Crypto guide
Red flags of a crypto scam
Signs that a person, a payment or a wallet is part of a crypto scam, and the stages of the most common one, the relationship-investment scam.
In the contact
- Unsolicited contact that quickly moves to private messaging
- Guaranteed or very high returns, pressure, secrecy ('do not tell family or the bank')
- You cannot withdraw without paying a fee or tax
- A request for your seed phrase, private key, remote access or wallet 'verification'
- 'Recovery' offers that need a payment
- Official-looking orders sent over chat, or a demand to stay on a video call
In the payment
- A 'government agency' said to pay in digital assets, wire abroad, or buy gold or gift cards
- A payment to 'recover' lost money without proof that the service is real
- Withdrawals from savings to buy gold to hand to a courier
- A receiving money service claiming to be 'approved by FinCEN'; an exchange advertising 'no KYC'
- Stablecoins advertised as 'unfreezable'
- An address posted on messaging platforms next to Chinese-language money-laundering terms
- An exchange customer behaving like an OTC broker with the exchange's liquidity
In the wallet
- Unlimited token approvals or unknown spenders
- Off-chain signature requests or EIP-7702 delegation prompts
- An address similar to a known counterparty but not identical
- Sites asking you to paste commands or code
- A familiar site with an unexpected certificate or a new 'connect wallet' prompt
A relationship-investment scam, stage by stage
| Stage | What the scammer does | Evidence to capture |
|---|---|---|
| Contact | Unsolicited message; moves to WhatsApp or Telegram | Handles, numbers, first messages, platform IDs |
| Grooming | Daily chats, lifestyle photos, AI-assisted language | Full chat export, images (reverse-search), profiles |
| Bait | A private platform, 'insider signals' | Platform address or app, download link, domain registration |
| Fattening | Small withdrawals allowed to build trust | The victim's deposits and withdrawals with transaction IDs |
| Kill | Withdrawal blocked by fees, taxes or a 'regulator hold' | Fee demands, wallet addresses, bank or UPI details |
| Exit and re-victimisation | Silence, then 'recovery' offers | Recovery-agent contacts and the fee payment trail |
What next?
More crypto guides
The first hour
What to do, in order, when you have just sent crypto to a scammer.
Can it be frozen?
The six ways money gets frozen, and which tokens can be blocklisted.
How scam money is moved
The laundering roles, the cash-out points and the regional patterns.
Questions and glossary
Common questions, answered plainly, and the terms explained.
This is information, not legal, financial or investment advice, and it does not recover money. Report crime to the police first.