Netcraft's new research reveals that it uncovered and blocked around 13,000 fraudulent investment platform domains in January alone. These false investment platform domains were found across more than 7,000 IPs. This is the highest number of IPs since the researchers started tracking these platforms and contribute to a 25% increase from December's numbers. This highlights the continuing trend of consumer losses via fraud, which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revealed was more than $10 billion in 2023. 

These online investment scams offer high returns with little to no associated risk. Targets of fraudulent investment operations are often presented with opportunities to trade in cryptocurrency or other high-risk assets in order to claim a once-in-a-lifetime investment for guaranteed returns. A target only needs to submit an initial payment for scammers to take advantage and for the money to be lost.