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WhatsApp scams · Intelligence

The top WhatsApp scams, ranked from the leak.

What a scam compound’s own training portal shows about WhatsApp scams: which schemes it invests most in, the scripts it uses, and the “success rate” lie. Built from 1,415 leaked training articles and official loss data.

Mohammad Muzahir (Redbull) · cybercrime whistleblower, WIRED sourceUpdated 09 Nov 2026
$15.9bnlost to scams reported to the FTC in 2025, a record
$7.9bnof that to investment scams, nearly half
#2WhatsApp’s rank by money lost to scams starting on social media (after Facebook), FTC 2025
6.8MWhatsApp accounts linked to scam operations banned in H1 2025 (Meta)

How we ranked them

The leaked portal holds 1,415 unique training articles; 132 mention WhatsApp by name. We counted how many articles cover each scheme. The more training a compound writes for a scam, the more it invests in it. Official data confirms the order: investment scams cause the biggest losses, and scams that start on social media most often end on WhatsApp.

01

Friendship or romance → crypto, gold, forex

Pig butchering

A “wrong number” text, a LinkedIn contact or a dating match moves you to WhatsApp. Weeks of friendly chat follow, then an “uncle” or “aunt” who trades crypto or gold “never loses”.

In the leak: The portal’s largest topics: crypto “investment” (696 articles) and gold/forex trading (425). Dating-app guides tell workers to write “WS” instead of WhatsApp because the word gets their accounts banned.

Red flag: Someone you met online steers every chat toward an investment platform you have never heard of.

1,121training articles
02

Be a seller, pay to stock

Fake online store / “TikTok shop”

You are invited to open an online store on a “global mall”. Orders appear, but you must pay first to stock or promote the products, and your balance can never be withdrawn.

In the leak: 506 articles cover “mall” and store schemes, including multi-day “development processes” and customer-service scripts.

Red flag: A shop or platform asks you to pay before you can fulfil orders or withdraw.

506training articles
03

Stocks · crypto · “VIP” groups

Fake investment groups

You are added to a WhatsApp group run by a “professor” and his “assistant”. The group is full of fake members posting profit screenshots. Then you are moved to a private “institutional account” or app.

In the leak: Training scripts open with lines like “Hello, I’m the assistant of Professor …, welcome to join”, pose as a well-known investment bank, and promise “institutional account” trades with a “95% success rate”.

Red flag: A stranger adds you to an investing group, or the group “teacher” moves you to a private app.

505training articles
04

Pushing victims into debt

Loans and “borrow to invest”

Once savings are gone, victims are coached to borrow from banks, family or friends to “unlock” profits or meet a minimum.

In the leak: Scripts advise borrowing “several times from several people” so the money is easier to raise.

Red flag: An “investment friend” suggests you take a loan or sell assets to invest more.

295training articles
05

Like, review, “optimise”

Task and part-time job scams

A message offers easy money for liking videos or rating products. Small payouts build trust, then the “tasks” require deposits.

In the leak: Meta reported a Cambodia-linked network that used ChatGPT to write first messages luring people into fake tasks, then into crypto deposits.

Red flag: Any job that pays you to like or review, then asks you to deposit money.

105training articles
06

“Our software predicts the numbers”

Lottery and gambling “plans”

A mentor offers a “betting plan” or prediction software with a high win rate and tells you to follow their bets.

In the leak: Scripts claim a team “spent tens of millions” on software that raises the win rate.

Red flag: Guaranteed or “high-probability” wins on lottery or betting.

74training articles
07

“We can get your money back”

Recovery scams

After a loss, a fake law firm, agency or “official” contacts you and charges fees to recover the money.

In the leak: The portal includes a “rights protection” section with fake law-firm templates that collect victims’ ID and bank details.

Red flag: Anyone who contacts you first and asks for a fee to recover lost money.

66training articles

Article counts overlap: one article can cover several schemes. Pig butchering combines crypto (696) and gold/forex (425) articles.

“Success rate”: the number they invent

From the scripts

The 95% lie

  • “I will only do it if the success rate is more than 95%.”
  • “In the past three years, my trading success rate has reached 90%.”
  • “Now, the success rate may reach 95%. Will you refuse?”
  • “Through our professional calculations and some internal information, the success rate can reach 90%.”
What it means

No real investment promises a win rate

The portal never records real success rates for its scams. The “success rate” figures in it are scripted claims made to victims, repeated across dozens of documents. If someone quotes you a trading success rate of 90% or more, you are talking to a script.

The real measure is losses: in 2025 the FTC recorded $1.1bn lost to investment scams that started on social media alone, and scammers built WhatsApp groups “full of ‘successful investors’” with fake testimonials.

How they move you to WhatsApp

First contact

“Wrong number” texts, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, dating apps.

Dodge the filters

On dating apps, workers avoid trigger words and write “WS” for WhatsApp so their accounts are not banned.

“Private number”

“I don’t use this app much. Here is my private WhatsApp.”

Screening

Contacts are sorted by money, age and interest before the real pitch.

The group or the mentor

A “professor’s” investment group, or an “uncle” who trades.

The platform

Deposits into a fake app or wallet, then “taxes” and “fees” to withdraw.

Protect yourself on WhatsApp

Settings

Lock down who can add you

  • Settings → Privacy → Groups: “My contacts”
  • Turn on two-step verification
  • Silence unknown callers
Check

Paste the message

Run any suspicious message through the free scam checker. Nothing leaves your device.

Open the scam checker →

Sources

  1. FTC Data Spotlight: reported losses to scams on social media eight times higher than in 2020 (Apr 2026)
  2. Spokesman-Review: Americans lost a record $15.9 billion to scams in 2025, FTC says (3 Apr 2026)
  3. TechRepublic: 6.8M WhatsApp accounts shut down in Meta’s fight against scam networks (7 Aug 2025)
  4. Leaked training portal 青龙出海 (“Qinglong Goes to Sea”), 1,557 pages saved by Redbull. Personal data of victims and workers removed.

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