October 6, 2025
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), the National Futures Association (NFA) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) are issuing this Investor Bulletin to provide investors with information for World Investor Week 2025, a global campaign promoted by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) to raise awareness about the importance of investor education and protection.
Emerging technologies and innovation allow investors an unprecedented array of choices and opportunities to grow wealth and financial security through investing. New and developing technologies like artificial intelligence (AI); digital platforms incorporating social media; mobile trading apps; robo-advisers; and crypto assets can make saving and investing more engaging.
At the same time, fraudulent investment schemes—including relationship investment scams—have affected investors worldwide, and we urge investors to be vigilant against fraud and scams perpetrated by bad actors taking advantage of this period of rapid innovation.
Digital investing tools make investing more accessible than ever. As an investor, you should understand how these tools work as well as your financial goals and risk tolerance.
- Apps and online investing capabilities have made account monitoring and trading more accessible and might involve lower costs. Some apps and online accounts, however, might use entertaining, game-like interfaces and notifications that can encourage over-trading and might also give you access to complex investment products. Make sure you fully understand these products and keep your financial goals and risk tolerance top of mind when making investment decisions.
- Automated digital investment advisory services, or “robo-advisers,” use computer algorithms to build and manage a personal investment portfolio based on an investor’s inputs about financial goals and risk tolerance. While they might make putting together an investment plan easier and more accessible, these services rely on information that you provide, and some of these tools are more thorough than others in terms of the level of detail used to build a custom plan. Make sure the robo-adviser and the investment portfolio it puts together for you are a good match for your financial needs and goals and continuously monitor your investment portfolio to ensure it remains a good match.
- Protect your mobile device and online investment accounts from cyber fraud and hacking by following the tips at Protecting Your Online Investment Accounts from Fraud.
AI is in the news as an investment opportunity in terms of its growth and potential. It also has been suggested as a tool investors can use to make better investment choices. Be cautious of AI claims, promoters and platforms.
- Companies involved in the field of AI might be appealing investment opportunities. Before investing, carefully review the disclosures that companies make about their businesses. Use the SEC’s EDGAR database to access disclosures for public companies.
- AI might help with investment decision making but be cautious using AI-generated This information might rely on data that is inaccurate, incomplete or misleading. For example, it could be based on false or outdated information about financial, political or other news events. Or it could draw from false or misleading information that was disseminated to try to manipulate a stock’s price (either positively or negatively).
- Numerous unregistered and/or unlicensed individuals, firms and online investment platforms promote AI trading systems that make unrealistic claims like, “Our proprietary AI trading system can’t lose!” or “Use AI to Pick Guaranteed Stock Winners!” In reality, these are often investment schemes run by scammers seeking to leverage the popularity of AI.
Use the SEC’s Check Out Your Investment Professional search tool on Investor.gov and FINRA’s BrokerCheck, both free resources, to: (1) confirm registration status of investment professionals; and (2) check for any disciplinary history. When purchasing securities through a U.S. broker-dealer, confirm it’s a member of SIPC at www.sipc.org.
In Canada, you can use the Canadian Securities Administrators’ National Registration Search. To help research the validity of exchanges and other investment platforms, start by checking to see if they’re on the SEC’s list of national securities exchanges or regulated alternative trading systems. You can also contact your state or provincial securities regulator. If you’re unsure who that is, please see NASAA’s “Contact Your Regulator” webpage.
Be a smarter investor by understanding the fundamentals.
- Diversification and asset allocation are important pillars of smarter investing. Spreading out your investments across and within asset classes can help reduce the risks of investing. If one particular investment suffers a loss, hopefully other investments in a diversified portfolio can help weather the loss. Rather than investing in individual stocks and bonds, for example, investing in pooled funds, such as mutual funds, index funds and ETFs, can allow for diversification and asset allocation within any investment budget.
- Investing involves market volatility, but patient, periodic investing, and employing strategies such as dollar-cost averaging, can help over time to mitigate volatility and short-term swings in portfolio performance. Trying to chase returns through short-term trading or “timing the market” might lead to buying when an investment has reached all-time highs and selling when the market is falling, resulting in reduced investment returns. Periodic investing helps to capture the short-terms swings in the trading prices of investments while not falling prey to “selling low.”
- Know your time horizon for investing and develop an investment plan that accounts for future needs and goals. Having a diversified, long-term investment plan that includes regular, periodic investments allows for greater opportunities to capture the power of compounding.
- Understand and assess the impact fees for different products and services may have on your investment performance. For example, product fees are particularly prevalent when investing in pooled funds, such as mutual funds, index funds and ETFs. What might seem initially like a small percentage annual fee can have a large impact over time.
While emerging technologies can provide new opportunities for investors, bad actors seek to take advantage of new innovations to conduct investment scams.
- Scammers can use AI technology to clone voices, alter images and create fake videos to spread false or misleading information. They might use AI-generated content to impersonate someone you know or create realistic-looking websites promoting fake investments. Bad actors can also use the hype around new technological developments, like AI, to lure investors into scams. They might use catchy buzzwords or claim to be a leader in the field.
- Don’t trust someone who pressures you to invest right away, promises big returns with little or no risk, or demands secrecy. These behaviors can be red flags of fraud. High returns are never guaranteed, and every investment involves risk.
- Resist getting caught up in the fear of missing out (FOMO) on a purported investment opportunity that seems new or cutting-edge. Instead, make investment decisions in consideration of your long-term investment plan. Create your plan based on your risk toleranceand investing time horizon, and consider the benefits of asset allocation and diversification.
- After building rapport or the relationship, scammers might offer to help you achieve your financial goals with investment opportunities. They might direct you to a legitimate-looking (but ultimately fake) website or app where you “invest” your funds. The site might provide fake trading information and show your investment “gains.”
- Scammers often ask you to invest increasingly larger sums of money. However, if you try to withdraw your funds, the scammer might come up with an excuse why it isn’t possible, say more money is required, or tell you for the first time that you must pay more to cover fees or taxes. If you raise questions, they might become angry, stop responding or block you from contacting them, and they might remove access to the website or app.
- Ignore messages from anyone you don’t know, even if they seem harmless, and consider deleting or blocking them.
- Watch this video to learn how these scams work, what to look out for and how to protect yourself.
If you have questions about your investments or your investment professional, or want to report possible misconduct, you can contact your state securities regulator or file a complaint or a regulatory tip with FINRA. You also can call the FINRA Securities Helpline for Seniors at 844-57-HELPS (844-574-3577). Report commodity or derivative-related complaints to the CFTC. For a derivatives-related complaint (involving futures, options on futures, forex, or swaps) involving a pending, current or former NFA Member (as displayed in BASIC), file with NFA and call (312) 781-1410 or (800) 621-3570 (Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Central Time) to reach NFA’s Information Center representatives who are available to help answer investor questions.
Additional Resources:
Visit Investor.gov, the SEC’s website for individual investors. Receive Investor Alerts and Bulletins from OIEA by email or RSS feed.
Find additional information about investing and investment products at FINRA.org.
Visit the Learn & Protect section of CFTC.gov for information about fraud that involves commodities or derivatives trading, to check the credentials and disciplinary histories of individuals or companies, to submit a fraud complaint, or to sign up to receive customer education emails.
NASAA has provided this information as a service to investors. It is neither a legal interpretation nor an indication of a policy position by NASAA or any of its members, the state and provincial securities regulators. If you have questions concerning the meaning or application of a particular state law or rule or regulation, or a NASAA model rule, statement of policy, or other materials, please consult with an attorney who specializes in securities law.
