If you bought shares after a post, advertisement, influencer message, or group-chat tip, pause before making another trade. Stop relying on the person who supplied the recommendation, independently check both the stock and the tipster, preserve the messages and transaction records, protect your account information, and report suspected fraud through independently verified official channels.
An online recommendation is not proof that you were defrauded, and no general article can tell you whether to sell, hold, claim a loss, or take a particular tax position. Those decisions depend on the security, your finances, your account, and the facts of the communication.
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1. Pause before you buy more, sell in panic, or send money
Do not let the same post or chat determine your next move. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says investors should never make investment decisions based solely on information from social-media platforms or apps. Its Office of Investor Education and Assistance and Division of Enforcement made that point in the February 6, 2026 alert “Social Media and Stock Tip Scams – Investor Alert”.
That pause is not an instruction to sell or hold. It is a way to stop an unverified source from controlling additional decisions while you establish what you actually bought, who promoted it, and what information is reliable. Do not send a fee, “tax,” deposit, or other payment simply because a promoter says it is needed to unlock a profit or complete a transaction.
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Start an independent review of the company
Look for current information about the issuer from sources you reach yourself rather than links supplied in the post or chat. Check the exact company name, ticker, share class, and the market on which it trades. A company’s listing on a major U.S. exchange does not, by itself, make an online promotion trustworthy. An authentic listing and a deceptive promotion can exist at the same time.
Separate verifiable company information from predictions, screenshots, testimonials, and claims that cannot be checked. Record which facts you confirmed and which remain assertions. If the only explanation for buying was the tip itself, treat that as a reason to slow down, not as evidence that the investment must be fraudulent.
2. Check who gave the recommendation
Online scammers sometimes impersonate registered brokers, investment advisers, analysts, or employees of real firms. If the person claimed a professional role, independently search the person and firm through the professional-lookup tools on Investor.gov’s investor-protection guidance. Do not use a phone number, email address, profile link, or website supplied by the possible impersonator as your verification method.
Use the firm’s Form CRS to verify contact details
A legitimate investment professional’s Client Relationship Summary, known as Form CRS, identifies the firm and describes its services, fees, conflicts, and standards of conduct. Use contact information shown in the firm’s Form CRS or on an independently located official site to ask whether the person actually works there and whether the communication came from the firm. A matching name or logo in a message is not enough.
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If the person or firm cannot be found, the registration details do not match, or the firm says it did not send the message, stop treating the source as an adviser. Save the discrepancy with your other records. Registration also does not turn a specific stock tip into a recommendation that is suitable for you; it only helps establish whether the claimed professional identity is genuine.
3. Recognize the warning signs without assuming every tip is a scam
Warning signs are reasons to verify and report, not automatic proof of criminal conduct. Several appearing together should make you especially cautious.
- Unusually high returns with little or no risk. Promises of easy, outsized, or guaranteed gains conflict with the normal uncertainty of securities markets.
- Pressure to act immediately. A countdown, “last chance,” secret opportunity, or instruction not to tell anyone is designed to replace independent judgment with urgency.
- Group-chat momentum. A stream of coordinated messages, fabricated success stories, or apparent experts can create the impression that many people have verified the idea when they have not.
- Requests for personal or financial information. An unsolicited contact asking for brokerage credentials, bank details, tax information, identity documents, or a payment should be treated as unsafe until independently verified.
- A promised exit after the price rises. In a pump-and-dump scheme, promoters may spread false or misleading claims to encourage buying, then sell at the inflated price. Later buyers can be left with a falling stock.
Read the SEC’s explanations of these patterns in Investor.gov’s “Common Scams” and “What You Can Do to Avoid Investment Fraud.” The pages describe scam behavior; they do not determine whether your particular purchase was manipulated.
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Messages can be edited, deleted, or hidden when a promotion collapses. Keep a read-only or otherwise unaltered copy of the material and create a simple chronology. Useful records include:
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- the original post, advertisement, direct message, or group-chat messages, including links and usernames;
- the tipster’s claimed name, job title, firm, email address, phone number, and account handles;
- dates and times of the recommendation, your replies, and any requests for money or information;
- the ticker, number of shares, order type, execution price, and transaction confirmations from your brokerage;
- screenshots of promises, performance claims, warnings, or instructions to keep the opportunity secret; and
- records of payments, wire instructions, cryptocurrency addresses, or documents you were asked to provide.
This documentation is practical reporting preparation. It is not a guarantee that an agency will recover money or determine that a violation occurred. Keep the originals, avoid altering screenshots, and note when and how each file was obtained.
5. Protect your identity, brokerage account, and money
Do not give an unsolicited contact your banking, brokerage, tax, identity, or other personal information. Do not click a verification link supplied by a suspicious sender or continue a conversation merely because the sender knows your name, account balance, or recent trade. End the contact and locate the institution’s official phone number or website independently if you need to verify a request.
If you already shared credentials or identity documents, treat the exposure as urgent. Use an independently verified channel for the affected brokerage, bank, or other institution and explain what was disclosed. Review account activity for transactions or profile changes you did not authorize. Keep a record of when you notified the institution and what instructions you received.
Expect a second scam after a loss
Investor.gov warns that people who have lost money may be targeted by “recovery” scammers. These callers or messages may claim they can recover your investment, release frozen funds, or obtain compensation if you first pay a fee or provide more information. Do not pay an unsolicited recovery service or assume that a person who knows details of your loss is working for a regulator. Verify every contact independently and report the attempted recovery fraud as well.
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6. Decide what the purchase means for you before deciding what to do with the shares
The fact that a purchase followed an online tip does not establish whether selling, holding, or seeking a remedy is the right action. A decision depends on facts such as the company’s current information, your investment objective, risk tolerance, time horizon, concentration in the position, liquidity needs, transaction costs, and tax circumstances.
Avoid two opposite errors: buying more to “average down” because a promoter says the price will recover, or selling immediately solely because the purchase was made online. Review the position using information you can verify independently. If you need individualized investment or tax advice, consult a properly identified professional whose registration and contact details you verify yourself. Be clear about the question you are asking: evaluating the security, managing risk, documenting a loss, and determining a tax treatment are different tasks.
General scam guidance cannot tell you whether you have a legal claim, whether a loss is deductible, or whether a broker or promoter is liable. Those conclusions require the particular communications, trade records, account agreements, and applicable law.
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7. Report suspected fraud through the route that matches the conduct
Use official websites reached independently, not links sent by the person you are reporting. The following routes serve different purposes.
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| What you suspect | Where to start | What to include |
|---|---|---|
| Securities fraud, a pump-and-dump, or impersonation of a registered professional | SEC Investor Alert and the SEC’s reporting process | A factual timeline, the security and transaction details, the promoter’s identity claims, messages, payment requests, and the records showing what you verified. |
| A concern involving a broker or investment professional | FINRA and your state securities regulator, both identified as resources by Investor.gov | The firm and individual’s names, registration information, account details, communications, and the resolution you are seeking. |
| A broader internet or consumer scam | The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), your state securities regulator, or your state attorney general, as listed in Investor.gov’s “Common Scams” | How contact began, what was promised, what you sent, dates, amounts, usernames, domains, and copies of supporting records. |
Investor.gov’s “Resources for Victims of Securities Law Violations” explains additional assistance for people who believe they were harmed. Its “How to Avoid Fraud” material provides prevention and reporting guidance. Agencies may use different forms and jurisdictional rules, so confirm the current complaint process on each agency’s official site before submitting.
Write the report as a chronology
- Identify how you encountered the recommendation and whether you were moved into a group chat or private conversation.
- State exactly what the person claimed, including any return, risk, deadline, affiliation, or confidentiality promise.
- List your trades, payments, information disclosures, and subsequent contacts with dates and amounts.
- Attach copies of the original records and identify files that are unavailable because they were deleted or withdrawn.
- Explain why you suspect deception or impersonation without overstating what you cannot prove.
Reporting does not automatically reverse a trade or recover money. It gives the relevant authorities information to evaluate possible violations and patterns affecting other investors.
8. Use a final safety check before closing the matter
- Have you stopped taking instructions from the original tipster until identity and claims are independently verified?
- Have you confirmed the exact security and reviewed current company information from sources you found yourself?
- Have you checked the person and firm through Investor.gov and verified contact details through the firm’s Form CRS when applicable?
- Have you preserved messages, usernames, dates, trade confirmations, payment requests, and documents?
- Have you refused unsolicited requests for credentials, identity information, or extra money?
- Have you watched for a recovery scam aimed at people who already lost money?
- Have you selected a reporting channel based on the suspected conduct and used an independently verified official site?
Completing these steps creates a safer basis for whatever comes next. It does not require you to label the tip a scam before the facts support that conclusion, and it does not substitute for individualized legal, investment, or tax advice.
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