Losses from fake stock tips spread through WhatsApp groups fell sharply in Belgium in the first half of 2026, according to new data from the country's financial regulator.
Consumers reported losing about 2.08 million euros (roughly $2.4 million) to the scheme, down from 9.5 million euros in the second half of 2025, the Financial Services and Markets Authority said this week.
Reports in that category dropped too, to 76 from 263 six months earlier. The regulator said complaints have declined steeply since February, months after the scam first surfaced in mid-2025.
In the second half of 2025, WhatsApp tip fraud was one of the biggest drivers of reported losses, with an average of about 73,000 euros lost per victim.
WhatsApp Fraud Retreats After Peaking in Late 2025
The scheme ran through group chats advertised on Facebook and Instagram. Organizers posed as banks, news outlets, or well-known investors to pull members in with the promise of exclusive market tips, then steered them toward fake apps or specific US stocks in what the FSMA called pump-and-dump activity.
The tactic has been in circulation since the middle of last year. In one version, fraudsters impersonated bank chief executives in WhatsApp groups to look more convincing, the FSMA said at the time.
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Others borrowed the names of established brokers. An earlier alert flagged groups impersonating Saxo Bank and JP Morgan to promote fake trading apps and move share prices. The dashboard does not explain why the category cooled after February, though the drop follows a run of public warnings across Europe.
Fake Platforms Still Take Most of the Money
The retreat did little to change where most losses came from. Fraudulent trading platforms and crypto schemes accounted for about 8.5 million euros, or 66.5% of the 12.7 million euros consumers said they lost in the half. They also made up 661 of the 1,277 reports the FSMA received.
Many of these operations market themselves as forex or contracts-for-difference brokers, a product Belgium restricted for retail clients years ago. The regulator has named dozens of unlicensed CFD and crypto sites in past warnings, many of them clones of licensed firms.
The approach rarely varies. Targets respond to an online ad, get shown a fabricated account dashboard, and are pushed to add funds, often starting with a small test deposit of around 250 euros, before withdrawals are blocked, the FSMA said.
Other Regulators Report the Same Pattern
Belgium is not the only watchdog tracking the shift toward messaging apps. New Zealand's Financial Markets Authority warned of a WhatsApp scheme that used bots and fake leaderboards to invent returns for the people it targeted.
South Africa's Financial Sector Conduct Authority flagged a separate group posing as the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to reach investors on the same app. Across the cases, regulators described a familiar sequence of impersonation, a professional-looking platform, and withdrawals that stop working once victims try to cash out.
Report Volumes Hold Steady as Warnings Pile Up
Total consumer reports reached 1,277 for the half, close to the 1,289 logged a year earlier and roughly in line with recent periods, according to the FSMA. The flat reading interrupts several years of near 20% annual growth in complaints.
Fake credit offers stayed the second-largest report category, at about 20% of the total, with an average loss near 3,000 euros. Consumers who take up the offers "never actually receive the money promised," the FSMA said, because they are first asked to pay upfront fees that disappear along with the supposed lender.
The regulator issued nine warnings over the six months, covering 157 fraudulent entities and 185 websites. More than 62% of those entities were illicit trading platforms.
