If someone is asking for another crypto transfer, stop there. Do not pay a tax, gas fee, verification deposit, unlock fee, or recovery fee until you verify the situation outside the platform, chat, or phone call.
If crypto, a seed phrase, a wallet approval, or personal information already moved, focus on three things first: stop the next loss, preserve transaction evidence, and contact the exchange, wallet provider, bank, or reporting channel through an official app or website.
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| What happened | Do first | Check next |
|---|---|---|
| They promised guaranteed crypto returns | Pause before sending money. Do not treat screenshots, testimonials, or group-chat wins as proof. | Search the platform name, domain, app name, and person separately with words like scam, complaint, and review. |
| They told you to buy crypto or use a crypto ATM to protect money | End the call or chat and verify the real bank, agency, exchange, or company separately. | If someone is coaching what to tell a bank, exchange, kiosk operator, or family member, treat it as urgent. |
| You sent crypto to a wallet, QR code, or platform address | Stop sending more. Save the wallet address, transaction hash, network, amount, coin type, and date. | Contact the exchange or provider you used and report through official channels. |
| A dashboard shows profits but withdrawals are blocked | Do not pay taxes, gas, AML, verification, or unlock fees to the same platform or contact. | Screenshot balances, fees, withdrawal pages, support chats, domain names, and app names before they change. |
| You connected a wallet or approved a prompt | Stop using that site. Save the URL, prompt, wallet address, contract or transaction details, and screenshots. | Use your wallet provider's official help source to review approvals or remaining risk. Do not reconnect to test it. |
| You shared a seed phrase or private key | Treat the wallet as compromised. Do not write the phrase itself in reports, chats, or notes. | Use only official wallet support to decide how to handle any remaining assets. |
| An online relationship or group chat pushed the investment | Judge the money flow, not the profile. Stop secrecy, coaching, or pressure before sending more. | A dating match, wrong-number text, WhatsApp group, Telegram club, or video call can still be part of the setup. |
| A recovery company or government-looking contact offered help | Do not pay upfront, share wallet access, install remote access, or send more crypto. | Save the recovery messages too. Victim lists are reused, and recovery offers can be a second scam. |
Use the closest match. If more than one applies, handle money movement, wallet permissions, seed phrases, private keys, or withdrawal-fee demands first.
If you already sent crypto
Crypto transfers are usually difficult to reverse, but speed still matters. The first goal is to stop the next transfer and preserve details an exchange, wallet provider, bank, regulator, or law enforcement report may need.
Stop sending more
Do not send a test payment, tax, unlock deposit, verification deposit, gas payment, recovery fee, or second transfer.
Save transaction details
Keep wallet addresses, transaction hashes, network, coin type, amount, date, time, exchange account name, QR codes, and deposit addresses.
Capture the fake platform
Screenshot balances, profits, frozen-account messages, withdrawal pages, fees, platform URLs, app names, and customer support chats.
Contact the provider used
Use the official exchange, wallet, bank, card, wire, payment app, or ATM operator path. Tell them the transaction was part of a scam and ask what can be documented or reviewed.
Report through official channels
Use FTC ReportFraud and FBI IC3 in the U.S. If the facts involve investment, trading, securities, commodities, forex, derivatives, or digital asset fraud, SEC or CFTC reporting may also fit.
Expect recovery pressure
Keep messages from anyone who later says they can recover funds. Do not pay them, install remote access, or share wallet access.
If dollars moved first through a bank, card, wire, payment app, cash deposit, or Zelle before crypto was bought, contact that financial provider too.
If you shared your SSN, ID images, address, bank details, passwords, codes, or other personal information during the setup, also use what to do if a scammer has your information to separate identity risk from payment risk.
Fake platforms are easiest to judge by the money flow
A fake crypto platform can have a login, two-factor prompts, balance pages, charts, trades, customer support, tax forms, screenshots, and a withdrawal button. Those screens can still be controlled by the scam operation.
The more useful question is where the real money went. In many fake-platform scams, you buy crypto on a real exchange, then send it to a wallet address controlled by the fake platform. The real exchange may not control the fake account balance shown afterward.
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| What you see | What it can mean | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A rising balance or steady daily returns | The numbers may be typed into a fake dashboard. | Do not use the dashboard as proof. Verify the company, domain, app, and transaction records independently. |
| A small withdrawal worked once | It may be bait to encourage a larger deposit. | Do not send more because one small withdrawal succeeded. |
| Withdrawals are blocked until you pay fees | The freeze may be a setup for taxes, unlock fees, verification, gas, or AML fees. | Save the demand and stop paying new requests. |
| Support is only inside the app or chat | Support may be part of the same fake operation. | Use official websites, regulators, exchanges, or law enforcement channels outside the platform. |
A real-looking app or website is not proof that trading happened or that the shown balance can be withdrawn.
For one extra check, search the platform name, domain, app name, and receiving wallet address. The California DFPI Crypto Scam Tracker can be useful even outside California because it records complaint descriptions. Not finding a name there does not prove the platform is safe.
When a relationship or group chat is part of the setup
Some crypto scams start as a dating-app match, wrong-number text, LinkedIn contact, Instagram DM, WhatsApp group, Telegram group, or investment club. If the crypto pitch came from an online relationship, the romance scam page may help with the trust-building side of the pattern.
The person may spend weeks building trust, talk about family or future plans, coach you through buying crypto, and tell you not to tell your family, bank, or exchange what the transfer is for. That secrecy matters because banks and exchanges may ask questions designed to interrupt scams.
A group chat can be staged too. The professor, assistant, happy students, customer support, and other investors may all be controlled accounts. A real person on video or phone does not make the investment real.
Wallet connections, approvals, and seed phrases are different risks
Seeing a crypto website, connecting a wallet, signing a message, approving token access, sending crypto, and sharing a seed phrase are not the same event. The safest next step depends on which action happened.
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| What happened | Main concern | Practical next step |
|---|---|---|
| You visited a site but did not connect a wallet | Usually the main risk is phishing or a fake login prompt. | Close the site, do not return through the same link, and watch for follow-up messages. |
| You connected a wallet but did not sign or approve | The site may know your public wallet address, but the higher risk usually comes from what you sign. | Disconnect through the official wallet interface if available and avoid the site. |
| You approved a transaction, token access, or contract | A malicious approval or transaction may allow assets to move. | Stop using the site, save transaction details, and use your wallet provider's official support or approval-management tools. |
| You shared a seed phrase or private key | Someone else may be able to control the wallet. | Treat the wallet as compromised and use only official wallet support to decide how to handle remaining assets. |
This is consumer-safety guidance, not a technical investigation. Do not paste a seed phrase or private key into any checker, support chat, recovery site, or report.
If the scam used fake login links, exchange lookalikes, wallet prompts, or messages designed to steal credentials, read more about phishing scams. If you installed an app, gave remote access, changed account recovery settings, or see unknown account activity, also review phone and account access concerns.
Recovery offers can restart the scam
After a crypto loss, the next message may come from someone claiming to be a recovery agent, private investigator, hacker, blockchain tracing firm, law firm, government contact, or exchange insider. They may say the money has already been found and only a fee, tax, wallet sync, retainer, or verification deposit is needed.
Do not pay upfront recovery fees. Do not share a seed phrase. Do not give remote access. Do not send crypto to unlock recovered funds. A person who found you through a social media comment, DM, group chat, or unsolicited email should be treated as a new risk, even if they know details about the original loss.
Be especially careful with government-looking recovery messages. U.S. regulators do not ask victims to pay taxes, fees, deposits, or crypto wallet transfers before releasing recovered money, and official reporting is not a promise that funds can be returned.
What not to do now
These actions can make the loss larger or make account, wallet, and evidence problems harder to untangle.
Do not send another payment
This includes taxes, gas, AML, verification, unlock, security, recovery, or proof-of-funds payments.
Do not reconnect to the same site
Do not connect again, scan another QR code, or approve another prompt to see what happens.
Do not share wallet secrets
Never share a seed phrase, private key, backup phrase, recovery code, or wallet screenshot with support, investigators, or recovery contacts.
Do not install remote access
A recovery contact, support agent, or investigator does not need remote access to your phone, computer, wallet, or exchange account.
Do not use search ads as support
Open the exchange, wallet, regulator, or reporting site yourself. Scam support ads and lookalike reporting pages can target victims.
Do not delete evidence first
Save chats, receipts, addresses, transaction details, URLs, and screenshots before blocking, reporting, or deleting accounts.
What to save before reporting
Evidence to keep
Save evidence in a folder you can find later before blocking, deleting, or confronting the person. Some platforms make messages harder to access after a report, account deletion, or block.
Transaction details
Wallet addresses, QR codes, deposit addresses, transaction hashes, coin type, network, dates, times, and amounts.
Platform details
Platform URLs, app names, domain names, invite links, and screenshots of balances, profits, fees, and frozen-account messages.
Contact trail
Chat messages, usernames, handles, phone numbers, emails, profile URLs, group names, and support chat transcripts.
Payment path before crypto
Bank, card, wire, payment app, cash deposit, crypto ATM receipt, or Zelle details if fiat money was used before buying crypto.
Recovery messages
Recovery-service messages, websites, phone numbers, fee demands, letters, case numbers, and social media profiles.
Sensitive information exposure
A note that a seed phrase or private key was exposed, if that happened, without writing the actual phrase or key anywhere.
Where to report or get help
For consumer scam reporting in the U.S., use FTC ReportFraud. For internet-enabled fraud and cryptocurrency transaction details, use FBI IC3. If the pitch involved an investment, trading platform, token, securities claim, commodity, forex, derivatives, or market manipulation, consider SEC tips and complaints and the CFTC tip or complaint channel as applicable.
Also contact the exchange, wallet provider, bank, card issuer, wire service, payment app, or ATM operator used to buy or send the funds. Use the official app or website, not a phone number, ad, search-result support number, or link supplied by the person who contacted you.
Do not tell the suspected scammer that you filed an FBI report. Local law enforcement can still be useful for documentation, threats, harassment, identity misuse, or when a bank, insurer, employer, or platform asks for a police report. ScamClarity is not a government agency, reporting portal, exchange, wallet provider, recovery service, or legal representative.
When the problem is more specific
Use the more specific path when the crypto scam also involved a relationship, fake login, personal information, account access, or a payment method before the crypto transfer.
The crypto pitch came from an online relationship
Use this when the person built trust through dating, friendship, secrecy, or future plans before the investment request.
Romance scamsYou entered a password, code, or fake login
Use this when the main risk is account takeover through a fake exchange, wallet, email, or platform login.
Phishing scamsYou shared ID, SSN, bank details, or documents
Use this when the issue is identity or personal-information exposure, not only the crypto transfer.
Scammer has my informationYou installed an app or changed account access
Use this when a phone, email, exchange, wallet, or account may have changed after the scam.
Phone and account access concernsMoney moved by Zelle before crypto was bought
Use this when a bank-to-bank Zelle payment is part of the loss or first payment path.
Zelle scamsFAQ
How can I tell if a crypto platform is fake?
Look for the pattern: a new online contact introduces the platform, profits look unusually steady, support is only inside the app or chat, the site mimics a known brand, withdrawals are blocked, or you must pay taxes or fees to access the balance. A polished dashboard does not prove the platform is real.
What if I already sent crypto?
Stop sending more. Save the wallet address, transaction hash, coin type, network, amount, date, time, exchange used, chats, screenshots, and platform URL. Contact the exchange or provider you used to send it, then report through FTC ReportFraud and FBI IC3. If the situation involved investment or trading claims, SEC or CFTC reporting may also fit.
Can a crypto scam be recovered?
Sometimes funds can be traced, flagged, frozen, or investigated, but tracing is not the same as recovery. Recovery depends on timing, where funds moved, provider rules, law enforcement action, and the specific facts. Be careful with anyone who guarantees recovery or asks for upfront payment.
Should I pay tax, gas, or a fee to withdraw crypto profits?
Do not pay the same platform or person to unlock funds. Fake tax, audit, verification, gas, AML, and withdrawal fees are common when a fake dashboard shows profits but blocks withdrawal.
What if I shared my seed phrase?
Treat the wallet as compromised. Do not keep using it for funds, and do not write the actual seed phrase in reports or messages. Use only the official wallet provider's help source to decide how to handle any remaining assets.
Where do I report a crypto scam?
In the U.S., report consumer scam details to FTC ReportFraud and internet-enabled fraud to FBI IC3. Use SEC or CFTC channels when the facts involve investment, trading, securities, commodities, forex, derivatives, or digital asset fraud. Also contact the exchange, wallet provider, bank, card issuer, wire service, payment app, or ATM operator used.
Sources checked
These sources support the reporting steps, fake-platform warning signs, investment-scam cautions, recovery-scam cautions, wallet-safety boundaries, and limits on recovery claims.
- FTC: What To Know About Cryptocurrency and Scams
Crypto scam patterns, guaranteed-return warnings, fake investment sites, romance-investment overlap, and reporting paths.
- FTC: What To Do if You Were Scammed
What to do after paying a scammer, including the limits of reversing cryptocurrency payments and contacting the company used to send funds.
- FBI: Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud
Fake platform mechanics, WhatsApp and Telegram movement, early withdrawal bait, transaction details to report, recovery-scam warnings, and IC3 reporting.
- FBI IC3: Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency complaint routing and the importance of wallet addresses, transaction hashes, amounts, crypto type, dates, and times.
- SEC Investor.gov: Relationship Investment Scams
Long-con relationship investment scams, fake trading information, fake screenshots, fee demands, and recovery follow-up scams.
- FINRA: Relationship Investment Scams
Relationship investment scam terminology, trust-building patterns, crypto asset risk, high-return warnings, and investment verification context.
- CFTC: Fraudulent digital asset trading websites
Guaranteed returns, fake crypto trading sites, bogus taxes, advance-fee withdrawal demands, and investment fraud warning signs.
- CFTC: Recovery frauds
Follow-on recovery scams, upfront fee warning signs, government imposter claims, and victim-list reuse.
- CFTC: Beware Imposters Posing as CFTC Officials
Why government-looking recovery messages, tax demands, wallet requests, and fee requests should be verified through official channels.
- California DFPI: Crypto Scam Tracker
Consumer-complaint examples, fake platform names, imposter-site patterns, and the limitation that complaint trackers are not proof of safety.
- MetaMask: How to verify the real MetaMask wallet
Seed phrase warnings, fake wallet support, fake wallet sites, wallet-compromise caution, and transaction prompt context.
- MetaMask: Malicious token approvals
How token approvals can give a site or contract permission to move tokens and why approvals matter after connecting a wallet.