SpaceX IPO fuels investor avoidance tactics and global fraud network

The initial public offering of SpaceX has prompted a wave of retail investors to restructure their portfolios to exclude companies linked to Elon Musk. Examples include a Philadelphia software engineer moving $1 million into European index funds and Rocket Lab stock, and a California analyst shifting retirement savings from U.S. index funds to international ones. Some advisers are offering “direct indexing” services that replicate an index while omitting Musk‑led firms, comparing the sentiment to the backlash against Meta after 2016.

At the same time, cybersecurity firm Bitdefender uncovered an international fraud operation that used the IPO hype to lure victims in more than 15 countries across Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The scheme employed fake eligibility offers, AI‑driven trading promises and aggressive outreach via email, SMS, webinars and phone calls. Fraudsters targeted users in Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Romania, France and South Africa, among others, claiming weekly earnings of over €11,000. The operation ran from October 2025 through June 2026 and continued after SpaceX’s market debut.