Is Nobu Invest a Scam? Fake FCA/ASIC Licenses & Withdrawal Fraud Exposed

Summary

Nobu Invest (nobuinvest.com) has been placed on the warning list by the Belgian FSMA due to its use of fake regulatory numbers, fraudulent trading systems, and deceptive profit traps, drawing attention from regulatory bodies in multiple countries. This article exposes its fraudulent methods, fund flows, and provides a guide to protecting your rights, helping investors identify high-risk platforms.

I. Regulatory Announcements and Platform Background

In October 2025, the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) published an updated warning list on its official website, officially listing Nobu Invest (nobuinvest.com / nobu-invest.net) as an unauthorized and potentially fraudulent website.

The announcement stated that the platform promoted investment plans to European users under the guise of a "foreign exchange and stock investment advisor," but had not obtained any financial regulatory licenses.

Excerpt from the original FSMA announcement: “Nobu Invest offers trading services without any authorization and may be involved in investment fraud.” (Nobu Invest is not licensed to provide investment services and may be involved in investment fraud.)

Nobu Invest claims on its website to be "dual-regulated by the UK's FCA and Australia's ASIC," and displays numbers such as "FCA No. 912761" and "AFSL No. 482319." Upon verification, these serial numbers were found to be counterfeit or stolen from other companies' information:

• FCA number 912761 actually belongs to another legitimate entity and is unrelated to Nobu Invest;
• An entity named “Nobu Invest Pty Ltd.” does not exist in the ASIC official database.

Furthermore, the registered address listed on the website, "Level 22, 45 Clarence St, Sydney," is actually a fake shared office address. This means that Nobu Invest employed a typical cloned firm scam, forging regulatory identities to deceive investors into depositing funds.

II. Fraud Structure and Victim Patterns

Multiple victims from France, Spain, Germany, and Taiwan reported similar experiences:

1. Social media lead generation: Investors see ads for “Nobu AI Automated Trading” and “15% Monthly Returns” on Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram.
2. Fake customer service leads: Customer service representatives contact users via WhatsApp posing as "senior financial advisors" and using English names (such as David Moore or Sophia Lin).
3. Registration and Initial Deposit: After registering an account, investors are required to deposit at least $250; the system automatically displays an upward profit curve.
4. Inducing additional investment: Customer service representatives induce additional investment of $5,000–$10,000 under the guise of a “VIP investment plan” or “institutional account upgrade”.
5. Withdrawal blocked and fake tax fees: When investors apply for withdrawal, the system pops up a prompt saying that they need to pay "15% tax fee" or "clearing fee" first, otherwise the account cannot be processed.
6. Customer service unreachable and account suspended: If a user refuses to pay, the account will be locked, customer service will disappear, and the Telegram group will be closed.

These actions clearly demonstrate that Nobu Invest is essentially a fraudulent platform operating through fake regulations and a fake trading system.

III. Technical Disguise and Website Structure Analysis

A thorough investigation of nobuinvest.com revealed that its website shares the same backend template and CDN network as Fintradix, ProfitBee, Priv-Solutions, XHPro, and other platforms previously warned by the FSMA, suggesting that they may all be operated by the same fraudulent group.

The main technical camouflage features are as follows:

• Domain rotation strategy: Multiple versions such as nobuinvest.com, nobu-invest.com, and nobu-invest.net are used alternately to prevent being blocked.
• Fake trading system: The website uses the front-end simulation system TradeCoreFX, but has no real matching server. The quotes are severely delayed and differ greatly from the actual market.
• Fake backend data: All profit curves are dynamically generated by JavaScript, and different accounts display the same profit and loss fluctuation trend.
• Fake compliance documents: Metadata tracking of official PDF files (such as "FCA Certificate" and "Audit Report") revealed that the author was "PDFBuilder-v1.0", which was not officially generated.
• Multi-tiered jump server: The main server is hosted in Lithuania and Russia, supplemented by a Dutch CDN network, making it difficult to trace.

After registering a test account, the system requires users to link a bank card or encrypted wallet to "unlock all features." In practice, deposits are directed to third-party recipients, such as anonymous companies like "Nobu Payment Ltd." and "TradePay Global." On-chain tracking shows that the receiving wallet and ProfitBee's funding paths highly overlap, both flowing to a cluster of addresses in Eastern Europe.

IV. Status of Cross-border Regulatory Tracking and Warnings

As of early November 2025, Nobu Invest has been placed under scrutiny by several regulatory bodies:

• FSMA (Belgium): Listed as a fraudster;
• CNMV (Spain): Added "Unauthorized Entity Warning" in late October 2025;
• AMF (France): Labeled as a "suspicious financial website";
• BaFin (Germany): Is tracking its bank accounts and payment paths;
• ASIC (Australia): Issued a clarification notice reminding the public that Nobu Invest is not a licensed company under its supervision.

This consistent warning signal across borders indicates that Nobu Invest is part of an organized fraud network that specifically targets retail investors in Europe and Asia with deceptive investment marketing and financial scams.

V. Risk Score (out of 10)

VI. Pathways for Rights Protection and Fund Recovery

1. Immediately stop logging in and depositing funds, and disconnect all payment channels related to the platform;
2. Retain all evidence (transaction records, screenshots of customer service chats, bank receipts, website screenshots);
3. For users who deposit funds via bank card: Request a chargeback from the issuing bank;
4. For cryptocurrency depositors: Track the receiving wallet path using on-chain forensics tools (Chainalysis, TRM Labs);
5. Submit a regulatory complaint:
   • Belgium FSMA: Fraud Alert Form
   • Other EU regions: Complaints are forwarded to the national regulatory body through the ESMA complaint channel
   • ASIC Australia: Submit a report via Scamwatch
6. Beware of secondary scams: Reject any emails or Telegram calls claiming to "help you recover your funds".

VII. FAQ

Q1: Is Nobu Invest really regulated by the FCA or ASIC? A: Unregulated. All of their displayed serial numbers are counterfeit.

Q2: Is it true that the platform requires the payment of taxes before withdrawals can be made? A: That's false. Legitimate brokerages do not charge any so-called "profit tax" before withdrawals.

Q3: Does the website showing a profit represent a real transaction? A: No, that doesn't mean anything. Its backend is a virtual data generation system; all profits are fabricated.

Q4: Can I get my funds back? A: If the deposit is made through a bank card, you can refuse payment through the bank; if it is a cryptocurrency transfer, you need to cooperate with the police and blockchain tracking.

VIII. Conclusion and Risk Warning

Nobu Invest (nobuinvest.com / nobu-invest.net) is a typical cloned fraudulent investment platform that lures users into depositing funds by forging regulatory documents, creating fake AI profit displays, and using a fake trading system. This website belongs to the same fraud network as ProfitBee, XHPro, Aurudium, and others.

Risk level: Extremely high ⚠️ Investors should immediately stay away from such platforms and avoid providing any funds or personal information.