Before you move a single rupee, dollar or pound onto any investing platform, there’s a two-minute check that filters out the overwhelming majority of fraud: look the platform up in the official registries. Not reviews, not Trustpilot, not the platform’s own “regulated” badge — the registries themselves. This guide shows you exactly where to look and what each answer means. Or skip the manual work: our Platform Verifier runs these checks in one search.
Step 1: Ask what the platform claims to be
The registry that matters depends on the claim. A US investment adviser (robo-advisors, wealth managers) must appear in SEC IAPD (adviserinfo.sec.gov). A US broker-dealer must appear in FINRA BrokerCheck (brokercheck.finra.org). A UK firm taking client money must appear on the FCA Register (register.fca.org.uk). If a platform claims none of these roles yet asks for deposits and promises returns — that combination itself is the finding.
Step 2: Match the exact legal entity
This is the step scammers rely on you skipping. Clone firms use names one word away from real registered companies, so a name match is not enough. A legitimate platform discloses its CRD number, SEC file number or FCA reference number in its own footer or disclosures — take that number and confirm it points to the same name, address and website in the registry. Number matches name matches website: that’s verification. Anything less is a guess.
Step 3: Check the warning lists
Regulators publish blacklists as well as registers. The FCA Warning List names unauthorized and clone firms, the CFTC RED List names foreign entities illegally soliciting US clients, and IOSCO I-SCAN aggregates alerts from regulators worldwide. A platform on any of these lists is a closed question, in the regulator’s own words.
Step 4: Run the domain forensics
Registries verify the entity; forensics verify the website claiming to be it. Domain age (fraud platforms cluster under 12 months old), archive history (has this domain always been what it claims?), and working infrastructure — all checkable free, all included in a Verifier scan.
What registration does — and doesn’t — mean
One calibration before you go: registration means a regulator has jurisdiction, mandatory disclosures exist, and there’s a complaint process. It does not mean the firm is good, cheap, or safe from failure — registered firms underperform and shut down constantly (our Robo-Advisor Graveyard is a museum of registered firms that died normal business deaths). Registration is the floor, not the ceiling. But a platform that can’t clear the floor doesn’t deserve your deposit — full methodology on How We Verify.