The Austria Financial Market Authority (FMA) issued a warning about increasingly frequent fraud attempts run through WhatsApp groups and channels that promise “exclusive” stock tips and high returns, often by impersonating well-known financial media or financial services providers. Fraudsters typically use adverts and contact requests on social media or direct WhatsApp messages to recruit victims, and the FMA flagged recent identity-theft examples including a fake WhatsApp profile using Executive Director Helmut Ettl’s name and picture, as well as cloned Facebook and Instagram profiles purporting to be operated by “Focus Money” and “Gewinn”. The FMA advised recipients to verify invitations, watch for tell-tale signs such as spelling errors and lookalike names, avoid offers promising high returns with little or no risk, and be especially cautious where pressure tactics and requests to transfer funds to foreign accounts are involved. It also urged users to report suspicious profiles to the relevant platform, to the Austrian Watchlist Internet, and to the FMA Consumer Information team, and to check the FMA Company Database when in doubt about a provider’s licensing status.

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