, Fraud Manager at ConnectPay, to get all the answers.
“Investment fraud is actually the worst kind of scam out there—not just because it drains your bank account, but because it messes with your head too. I’ve seen this up close in my work, and it’s remarkable how sophisticated these scams have become,” Valerija shares.
Investing is becoming more popular among people, and it’s probably difficult to distinguish between what’s real and what’s not, right?
It starts with a random message or call, social media ad, viber, etc. about an “amazing investment opportunity.” They show you fancy graphs, professional-looking dashboards, and act completely legitimate. The clever part? They start small—like “just invest €10 to try it out.” Your fake “earnings” look amazing on their platform, so naturally you put in more money. This continues until you try to cash out… and suddenly there are “unexpected fees” or they simply disappear. Just like that, your money’s gone.
One of the biggest problems now is just how sophisticated these investment scams have become because of the advancements of AI. Now, the fake websites they set up, and all the associated material they send, like emails, can look super professional and trick even the most seasoned eye. They are very good at impression building, it’s so much more advanced than the old days, with the famous fake lottery and inheritance scams which were full of bad grammar and spelling mistakes. That’s why it’s more important than ever that you do your due diligence, but I’ll talk more about that later.
One of the worst things about investment scams is that in many cases the scammers are not happy with just fleecing their victim once, and they come back for more. Let me explain what I mean here. After you’ve already been scammed, someone contacts you claiming they’re from the police or a recovery service. They say they’ve found your money and can help you get it back—for a fee, of course. And just like that, you become a victim twice over. This is especially psychologically damaging for the victim, as they feel there is no-one they can trust. It truly is a tragic situation.”
Is there a specific demographic that suffers more than others?
The common perception is that it’s the more technologically naive groups in society, like the elderly, who fall for online fraud, but as we can see in investment fraud, this is simply not the case. From my experience, most of the time, these are professional people, well educated, and, of course, financially fairly secure, as otherwise they would not be attractive targets. Time and again, I hear the statement, “I never thought I’d fall for this kind of thing.”
If we look at the costs of this type of fraud here in Lithuania alone, we saw over €1 million lost to investment fraud in just one quarter of 2024. And remember, this is coming from private individuals, not companies. In my practice, I had a case where one individual lost over one million euros. It’s enough to destroy a person.
We do read about fraud cases all the time online. Why do the criminals keep succeeding?
Of course, one of the main reasons that these scams are so successful is that they offer us the opportunity to get rich, or richer, quickly. We all love the idea that money would flow without effort, and from my experience, that is rarely the case. Then there is the fact that sometimes these scams come when we are financially vulnerable and in need of money. They play on our weaknesses in both cases. And by then appearing to provide us with reliable looking websites and well crafted information, they play on our unquestioning trust of banking apps and digital solutions.
What can each and every one of us do to protect ourselves?
“First of all, and most importantly, we need to be vigilant and never trust any kind of offer without really digging into the information. Google the company, check its recommendations, look for mention of it on fraud forums. Basically, take nothing for granted, and check, check, check. You should also never give any of your information to unsolicited contacts, and you should never download any apps or software that companies tell you to, unless you’ve checked everything out beforehand. And if anyone promises you amazing fast returns, you should be extremely skeptical. One of the other strategies that these scammers love to use is to place urgency on everything. They’ll tell you that you need to invest now, transfer now. Never let anyone force you to take important financial decisions quickly, always take your time.”
As Valerija sums up, “Our biggest job is to make sure we are educated about the risks that are out there. It’s our responsibility to ensure that we protect our finances. But I also think that companies like Connectpay can help to get the message out that if we stay aware and prepared, we’ll stay protected. Education is the key, and we can play our part.”
