Red flag catalog (Warnsignal-Katalog)
A red-flag catalog is a repeatable screen for financial offers whose risks are hidden by urgency, authority, or complexity. One flag calls for verification; several independent flags call for stopping the transaction until resolved. The catalog does not label every unusual offer fraudulent. It prevents a persuasive story from replacing checkable facts.
The catalog
| Flag family | Test |
|---|---|
| Pressure | Is there a deadline, scarcity claim, or penalty for independent review? |
| Return story | Are high or steady returns presented without matching loss scenarios? |
| Documentation | Are costs, custody, withdrawal, and legal terms available in writing? |
| Identity and licence | Can the exact legal entity and authorisation be verified independently? |
| Money path | Does payment go to an unrelated person, foreign account, crypto wallet, or changing destination? |
| Control | Can the customer retrieve funds without approval from the promoter? |
| Incentive | Who is paid for recruitment or sale? |
| Recourse | Which regulator, ombudsman, court, and compensation system apply? |
BaFin highlights unsolicited contact, extreme promised gains, time pressure, foreign or unclear entities, and unverifiable business activity as warning signs [1][2].
Worked scenario
A social-media contact offers “capital-protected” monthly returns, sends screenshots instead of legal documents, and asks for a transfer by tonight to an account owned by another company.
The catalog produces four separate failures: implausible return framing, weak documentation, urgency, and an unexplained money path. The correct procedure is not to debate the promoter’s confidence. Record the entity and claim, verify authorisation through the regulator’s own register, and do not transfer while the failures remain.
Check yourself
An offer combines urgency, unclear custody, and no written withdrawal terms. What is the catalog response?
A household screens an unfamiliar offer. Which observed features are independent red flags? Select all that apply.
A promoter sends a screenshot claiming regulatory authorisation. What verification is stronger?
Does one unusual feature prove that an offer is fraudulent?
Sources
- BaFin — Geldanlage: So erkennen Sie unseriöse Angebote, https://www.bafin.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Broschuere/dl_b_geldanlage.pdf (2025)
- BaFin — Achtung: Marktmanipulation!, https://www.bafin.de/DE/Verbraucher/Finanzbetrug/Anlagebetrug/Marktmanipulation/marktmanipulation_artikel.html (updated 2025)