Pump and Dump

Lightyear offers a self-directed investment service and does not provide any investment advice or analysis for you. If you need help with determining whether a security fits your investment strategy, we encourage you to seek assistance from a professional financial advisor before engaging in trading.

Pump and Dump scams are coordinated market manipulation schemes where scammers artificially inflate the price of an instrument to attract buyers and then quickly sell their own holdings at the higher price.

We encourage you to take the time to read and understand the following information before acting on the advice or recommendation of any person who claims to have non-public information or a special connection with a listed company.

Unfortunately, Pump and Dump schemes are often designed to appear legitimate, especially when promoted by individuals posing as experts or through convincing online groups. Some important red flags and tips to help manage your risk:

• Be cautious of unsolicited investment tips, especially in WhatsApp, Telegram, Reddit, Discord, or TikTok groups.
• Treat promises of “guaranteed gains” or fast returns with scepticism – these are common tactics in manipulation schemes.
• Avoid acting on advice from people you don’t know personally or can’t verify independently.
• Be especially careful when investing in low market capitalisation stocks, which are more easily manipulated and can lose value extremely quickly.
• For further guidance on how to protect yourself from scams you might want to visit the FCA page or use their ScamSmart Investment Checker.

We encourage all investors to critically assess information sources, question anything that seems too good to be true, and make sure each investment aligns with their personal risk tolerance.

• If, during our ongoing monitoring, we identify any behaviours indicating market manipulation, we may place restrictions on the buy side of the instrument while reviewing the market situation as best as we can. Lightyear, like any other broker, can decide the availability of investments on our platform at any time. In this case, we may add an in-app warning notice on the instrument page and send emails to the holders to review their portfolio.
• While we do our best to highlight any potential scams we notice may be taking place, Lightyear is a self-directed investment platform, which means you decide what to invest in as long as the instrument is available to buy.
• While we do have responsibilities as a regulated investment firm, including monitoring the instruments we offer for operational suitability, such as liquidity, tradability, and overall risk, our role does have limits. We are not a regulator, exchange, or law enforcement body, and cannot confirm or enforce trading halts or take direct action against third parties who may be involved in market manipulation or criminal schemes.
• See also our Risk Disclosure.