The "Everyone Is Doing It" Trap
- Richard Stocks
- Jul 21
- 1 min read
Flggd Scam School · Investment & Trading Scams · Lesson 7 of 19
You've been added to an investment group chat where everyone seems to be making money. Wins, thank-you notes, payout screenshots, all day long. You're watching a performance, and you're the only audience member.
The message looks like this
Why this is a scam
Most of the "members" are the scammers, cycling through fake accounts. The wins, the gratitude, the payout screenshots; all staged, and all aimed at the handful of real people in the room.
Group pressure does the selling. Nobody wants to be the only one standing still while everyone else profits, so real members deposit, and the "deposit window" swallows the money.
Red flags checklist
You were added to the group without asking to join.
A constant stream of payout messages and thank-yous to the admin.
Members you can't interact with; profiles are new, empty, or locked.
Deposit deadlines announced like a game show.
Questions about the platform get answered by three "members" at once.
The manipulation tactic
Social proof. When a crowd agrees, your brain relaxes; the group chat fakes the crowd so your guard drops on schedule.
What to do, and what not to do
Leave the group; you owe strangers no exit speech.
Never deposit because other members "did".
Assume payout screenshots in groups are props.
Report the group to the platform before you go.
Tell anyone who added you, if it's a real friend, that the group is staged.
Not sure about a message you've received? Check it in seconds with the free Flggd app.
