The number of online investment scams has risen sharply in Switzerland since the beginning of the year, according to figures from the Federal Office for Cyber Security (FOCS) published on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Federal Council also announced that it wants to combat fraudulent websites.
In the first half of 2025, the number of cyber incidents reported to the FOCS remained “stable at a high level”. Around 58% concerned fraud attempts. While alerts related to fraudulent calls have decreased, attempts at online investment scams via ads have increased fivefold.
Targeted people are tricked into investing money on supposedly serious platforms via ads. In order to gain the trust of their victim, hackers impersonate public figures. “The combination of a familiar face, a counterfeit voice and a promise of winning makes the deception more credible,” the OFCS report says.
To combat such problems, the Federal Council adopted a report on the fight against fraudulent websites on Wednesday. While the legal tools already exist to block these sites, they are not used systematically enough. The government wants to intensify cooperation between authorities, police and registry operators, and plans to expand competences to better combat new forms of fraud – also based on international cooperation.