How to spot a fake trading Discord before you pay

The seven checks

1. Count the reviews, not the stars. A 4.9 from 50 reviews means less than a 4.8 from 4,000.
2. Read the 1-3 star reviews first, sorted by newest.
3. Look for losses. Honest traders post red days; Scarface Trades, for example, posted a $6,900 loss.
4. Check what's free. A good group gives a free tier, course or YouTube library first.
5. Find the conflict. Does the leader earn from the prop firm, broker or tool they push? PJ Trades earns on its 'code PJ'.
6. Watch the pricing. Weekly, 2-day and lifetime plans are built for impulse buys.
7. Ignore income screenshots. They are easy to cherry-pick; Alertsify's own onboarding says so.

Red flags we found

• Payment taken with no access granted (Dr. Profit reviews, September 2026).
• A reported $5,000 course pitched on sales calls (Scarface Trades, Reddit, unverified).
• Copy-trading 'targets' like $500 → $5K in a free feed (Crystal Academy).
• Win-rate headlines such as '94% win rate' (PB Trading's YouTube).

Where to start instead

If you're new, start with a free course from a highly rated community. Razza Trades (a free 6.5-hour course, plus the only real risk statement we found) and Crystal Academy (free beginner lessons) are good places to start. See our trading rankings.