THE SEC SAYS TWO “AI TRADING” SCHEMES TOOK AT LEAST $15 MILLION FROM RETAIL INVESTORS FOUND ON WHATSAPP — NO TRADING TOOK PLACE — BOTH POINTED TO FAKE SEC FILINGS — ONE TOOK DEPOSITS IN BTC

The SEC filed two complaints in federal court in Manhattan on September 29, 2026 against four entities it says ran "AI trading" frauds recruited through WhatsApp and other platforms. Cryptoaiml took at least $12.5 million from more than 300 retail investors. TSAI took at least $2.8 million from about 1,715. The SEC says the operators are likely overseas. No individual is charged.

The product was a claim nobody could check. Cryptoaiml's recruiters impersonated real professionals presented as working at Raymond James and Citadel Securities, and said their AI trading signals had "a 98% accuracy rate." The complaint: "No trading took place on the Cryptoaiml Platform." TSAI rented out AI trading bots, $100 for the entry level, with $10 a day promised back. The SEC: "there were no AI trading bots and deposited funds never were used to earn returns for investors."

Both leaned on the SEC's own name. The person who signed Cryptoaiml's Form D "does not appear to exist." TSAI's Form D named a director the SEC says has no connection to it. A Form D is a notice a company files about itself. The SEC does not approve it, and anyone can look it up on EDGAR.

TSAI took deposits "in the form of crypto asset BTC on the Bitcoin blockchain," along with ETH, USDT and USDC. The chain recorded every deposit exactly. It has no way to tell you whether a bot exists on the other end. A promise of 10% a day was the only check anyone needed. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $84,167.