SCAMS: Beware of imposters who claim to be Steven Hatzakis
First and foremost, I, Steven Hatzakis, do not manage any client money or ever ask people for money because I do NOT provide any investment services, period (anyone claiming to do so using my name or photos is an imposter trying to scam you, so please beware of such scams and people who impersonate me, as there are a growing number of imposter accounts on social media).
Scammers impersonate me, likely because I have over 20 years of financial markets experience in the forex industry and publish authoritative broker reviews (as part of my work with Reink Media Group, including on ForexBrokers.com, and other world-class domains under our portfolio), and I’ve advised dozens of fintech companies, including in the crypto industry, and my articles have been read by millions of people.
WARNING: If you have been contacted by someone claiming to be me and asking you to invest, they are an imposter and scammertrying to steal your money. Don’t get fooled!
I NEVER ASK PEOPLE FOR MONEY AND DO NOT PROVIDE ANY INVESTMENT SERVICES!
____________________________
Background
Over the last few years, there has been a sharp rise of people on the internet who impersonate me, Steven Hatzakis, and illegally claim to offer investment services using my name, image, and likeness, in an effort to scam people for money. I have no idea who these scammers are! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Reporting imposter accounts on social media: Despite my many attempts to report such fake imposter accounts whenever they are brought to my attention, such as on Twitter, Telegram, FaceBook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Whatsapp, and fake phone numbers, just as some of them get banned, new ones appear, and many platforms do not always censor fake accounts, even when they violate community standards (such as with FaceBook and Instagram, in my experience reporting the scammer accounts).
Victims contact me sometimes early sometimes late: Even though many such fake scammer accounts may get banned, I continue to receive reports multiple times per week from potential victims who reach out to me via email or social media, and where I often have to try to convince them that I am the real Steven Hatzakis and not the imposter they have been dealing with up until that point.
Sometimes people reach out to me before they get scammed, and are relieved to confirm that the person they were talking to was an imposter. But I might not always be available, so in this article, I attest which are my official accounts, while reminding you that accounts not listed here, that you see on the internet claiming to be me, are likely scammers who are impersonating me and trying to steal your money.
____________________________
Example response I usually have to write up or copy/paste when people contact me about such imposters: “Thanks for reaching out to me. It sounds like you are dealing with an imposter, as I offer no such investment services or advice and never ask people for money. You can read more on my personal site StevenHatzakis.com/scams-impersonation about such impersonation scams where people impersonate me on various platforms. Feel free to report them and send me any related screenshots or links for my records so that I can report them too, time permitting. In addition, I cannot help you further as I don’t provide any recovery services, you should consider contacting law enforcement and hiring an attorney perhaps. Good luck!“
Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware)
In most cases, people get it and thank me for letting them know that they were dealing with an imposter, while in a few cases, people are shocked and can’t believe it and doubt that I am the real one, as they are practically brainwashed by the scammer’s lies or realize they have been scammed.
A while ago a potential victim (first name Koel) reached out to me and despite all the information I gave them, they still doubted, and that prompted me to publish this article. At the same time, shortly thereafter, Twitter banned an account that was impersonating me which I Tweeted about here:
Update: In June 2023, a number of people claiming to be victims of someone impersonating me reached out, one via Telegram (named Raymond, whom eventually got it despite being in denial for a while) and one via FaceBook Messenger (Named Sue, after her friend Maria contacted me, and who didn’t seem to get it despite my repeated attempts to share information including the link to this article).
Victims in denial: I typically just send a link to this article while explaining to the people who contact me that I don’t offer any financial services and how they are dealing with a scammer who is impersonating me. I realize that for some people it is hard to stomach the truth and they somehow don’t want to accept that, I can sympathize with you on that, especially if you are not computer savvy.
At the same time, the imposter could be impersonating Bill Gates, but it is not Bill Gates’s fault that you got fooled. You have to accept it and move on.
Imposters endorsing imposters: One woman last week named Angela contacted me on LinkedIn, and said that a representative from the crypto tax firm named Accointing.com (a Glassnode company) had recommended she speak with the scammer who was impersonating me, but I promptly reached out to Accointing.com as I know they appear like a legitimate business. Accointing professionally explained how even they were being impersonated by a scammer, who recommended the other scammer impersonating me to Angela! While it might sound like a creative tactic that these fraudsters will use to deceive you, it’s actually very rudimentary, the sophisticated scams are much harder to detect. I am actually writing a series of guides about these types of scams on ForexBrokers.com which we will be publishing soon, that I will link to here.
Refusing to accept the truth they have been scammed by an imposter: when a victim of a scammer tries to insinuate that I am the person that they have been dealing with, asking me things like “What’s your WhatsApp number?” and “Who are you video calling now?” and this is especially frustrating, especially after I have already explained to them that they are dealing with an imposter and that I have no idea who they are. I don’t accept friend requests from people I don’t know on FaceBook, and have no way of knowing whether they are real victims or scammers. I will not video call with you, because you might be the scammer wanting to use that video in your scam, likewise with voice.
In addition, when people refuse to accept that they got scammed by someone impersonating me – even after I have shared all these facts and taken my time to try to assist, it makes me suspicious that these alleged victims might in fact be the scammers trying to gain more information. Or, I may just lose my patience as it exhausts me just as it has you.
Scammers are constantly trying to be clever, I have even seen fake imposter accounts, warning about imposters!
As a result of an increased number of imposters and people reaching out, I will be limiting my replies, if you try to contact me in private I will likely not reply, as I have begun taking too much time out of my daily life to help potential victims, and have no way to know if they are genuine in certain cases (most people get it, especially after reading this article, and realizing that I am the real Steven Hatzakis) while in other cases people either don’t get it or may very well be the same imposters phishing for information.
Steven Hatzakis
____________________________
Why you should trust that I am the real Steven Hatzakis, that owns StevenHatzakis.com
Attestation of My official accounts
The best way to contact me is via Twitter my handle is @shatzakis (LinkedIn messages might not be seen right away). My handle on Telegram is also @shatzakis; any other handle on Twitter or Telegram claiming to be me is a scammer. I have a Facebook profile that is personal and non-public (https://www.facebook.com/stevenhatzakis/ and private Instagram @hatgram), which I don’t use for work, and I have another FaceBook profile (https://www.facebook.com/shatzakis) work-related and Instagram public profile@StevenJosephHatzakis, any other profile on FaceBook or Instagram is a scammer don’t trust them. I also have a YouTube account (stevenhatzakis) where I have videos from industry events, along with a personal YouTube account Hattube. On GitHub I am @hatgit, and here is my profile on StackExchange. I also have a Tiktok account also under the @shatzakis handle https://www.tiktok.com/@shatzakis and just recorded a clip warning about imposters: https://www.tiktok.com/@shatzakis/video/7243991780545285418
What to do if you believe you have been scammed by an imposter:
If you believe you have been a victim of a scam or imposter posing to be me or someone else, contact your local law enforcement and/or financial regulator and consider hiring an attorney. As I mentioned earlier, consider filing a complaint with the FBI’s IC3 unit and FTC. I cannot help you further than by providing the information that I have already in this article.
If you do contact me, please provide the imposter’s account and any contact information so I can include in my records and potentially report them, time permitting, but chances are I won’t be able to reply to you as I don’t provide any recovery services and have no association with the imposters and have zero knowledge of who they are, nor may have the time to get to all messages or the ability to distinguish which are genuine (as scammers can impersonate victims).
Again, this has unfortunately begun to take up much of my time, but I am updating this article today on my website, StevenHatzakis.com, in an effort to point users to this page whenever they contact me about such imposters/scams, or so that people find this page when searching for me on the internet when doing their due diligence after imposters contact them that impersonate me.
I repeat, if you believe you have been a victim of a scam or imposter posing to be me or someone else, contact your local law enforcement and/or financial regulator and consider hiring an attorney. I cannot help you beyond what I have written in this article to make it clear that: I NEVER ASK PEOPLE FOR MONEY AND DO NOT PROVIDE ANY INVESTMENT SERVICES!
Resources:
Articles I have written in the past to help investors avoid potential scams:
