The best credit cards to buy for rewards points. Tips to build passive income by buying vending machines and car washes. Strategies for paying off debt – some more convoluted than others. If you’ve spent long enough scrolling on TikTok, you’ve surely found yourself in the corner of the app known as FinTok, where influencers and scammers alike thrive on sharing financial advice.

TikTok has skyrocketed in popularity since its launch in 2016, creating one of the most popular platforms for digital search. One-third of Generation Z even reports “routinely” using TikTok for financial guidance.

But anyone can join TikTok and post advice-driven content. This reality has created a similar, skyrocketing trend of users facing material losses after following bad advice or falling for outright scams. The National Legal Center reported an uptick in cases involving TikTok misadventures.

That means it’s more important than ever to evaluate both the content and the creator when thinking about acting on FinTok advice. No one knows this more than Erika Kullberg, an attorney and personal finance expert who has 9.3 million followers on TikTok.

How to Spot and Avoid TikTok Scams

Much of Kullberg’s work centers around making knowledge accessible. After paying off more than $225,000 in student loans in less than 2 years, she turned to social media to start sharing her newfound financial knowledge with others.

It may seem absurd to think about taking financial advice from a seemingly random TikTok creator. After all, to legally serve as a financial advisor in the United States, you must take multiple qualifying exams. But on FinTok, anyone can post content where they offer insights and advice on what people should do with their money. And while this video-centric format can be engaging, that doesn’t mean the advice is always good. Popular narratives on FinTok often center around getting rich quickly and making risky bets as a means of doing so.

Kullberg advises everyone to steer clear of “anyone saying anything with certainty about the stock market,” such as TikTokers promising high returns or claiming that that an investment will rise by any specific percentage.

“The truth is, in the world of investing, the get-rich-quick methods are typically the scams out there,” she told InvestorPlace in an exclusive interview. “The get-rich-slow [strategies] are the only things that actually work.”

Step 1: Investigate the Influencer

The red flags for investors don’t stop at the advice they are giving when it comes to TikTok scams, though. Kullberg also highlights the importance of looking into someone’s professional history before following their investment advice. An important question to consider is how easily the creator’s background can be verified.

“I think a big warning sign social media users should look out for when they are unsure if a creator is legitimate is if they hide their background,” Kullberg said. “You should be easily able to confirm their education or professional experience by looking at their LinkedIn profile or some sort of business website. If they don’t seem to exist outside of TikTok, I’d be cautious.”

Eric Hazard, CEO of financial communications agency Vested Ventures, stresses the importance of evaluating a TikTok commentator’s financial experience and how easy it is to find. He also highlights the importance of content creators providing disclaimers when discussing investments. A lack of transparency from creators should alert investors to potential scams.

“A credible FinTok influencer should base their advice on sound investment principles and data-driven insights rather than speculative or high-risk strategies,” Hazard told InvestorPlace. “They should encourage practices like diversification, long-term investing, and thorough research, which are hallmarks of prudent financial management.”

Step 2: Focus on the Long Term… Not Get-Rich-Quick Schemes

Regardless of someone’s background, it is crucially important to consider one question; do their strategies center around building wealth quickly or slowly? If they promote any type of get-rich-quick narrative, investors should approach with extreme caution. Kullberg stresses the importance of looking at 10-, 20- and 30-year horizons. “When you’re a long-term investor, that’s what matters, not what happens this month or next month,” she adds.

This likely means avoiding plays on meme stocks. These companies might experience a slight burst thanks to social media momentum, but they rarely demonstrate any sustainable growth. Popular examples include GameStop (NYSE:GME) and AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC), both of which have struggled significantly over the past six months.

Social media has provided a convenient venue for meme stock investors to connect and share ideas. But it has also led to a rise in meme stock-related scams. In 2023, multiple social media influencers, including @MrZackMorris, were charged with orchestrating a pump-and-dump scheme that scammed retail investors out of $114 million.

This is just one example of why investors should cast an eye toward long-term profits, rather than the short-term gains that meme stock traders often tout. Kullberg further urges investors to avoid making an investment based purely on social media hype. “If someone is telling you to buy a single stock and you buy that stock on the basis of what [you] see on social media, that’s not the right way to do it.”

The Bottom Line: Scrolling Safely

With social media platforms consistently flooded with investment information, it can be hard to separate dangerous misinformation from TikTok scams. But content consumers have the power to investigate a creator’s background and evaluate who they are. They can also break down someone’s investment strategy and assess what they are basing their investment recommendations on.

The best strategies should center around building wealth slowly over time, not turning quick profits, even when many people are pushing the same narrative. There are plenty of red flags that anyone can look for from social media content creators, even if they are new to the world of investing.

On the date of publication, Samuel O’Brient did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.