The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Office of Customer Education and Outreach (OCEO), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) have jointly issued an Investor Alert to warn investors about relationship investment scams, where fraudsters — including criminals and other bad actors — often hide their true identities, reach out to unsuspecting targets (often online or through text messages), gain their trust over time, and then defraud them through fake investments. Relationship investment scams are sometimes referred to by various terms including romance scams, “cryptocurrency” investment scams, financial grooming scams, and even the distasteful term “pig butchering scams.” These scams also sometimes involve “catfishing,” where fraudsters might set up fake online identities to carry out crimes.

The Arkansas Securities Department has partnered with NASAA to inform the public about these types of relationship investor scams.