Is that “learn to trade” ad on social media real?

You see a post or an ad full of fancy cars and exotic trips. The person says you can live the same way just by learning to trade. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says these posts rarely tell you the truth: trading is risky, there are no guaranteed returns, and you can lose a lot of money fast.¹

In an alert dated August 7, 2026, the FTC described its lawsuit against a company called International Markets Live (IML), also known as IM Mastery Academy and IYOVIA. The FTC says IML targeted young people on social media, advertised “educators” who often had no real credentials, and used false earning claims to recruit people into a large investment training scheme. The FTC says the company is no longer in business and its leaders are banned from selling trading training and investment opportunities in the future.¹

The FTC quoted the kind of lines these posts use:

How to tell

• It guarantees money. The FTC says no one can guarantee you will make lots of money with little to no risk. Anyone who does is a scammer.¹
• It guarantees to teach you to win. No one can guarantee to teach you how to trade successfully. The FTC says anyone who does is a scammer.¹
• It starts free, then costs more. These scams often start with free training or seminars, then quickly lead to hefty fees for more training or coaching.³
• It pushes you to hurry. The FTC says it is a red flag if someone pressures you or says to act quickly on an investment.³
• It speaks your language. Some scammers use fake profiles and the words of a group you belong to. The FTC gave the example of a post using military jargon that offered to teach “fellow veterans” a guaranteed way to beat the stock market.²

What to do

1. Take your time. Do not sign up or pay until you have done the checks below.¹
2. Research the company, its officials and its promoters. Search online for their names plus words like “review,” “scam” or “fraud.”¹
3. Look through several pages of results. The first results you see might be paid ads.¹
4. Check with your state attorney general for complaints.¹
5. Talk to someone you trust and get a second opinion about the program from someone who has your best interests in mind.¹ Never let someone you met on social media direct your investment decisions.²

If you already clicked or paid

1. If you paid with a credit card, report it to the card issuer right away and ask for a refund. If you paid with a debit card, report it to your bank or credit union and ask for a refund.⁴
2. If you paid through a payment app, report it to the app right away and ask it to reverse the payment.⁴
3. If you sent cryptocurrency, contact the exchange or ATM operator right away. Tell them it was a fraudulent transaction and ask them to reverse it.⁴
4. If you gave your Social Security number and it was used, go to IdentityTheft.gov to report it and get a recovery plan.⁴

Where to report it

• The FTC. Report the ad or post at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.¹
• Your state attorney general. The FTC suggests checking with your state attorney general for complaints about the company.¹