Modern fake trading platforms look indistinguishable from real ones. They use Stripe-grade UI, KYC flows, even live-looking charts wired into Binance's public API. Visual inspection alone is not enough.
The 9 instant tells
- No regulator footprint. Look up the name on the FCA, ASIC, SEC, MAS, BaFin registers. Not listed = run.
- Domain age under 6 months. WHOIS or a free domain-age checker. Real brokers are years old.
- HTTPS without a real EV / Org cert. Click the padlock — if the cert was issued to "Cloudflare" only, that's a red flag for new sites.
- No physical address or a Regus office. Real brokers list a head office and audited financials.
- Telegram or WhatsApp "account managers". Regulated brokers use compliant channels, not personal DMs.
- Deposit-only stablecoins. USDT-TRC20 deposit address that changes every visit = laundering wallet.
- Withdrawal "verification fees". Any fee required to release your funds is the scam confession.
- Fake trust badges. Logos of "Trustpilot", "MasterCard Verified", "SSL Secured" that don't link anywhere.
- AI-generated team photos. Reverse-image-search the leadership headshots.
The 4-layer verification
GACS's Risk & Recon engine runs all of these in 4 seconds:
- Blacklist match against 250k+ confirmed scam entities.
- Phone & URL traps check the deposit instructions.
- Script analysis spots cloned-broker UIs at the HTML level.
- Heuristic safety score combining domain age, hosting, registrar, and trust signals.
Free. No signup. No data stored.