Quick take
- If you can't withdraw without paying a fee first, the platform is almost certainly fake.
- Never sign wallet requests or connect to sites you reached through unsolicited links.
- After a loss, beware of anyone offering to recover funds for a fee.
The fake platform
A stranger, often met on social media, a dating app or after a "wrong number" message, shows you their trading profits and helps you open an account on a slick exchange or app. Your balance climbs. When you try to withdraw, you are told to pay tax, a verification deposit or an anti-money-laundering fee. The platform is controlled by the fraudsters and the balance was never real. This is sometimes called pig butchering.
Crypto-specific tricks
- Address poisoning: tiny transfers from an address that looks almost identical to one you use. Always copy addresses from the source, never from your transaction history.
- Wallet drainers: a website asks you to "claim" an airdrop or "verify" a wallet, and the signature you approve gives it permission to move your tokens.
- Fake apps and extensions: copies of popular wallets in app stores or browser extension stores that steal your recovery phrase.
- Impersonated support: accounts posing as exchange staff who contact you first and ask for codes or your phrase.
- Giveaways: "send 1 ETH, get 2 back". Nobody gives away money this way.
Warning signs, in one list
- Guaranteed or unusually high returns
- Pressure to act quickly or to keep it secret from family
- Payment only in crypto, often USDT
- A platform you cannot find on any regulator's register
- Requests for your recovery phrase, screen-sharing or remote access
- Fees to unlock or withdraw your own money
If it has already happened
- Stop sending money, whatever you are told.
- If a wallet was compromised, move any remaining funds to a new wallet with a new recovery phrase.
- Contact your bank if you paid by transfer or card.
- Save evidence: addresses, transaction hashes, website links and messages.
- Report it to the police and your national fraud reporting service. In the US that includes the FBI's IC3 and the FTC.
Be very wary of "recovery experts" who contact you afterwards. Many are the same criminals coming back for more.
TyrexCoin never contacts readers about investments. See how to check a platform.
Common questions
Can a stolen crypto transfer be reversed?
Blockchain transfers cannot be reversed by a bank. Occasionally exchanges or stablecoin issuers can freeze stolen funds if contacted quickly with evidence, which is why reporting fast matters.
How do I know if a crypto app is real?
Download only from links on the company's official website, check the developer name and review count, and never enter a recovery phrase into an app you have just installed unless you are restoring your own wallet.
Sources
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center
- U.S. Federal Trade Commission