Is a larp wallet legal? What the fraud laws of the US, the UK and Japan actually target

Whether a wallet mockup is lawful depends less on the image than on what you do with it. This page reads the fraud rules of the US, the UK, Japan, France and the EU, walks a ladder of cases from labeled skit to scam, and shows where our own terms stop. Background only, not legal advice.

Published: 23 October 2026

The one question that decides it

People usually ask whether the app is allowed. Courts and prosecutors ask something else: what was the image used to get? A wallet screen on a film set, in a tutorial or in a parody gets nothing from anyone. The same pixels sent to a landlord, a bank or a follower who is about to hand over money are a different story.

• Making the picture. None of the fraud laws below makes it an offense merely to use software that draws a wallet screen, just as prop money or a film set is not an offense in itself. The UK adds one wrinkle: possessing, making or supplying an article for use in fraud is a crime of its own, so intent counts even before anyone is deceived.
• Using the picture. Every law below punishes one pattern: a false representation used to obtain money, property or credit, or to cause another person a loss. A balance shown as real to a seller, lender, investor or paying audience fits it exactly.

A ladder of six cases, from prop to fraud

Take the same wallet image and change only the context. The first rungs are safe; the top ones are not, and our terms follow the same ordering.

1. A skit or parody with a visible "Mockup" label. Nobody is meant to rely on it and nothing is obtained. This is the intended use.
2. A tutorial about what a wallet screen shows. An illustration, with no claim about anyone's holdings. Also the intended use.
3. An unlabeled "my bag" post, just for clout. Normally no gain is sought, so it sits outside the fraud texts, though most platform rules call it misleading. Our terms forbid making anyone believe you hold assets you do not.
4. A screen shown to a seller, a landlord or a lender as proof of funds. A false representation to obtain property or credit; in the US, 18 U.S.C. 1014 applies to loans. Forbidden by our terms (what real proof of funds looks like).
5. A balance passed off as your results to sell a course or signals. A false representation to obtain money, and an earnings claim under FTC rules. Forbidden.
6. A balance posted to talk followers into investing or sending crypto. Fraud, plus securities law where a security is involved. Forbidden, and it may be reported to the authorities.

Rungs three to six use a screen that could be byte-for-byte identical to rungs one and two. Nothing in the pixels tells you which rung you are on, which is why "does it look like a mockup?" is the wrong test.

What each country actually says

The table gives the headline rule for each jurisdiction, and the picture under it sums up the main three.

Japan

Article 246 is brief. Defraud someone of property, or gain an unlawful profit the same way, and the ceiling is 10 years. A wallet screen used as scenery is nowhere near it, while one used to trick a person out of property is squarely inside it.

United Kingdom

The Fraud Act 2006 spells out its terms. A representation is false when it is "untrue or misleading" and its maker knows it is, or might be. It "may be express or implied", which means a screenshot captioned "my portfolio" qualifies. The intended gain or loss need only concern money or other property, and it may be temporary. And the representation can be made to "any system or device designed to receive, convey or respond to communications", which takes in platforms and apps.

United States

Wire fraud is the statute most online schemes run into: posts, messages and video calls are wire communications. Beside it sit two federal civil rules. Section 5 of the FTC Act bans "unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce". In October 2021 the FTC sent notices to more than 1,100 businesses, investment coaches among them, warning that false or misleading earnings claims could cost up to $43,792 per violation at that time, including claims that suggest a result is typical when it is not. States add their own fraud and consumer protection statutes.

France and the European Union

The EU has no single fraud offense, because fraud is defined by each member state's code. In France, whose law governs our terms, escroquerie under article 313-1 of the Code penal carries up to five years. For people who earn from content, EU law adds two layers. The European Commission treats influencers engaged in regular commercial activity as traders under EU consumer law, which means disclosing advertising and not misleading. Its 2024 sweep of 576 influencers found only one in five systematically disclosed ads. And under the MiCA regulation, crypto-asset service providers must provide information that is "fair, clear and not misleading", marketing included.

Larping, the hobby and the slang

Live-action role-play is an organized game, and no law above targets it. Larping in the slang sense, pretending online, is not an offense on its own either: each statute needs the pretense to be used to obtain something or to cause a loss. When larping rich becomes fraud follows that boundary through real cases.

Two other things can bite without any fraud charge. Platforms take down content and accounts that mislead, and a rented supercar that ends in a course link is an earnings claim under FTC rules. Prop banknotes have their own regime too (is prop money legal?).

Why a simulator exists at all

Skits, explainers, pitch decks and film scenes need a wallet on screen, and a real one is a poor choice: its address hands a real balance and a real history to anyone who looks.

A larp wallet, or crypto wallet app simulator, draws a wallet screen that reads as real from figures you type yourself, for a video, a sketch, a pitch deck or a demo. It holds nothing and reads no chain.

Flexdger Wallet, which we make, is one such app, sold as a mockup tool and nothing more. It never asks for a key or a seed phrase, and every amount on screen is one you typed in (what it does and cannot do). The app is never the legal question. What matters is what the person holding the phone says the screen is.

Demo data: the claim is the line

Launch screenshots, tutorials and demo accounts are filled with invented names, amounts and dates, and have to be: otherwise you get an empty screen that sells nothing, or somebody's real data that you cannot publish. A fixture is a set, not a lie, and a wallet screen in a tutorial equals a populated dashboard in product docs.

Before publishing any such image, ask three things.

• Where will it appear? A store listing, landing page or tutorial is an illustration and expected. A deck slide showing what the product looks like is also fine, as long as nothing labels it as traction.
• What does the caption claim? Invented revenue shown as real, or a balance sent to persuade someone you hold it, is a statement of fact. That is a fraud problem, not a screenshot problem.
• What survives a crop? A visible Mockup label settles most cases and is also the first thing to get cut. Put numbers where the surrounding context already says what they are, and do not make an image whose only use is to persuade someone that money exists when it does not.

A mockup is a prop, never proof. App stores have their own take: Apple's guidelines expect screenshots to show the app in use, and a listing that wears another company's interface is a separate problem (what App Review rejects in wallet screenshots).

Where our terms draw the line

Section 3 of our terms of use says the same thing the laws do, in everyday words. You may not use the images to:

• make anyone believe you hold assets you do not hold;
• obtain a payment, an investment, a loan or any other advantage from a fictional financial position;
• stand as evidence, a statement, a certificate or any document presented as authentic;
• copy another publisher's branding in a way that blurs who makes the product.

A breach ends the license with no refund and may be reported to the competent authorities. Keep the "Mockup" label in the frame, say it aloud in a video, and when in doubt about a use, ask a lawyer before posting, not after.

Not affiliated with Apple or Instagram: both are named only as places where the rules above apply.

Sources

• 18 U.S. Code 1343, Fraud by wire, radio, or television (Cornell LII), 2026
• 18 U.S. Code 1014, Loan and credit applications generally (Cornell LII), 2026
• 17 CFR 240.10b-5, Employment of manipulative and deceptive devices (Cornell LII), 2026
• 15 U.S. Code 78ff, Penalties (Cornell LII), 2026
• 15 U.S. Code 45, Unfair methods of competition unlawful (Cornell LII), 2026
• Federal Trade Commission, FTC Puts Businesses on Notice that False Money-Making Claims Could Lead to Big Penalties, 2021
• Fraud Act 2006, section 2 (legislation.gov.uk), 2006
• Fraud Act 2006, sections 6 and 7 (legislation.gov.uk), 2006
• Legifrance, Code penal, article 313-1, 2026
• Japanese Law Translation, Penal Code (Act No. 45 of 1907), article 246, 2026
• Apple, App Review Guidelines, 2.3.3 Screenshots, read November 1, 2026
• European Commission, Commission and consumer authorities look into business practices of influencers, 2023
• European Commission, Investigation finds that online influencers rarely disclose commercial content (IP/24/708), 2024
• ESMA interactive single rulebook, MiCA article 66, 2026