# MSG-227 — No promises of unusually high or guaranteed returns

> Campaign content must not promote schemes promising guaranteed, risk-free or unusually high financial returns.

- **Rule ID:** MSG-227
- **Layer:** Message content (`MESSAGE_CONTENT`)
- **Checks:** `campaign.description + campaign.sample[] + campaign.message_flow`
- **Severity:** BLOCKING — Breaking this rule gets the submission rejected outright.
- **When it bites:** Gates approval — get this wrong and registration is refused
- **How it is detected:** AI judgement over the submitted form
- **Fix type:** Hard stop — not remediable, resubmission will not help
- **Required by:** Twilio
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/message-content/msg-227/

## Why this rule exists

A guaranteed return is the single most reliable marker of investment fraud, which is why it is screened as its own category rather than left to the deception rules: no lawful investment can promise one, so the claim is refused on its face without anyone having to establish what the underlying product is. Honest businesses reach it through marketing habit — "guaranteed savings", "risk-free trial", a headline percentage with the conditions in the next sentence — and the screen reads the headline.

## How to fix it

Delete the guarantee and the headline number from the message copy. Where the rate is genuinely contractual — a deposit account, an insured product — say what it is and who insures it in the same sentence rather than leading with the figure. Done when no sample makes a promise about money that the business could not be held to in writing.

## Common mistakes

- Adding "terms apply" or a disclaimer link does not settle this: the screen reads the claim, and a disclaimer confirms that the headline overstated it.

## Provider rejection codes

| Provider | Code | Resubmission allowed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Twilio (gen2) | `30948` | no |
| Twilio (gen2) | `30962` | no |