An investment from someone you met online.
A new contact, often warm and patient, steers the conversation toward an investment app. The returns look real until you try to take the money out.
How it works
You meet someone on a dating app, a social network, or a messaging app. The conversation runs for days or weeks. Then they mention an investment, a trading app, or a way they have been making money. They offer to show you. The screen shows a balance going up.
That balance is a picture, not money held for you. When you ask to take it out, there is a new fee, a tax, or a problem with the account, and the person urges you to send more.
What to do
Stop sending money. Do not pay a fee to unlock a withdrawal.
Talk to someone you know in person before you send anything to an investment a stranger introduced. A real investment does not arrive through a private chat, and it does not need you to keep it secret from your bank.
If you have already sent money, contact your bank on the number on your card and tell them it was a scam. Then report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.