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Crypto & investment scams

Fake stock-tip groups, crypto pump-and-dump schemes and unauthorised PMS / advisory callers.

Reported numbers in this category

Aggregated from anonymous community reports. Numbers rotate as scammers acquire new SIMs.

Editorial pattern analysis

Crypto & investment scams: 12 active numbers with 101 community reports

This is a live view of crypto & investment scams on PhoneLookup. The 12 numbers listed below have crossed our community-evidence threshold — no thin, single-search pages are included. Reporters are most active in India, United States, Unknown, with 72 fraud-category reports and 28 spam / telemarketing reports counted across the set.

  • Geography: reports cluster in India, United States, Unknown. Scam operations in this category typically rotate SIMs every few days but keep the script and prefix range stable, so pattern-matching by category outlasts any single number.
  • Financial impact: 72 reports in this category cite fraud subtypes (bank / loan / delivery / investment / job / WhatsApp). File at cybercrime.gov.in within the first hour if money has moved.
  • Volume signal: 28 spam / telemarketing reports indicate high-frequency outbound campaigns — a DND registration at 1909 reduces the legitimate share of this traffic.

Most reported numbers right now

What this category covers

SEBI has banned more than 700 unregistered investment advisers in the past two years, yet phone-based investment fraud continues to grow because the format is cheap and the upside per victim is huge. The standard playbook: a friendly ‘research analyst’ invites you into a WhatsApp or Telegram group named after a real brokerage (Zerodha VIP, Groww Elite, Motilal Premium), shares two or three accurate intraday calls to build credibility, then steers the group into a small-cap stock or a fake crypto exchange where they own a large position. When you buy, the price spikes; when they sell, the price crashes 60 — 80%.

Crypto variants are even more aggressive — victims are introduced to a polished trading platform that shows healthy gains for weeks, only to discover that withdrawals require ever-increasing ‘tax’ deposits and never actually complete. Cumulative losses in pig-butchering crypto scams in 2025 ran into thousands of crores worldwide.

Red flags

  • A guaranteed return promise — SEBI prohibits any advisor from guaranteeing returns.
  • Tips delivered in a WhatsApp / Telegram group named after a real brokerage, with hundreds of ‘members’ who are mostly bots.
  • Pressure to act in the first 15 minutes of market open before the tip ‘expires’.
  • A trading platform recommended by the caller that is not on SEBI’s list of registered stockbrokers.
  • Crypto exchanges that require WhatsApp KYC and have no Indian customer support address.

What to do

  1. Verify every ‘research analyst’ on the SEBI portal (https://sebi.gov.in) before paying a fee or following a tip.
  2. Leave any group offering guaranteed returns. The only legitimate use of such groups is education and disclosure, never trade execution.
  3. Use only SEBI-registered brokers and FIU-IND-registered crypto exchanges (BitBNS, CoinDCX, ZebPay, Mudrex, Giottus).
  4. If you have already deposited, file with cybercrime.gov.in and the SEBI SCORES portal (https://scores.sebi.gov.in).

Real-world examples

The ‘Motilal Oswal VIP’ Telegram group

A polite analyst named ‘Rohit Kapoor’ invites you into a Telegram group named Motilal VIP. Two intraday calls go right, the third call is a thinly traded small-cap that the group has accumulated overnight. You buy at ₹120, it spikes to ₹165 in 20 minutes, then crashes to ₹42 by close as the operators offload.

Pig-butchering crypto trade

A new ‘friend’ from a dating app introduces a ‘reliable platform’ her uncle uses for arbitrage trading. The platform shows real-time gains. Withdrawals are unlocked only after paying “tax”. Each tax payment is followed by another. Average per-victim loss is in the tens of lakhs.

Official helplines & portals

  • SEBI SCORES: https://scores.sebi.gov.in to file a complaint against any advisor or broker.
  • 1930 Cyber Helpline: If funds have moved into an unregulated trading platform.
  • FIU-IND: Crypto-related fraud should reference the FIU-IND registered exchanges list when filing.

Frequently asked questions

Can SEBI recover my money from an unregistered advisor?

SEBI can disgorge the advisor’s fees and impose penalties, but trading losses are rarely recovered. Prevention through verification is the only reliable defence.

What does FIU-IND registration mean for a crypto exchange?

Financial Intelligence Unit registration is the only Indian legal recognition a crypto exchange currently has. Always check the FIU-IND list before depositing INR into any exchange.

Related help & guides

See our guides on reporting a fraud number, spotting bank-call scams, the 1930 cybercrime helpline and DND registration. Browse all categories or read the latest scam analysis on our blog.