SEC targets WhatsApp crypto scams totaling at least $15.3 million

The SEC filed two fraud complaints on September 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, each describing what the agency calls an “investment confidence scam.” The complaints are allegations; no defendant response appears in the supplied complaint materials. The minimum combined amount alleged is $15.3 million.

The September 29 enforcement release breaks it down: Cryptoaiml Ltd. and Cryptoaiml Capital Foundation allegedly took more than $12.5 million — 81.7% of the combined floor — while TSAI Pro Ltd. and TSAI Capital Foundation allegedly misappropriated more than $2.8 million. Both are “more than” figures, so the actual split could move.

Across both schemes, the SEC alleges that perpetrators built online relationships with unsuspecting investors, moved them into group chats, and persuaded them to transfer crypto — though the specific mechanics differed between the two complaints as described below.

Cryptoaiml ran from at least August 2024 through March 2025. The entities built WhatsApp group chats, posed as investment professionals, circulated AI-generated trading “signals,” and routed investors toward a fake deposit platform. They also claimed SEC regulatory certification and passed around a screenshot of a falsified Form D. The SEC says both that filing and TSAI Pro Ltd.’s Form D have since been pulled from the Commission’s website.

TSAI used a similar promise of automated returns, but through bot rentals rather than trading signals. Between September 2024 and March 2025, TSAI Pro and TSAI Capital told investors — through their website, WhatsApp groups, and public Facebook posts — that renting AI-programmed trading bots would generate guaranteed profits, with extra income available for recruiting new participants.

The return figures in the TSAI complaint filed in the Southern District of New York deserve a close read. At entry level, $100 rented a bot that supposedly returned the fee plus $20 over two days. At the top end, a $500,000 rental purportedly paid $17,500 per day across 360 days — a $6.3 million total payout, 12.6 times the original deposit. Strip out returned principal and the claimed profit alone was $5.8 million, or 1,160% of the original sum. Investors deposited BBTC$83,556.00▲0.22%, EETH$2,690.10▲0.60%, UUSDT$0.9997▲0.00%, and UUSDC$0.9999▲0.00% directly into designated TSAI wallet addresses.

TSAI Pro filed a Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities on Form D with the SEC on September 23, 2024, claiming revenue of more than $100 million and seeking to raise up to $10 million. The TSAI website, created around August 2024, described the platform as operated by TSAI Exchange, Ltd., registered in the United States under TSAI Capital Foundation, and carried an “SEC” link to a purported agency certificate tied to that Form D. TSAI Capital was registered as a Money Services Business with FinCEN on August 5, 2024. TSAI Pro listed its principal place of business at 250 Greenwich Street, New York, New York 10007; TSAI Capital Foundation claimed 1750 Wewatta Street in Denver. The SEC alleges that the regulatory representations and the posted certificate were false, even though TSAI Capital’s MSB registration and TSAI Pro’s Form D filing were real.

“But nothing about the TSAI Platform or the Program was real, legal, or safe: there were no AI trading bots and deposited funds were never used to earn returns for investors,” the Commission wrote in the complaint. “The purported profits and income reflected in investors’ accounts on the TSAI Platform were fake.” The same filing states that neither the defendants nor the program was “fully regulated” by the SEC, and that the certificate posted online was fabricated.

SEC Division of Enforcement Director David Woodcock described the shared method: “promise potential investors outsized returns, claim that they were legitimate entities regulated by the SEC, and then steal their money.” Woodcock also pointed the public toward the agency’s online tip portal for reporting such schemes. The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance has previously warned about fraudsters using group chats or falsely claiming SEC registration.