How to spot crypto scams: 10 red flags to know

Crypto scams rarely look like scams at first. They arrive as a friendly message, a well-paid side job, a helpful "support agent" or an investment app with a slick dashboard. Because blockchain payments are fast and usually irreversible, the money is often gone before the victim realises what happened. Americans alone reported $11.4 billion in crypto fraud losses in 2025, up 22% on the year before, according to FBI figures cited by Bloomberg (our report).

The good news: almost every scheme relies on the same handful of tricks. Learn these red flags and you will recognise most of them early.

Guaranteed or unusually high returns

No legitimate investment can promise a fixed daily or weekly profit, and nobody can guarantee that a crypto price will rise. Phrases such as "risk-free", "2% a day" or "double your bitcoin" are a warning, not an offer. Real markets move both ways — bitcoin can lose 10–20% in a week.

A stranger brings up crypto

A "wrong number" text, a dating match or a new friend on social media who slowly steers the chat toward a trading platform they "made a fortune on" is the classic opening of a long-con investment scam. These schemes can run for weeks to build trust before any money is mentioned. Be wary of anyone you have only met online who wants to talk about your finances.

You're paid for easy online tasks, then asked to deposit

Task scams offer money for liking videos, rating hotels or "boosting" product sales. The first payouts are real and small. Then a "negative balance" or a "combination task" appears, and you are told to deposit your own crypto to unlock your earnings. You never get it back. This exact pattern funded the wallet in the recent tampered Ledger theft.

Someone asks for your recovery phrase

Your 12- or 24-word recovery (seed) phrase is the master key to your wallet. No exchange, wallet maker, support team or government agency will ever need it. Anyone who asks — by message, phone, email or a form on a website — is trying to empty your wallet. The same goes for private keys and for remote-access apps that let someone "help" you on your screen.

Pressure, urgency and secrecy

"The offer closes tonight", "your account will be frozen", "don't tell your bank — they'll block it". Scammers create time pressure so you skip the moment of doubt, and they ask for secrecy so nobody talks you out of it. A genuine opportunity will still be there after you sleep on it and ask someone you trust.

You can deposit, but withdrawals cost "fees" or "taxes"

Fake trading platforms show impressive gains on screen, but the numbers are invented. When you try to withdraw, you are asked to pay a tax, an "unlock fee" or a verification deposit first — and then another. A real platform deducts fees from your balance; it does not demand fresh money before releasing your own. Check that any exchange is licensed in your country before depositing (our guide on how to buy bitcoin covers what to look for).

Giveaways and celebrity impersonation

"Send 0.1 ETH and get 0.2 ETH back" is never real, whoever's face is in the video. Deepfake livestreams, hacked verified accounts and lookalike profiles of founders and celebrities are common. Treat every giveaway that asks you to send crypto first as a theft attempt.

You're told to pay at a crypto ATM

Callers posing as police, tax officials, utility companies or a bank's fraud team sometimes instruct victims to withdraw cash and feed it into a bitcoin ATM, often while staying on the phone. No legitimate authority collects payments through crypto ATMs. Hang up and call the organisation back on a number you find yourself.

Pre-set wallets, lookalike apps and links

A hardware wallet that arrives with a recovery phrase already printed or filled in, or that comes from an unofficial reseller, may be compromised. Buy directly from the manufacturer, and make sure the device generates a new phrase during setup (what is a hardware wallet explains how setup should look). Online, fake wallet apps and phishing sites copy real brands closely: type addresses yourself, bookmark the real site and double-check every character of a receiving address.

"Recovery experts" who promise to get your money back

After a loss, victims are often contacted by "asset recovery" firms or "blockchain lawyers" who charge an upfront fee to retrieve stolen funds. This is usually a second scam aimed at the same person. Real investigations go through the police and official channels, which do not charge you to open a case.

For day-to-day protection, keep only small amounts on exchanges and follow the steps in how to store crypto safely.