The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused four overseas-linked entities of running two overlapping “investment confidence” schemes that used WhatsApp, social media, and fake regulatory credentials to take more than $15 million from retail investors.
On September 29, 2026, the agency filed two civil complaints in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) against Cryptoaiml Ltd. and Cryptoaiml Capital Foundation, and against TSAI Pro Ltd. and TSAI Capital Foundation.
Officials say the operators cultivated online relationships, dangled high returns, posed as licensed professionals, and then diverted crypto and cash.
Hundreds of investors were affected, many of them in the United States.
According to the first complaint, the Cryptoaiml entities operated from at least August 2024 through March 2025.
They created WhatsApp group chats in which people posing as experienced advisers circulated supposed artificial-intelligence trading “signals.”
Those tips were used to build credibility and push victims toward a purported trading platform. Some investors even signed agreements that looked like legitimate investment-management contracts.
The site displayed a screenshot of a Form D that Cryptoaiml Ltd. had filed with the SEC, presented as proof of official oversight.
The filing itself, the Commission says, contained false information.
Once money was deposited, the platform showed invented profits.
No actual trading occurred. When people tried to withdraw funds, they were told their accounts were frozen until they paid extra “advance fees.”
The SEC estimates that more than $12.5 million was taken in this scheme.
The second case follows a similar script.
From September 2024 to March 2025, TSAI Pro Ltd. and TSAI Capital Foundation promoted a program through a website, WhatsApp chats, and public Facebook posts.
Investors were told they could earn guaranteed profits by depositing money to “rent” AI-programmed bots that would trade on their behalf.
Recruits were also promised extra income for bringing in new participants.
The operators claimed the firm was fully regulated by the SEC and posted a fabricated agency certificate tied to another falsified Form D.
The Commission alleges there were no bots and that deposited funds were never used to generate returns.
About $2.8 million was allegedly misappropriated.
Enforcement Director David Woodcock said the tactics differed but the objective did not: promise outsized gains, claim SEC legitimacy, then steal the money.
The Commission has taken the related Form D filings off its website and pointed investors to existing alerts about group-chat pitches and false claims of registration.
It also urged the public to use Investor.gov to check anyone offering an investment and to submit tips through the agency’s online portal.
The cases highlight how encrypted group chats can manufacture social proof.
Fake fellow “investors” celebrate paper gains, while operators mix AI buzzwords with screenshots of official-looking documents.
Because the alleged operators appear to be abroad, recovering funds may prove difficult even if the courts grant injunctions, penalties, and disgorgement.
Investors should treat unsolicited WhatsApp trading groups, guaranteed AI-bot returns, and screenshots of SEC forms as warning signs rather than credentials. Independent verification of registration and a refusal to send crypto to unknown platforms remain the most reliable defenses.
