[INFO] Updated Summary of malpractices and abuses of exchanges

[paid2]

It will be useful to have a thread that aggregates all legitimate reports of various abuses and bad practices of crypto exchanges, such as:

- KYC shotguns from "Non-KYC exchanges"
- Frozen funds/accounts because of reasons not specified in the conditions of use/ToS
- Frozen funds due to the use of risk-scoring tools that give dubious/false AML scores (like AMLBot for example)
- KYC requested by a non-registered company
- Other abuses..

The goal here is to keep track of reports, posts and threads published on this subject, as they are too often deleted and poorly indexed. For a complaint post to be credible/added to this table, there must be sufficient indication of the nature of the problem, and evidence that the situation cited is real.

The table below classifies the various incidents by date. I'll continue to add to this table as I find new information, and with the new incidents that appear regularly. All users are welcome to report their case here, or if they have already shared their case in Scam Accusations to post the link of their thread there, it would help us to have the most complete list possible, and thus provide our community with an overview of these incidents, giving us the means to know how some exchanges are acting against their users' interests.

Date   |

Exchange Name   |

Incident type      |

Amount   |

Asset   |

Status          |

References, links and other details

Apr. 25

Kraken

Acc. closure w funds

12

ETH

Funds not returned

Reference 1, Ref. 2

Mar. 25

Mycelium Exchange

Withdrawals suspended

100

USD

Funds returned

Reference 1

Mar. 25

Coinbase

Single deposit frozen

5.230274

LTC

Funds not returned

Reference 1

Jan. 25

ChangeNOW

Single deposit frozen

9

ETH

Funds not returned

Reference 1

Dec. 24

imexchanger.pro

Single deposit frozen

100

XMR

Funds not returned

Reference 1

Nov. 24

Kraken

Withdrawals suspended

250

USD

Funds returned

Reference 1

Nov. 24

Changelly

Single deposit frozen

1.3

BTC

Funds not returned

Reference 1, Ref. 2

Nov. 24

Kucoin

Withdrawals suspended

5240

XMR

Partially returned

Reference 1, Archive

Nov. 24

Cripto Intercambio

Single deposit frozen

0.15998883

ETH

Funds not returned

Reference 1

Oct. 24

FixedFloat

Single deposit frozen

11344

USDT

Funds not returned

Reference 1, Archive

Oct. 24

HTX

Withdrawals suspended

1500

XMR

Funds not returned

Reference 1, Archive

Sep. 24

Changelly

Single deposit frozen

2

ETH

Funds not returned

Reference 1, Ref. 2

Sep. 24

Waddex

Withdrawals suspended

10033

USDT

Funds not returned

Reference 1

July 24

ChangeNOW

Single deposit frozen

1.05

ETH

Funds not returned

Reference 1, Archive

July 24

Quickex.io

Single deposit frozen

14000

USDT

Funds not returned

Ref. 1, Ref. 2

June 24

Swapter

Single deposit frozen

225

XMR

Funds not returned

Reference 1

May 24

Binance

Withdrawals suspended

15

BNB

Funds returned

Reference 1

Apr. 24

N.Exchange

Single deposit frozen

1

BTC

Funds not returned

Reference 1

Apr. 24

ChangeNOW

Single deposit frozen

0.06

BTC

Funds not returned

Reference 1

Jan. 24

FixedFloat

Single deposit frozen

8000

EUR

Funds not returned

Reference 1, Archive

Mar. 23

N.Exchange

Two deposits frozen

2.7

BTC

Funds returned

Reference 1

June 22

OpenChange

Single deposit frozen

0.25598350

BTC

Partially returned

Reference 1

Apr. 22

Paytiz

Single deposit frozen

2080

USD

Funds returned

Reference 1, Ref.2

Jan. 22

HitBTC

Withdrawal suspended

15147

DOGE

Funds not returned

Reference 1

Jan. 22

Binance

Withdrawal suspended

N/A

BTC

Funds not returned

Reference 1

June 21

ChangeNOW

Single deposit frozen

1380000

ZIL

Funds returned

Reference 1, Archive

Jan. 21

FixedFloat

Single deposit frozen

0.17

BTC

Funds not returned

Reference 1

Aug. 17

HitBTC

Withdrawals suspended

150

ETH

Funds not returned

Reference 1, Archive

Other resources (general info about malpractices, cases without enough evidences to be added to the main list):

General Information: What is "shotgun KYC" or "ToS-scam"?

Altmarkets.io: Altmarkets.io - Scam!
Binance: Binance Freezes Palestinian Crypto Wallets on Israel's Orders! + BINANCE STOLE OVER $10K FROM ME – NEED HELP FROM THE COMMUNITY + Binance Stuck My withdrawal
Bitmart: Account Frozen Due to Suspicion of Money Laundering
Bitswap.kr: Don't use Bitswap.kr
Boltz: address blocking due to CoinJoin
ByBit: SCAMMED by Bybit.com
Changelly: Changelly has been holding my funds for 3 months due to AML Review Without Transparency
ChangeNOW: CHANGENOW BAD EXCHANGE SERVICE !!! + ChangeNow.io (Evercode Lab) - Scam. Illegally holding of 100 BCH (11 bitcoins) + Changenow.io selective scamming + ChangeNOW.io has failed to list or exchange their own NOW tokens. + ChangeNOW.io Evercode Lab - Scam. Defamation. Abuses. Threats - Russian Business + ChangeNOW linked to Exolix and Swapuz
Cripto Intercambio $30k scam accusation wihout enough evidences: Exodus and crypto intercambio have stolen 30k + from me 3 months ago !!!!! +$350,000 scam accusation without enough evidences:  EXODUS + criptointercambio.com = SCAM (hold funds 350 000$)
FixedFloat: Antiswap.info on FixedFloat (russian only) + FixedFloat is holding my funds
Fmfw.io: Bought XMR on Fmfw.io account immediately frozen + Frozen XMR on Fmfw.io
Gate.io: Gate.io blocked my funds and the problem has not been resolved for more a month
HitBTC: HitBTC scam! + SCAMMED by HitBTC + HitBTC scam
Kucoin: kucoin withdraw block nightmare. STAY AWAY FROM KUCOIN
MEXC: Bad experience with MEXC blocking funds
Quickex.io: Quickex blocking a deposit issued from CoinJoin because of "several risk tags" and requesting KYC
SimpleSwap.io:  Scammed by SimpleSwap.io - Stephanie - SCAM REPORT / CRIMINALS.
Swapuz: Why you should avoid to use Swapuz
WhiteBit: Info and fraud accusations against Whitebit
Wirex: Scammed by Wirex + wirex is SCAM! + Wirex - Scam again + WIREX APP BECOME SCAM? +  Beware!! Wirex/E-coin Worst bitcoin card ever!


Thread self-moderated to avoid troll / spam.
Last update:  April 2025

[AB de Royse777]

Not sure who will be the trolls in such a good topic but anyway.
Most of these exchanges are big and they have millions of clients. Obviously no one is perfect. When you have millions to deal, there will be always a percentage who will be mismanaged. I am not saying this will justify the victims but we can not ignore the fact too.

Personally I have very conservative impression for Changelly, ChangeNOW.
I am not much familiar with Cripto Intercambio, HTX, Quickex.io, Paytiz so there are no opinion about them from me.
Kraken, Kucoin, FixedFloat, Binance and some others never been created any negative image in my mind (until now).

[paid2]

-snip-
Most of these exchanges are big and they have millions of clients. Obviously no one is perfect. When you have millions to deal, there will be always a percentage who will be mismanaged. I am not saying this will justify the victims but we can not ignore the fact too.

Yeah, I check recent incidents from time to time, as some of them are returning funds at the end.

But temporality does matter: for example, we can see that Kraken has already solved the case, whereas in (about) two months HTX still hasn't done anything about the 1500 XMR. Even taking into account their large customer base, this is clearly an abuse, even if it only concerned 0.1% of their users, it shouldn't exist at all.

The fact of accumulating as many of these incidents as possible (which themselves should represent only a small percentage of the total number of incidents that are not communicated online) in this list will make it easier to know for which exchange this is a deliberated part of their business model, and which exchange has "only" isolated/occasional problems.

In the long term, it will be interesting to see who is often mentioned in the list, and who is never!


List updated: Adding line

June 24

Swapter

Single deposit frozen

225

XMR

Funds not returned

Reference 1

[paid2]

List updated: adding one line

Oct. 30

FixedFloat

Single deposit frozen

11344

USDT

Funds not returned

Reference 1, Archive

[paid2]

List updated: adding one line

Dec. 24

imexchanger.pro

Single deposit frozen

100

XMR

Funds not returned

Reference 1

[Pmalek]

It's a good idea to compile all information about scams by exchanges in one place to better keep track of them. There are so many issues with these custodial services and most of them never get reported publicly because people are afraid that if they speak out it will diminish their chances of ever getting their money back. If you started going through the pages on the Scam Accusation board you would surely find more cases that fit the criteria you posted in the OP.

[paid2]

It's a good idea to compile all information about scams by exchanges in one place to better keep track of them. There are so many issues with these custodial services and most of them never get reported publicly because people are afraid that if they speak out it will diminish their chances of ever getting their money back.

Yes, and there's also the fact that some of these companies are very efficient at deleting such reports (for example a lot of corrupted moderation on Dread, or there are a lot of deleted posts on Reddit and so on...)

If you started going through the pages on the Scam Accusation board you would surely find more cases that fit the criteria you posted in the OP.

Yeah currently I'm still browsing Scam Accusations and some other forums/subreddits, I'll update the list soon with new (old) cases. Scam Accusations is full of accusations against casinos btw, makes searching less efficient when focusing on CEXs cases.

[paid2]

Just updated the list. First case of the year added:

Jan. 25

ChangeNOW

Single deposit frozen

9

ETH

Funds not returned

Reference 1

[tabas]

Thanks for this list paid2, we will now have a go-to thread for the list of exchanges that have issues. This is just the tip of the iceberg with so many issues with the exchanges that everyone uses. If I see some of them in the scam accusations board, mostly the recent ones I'll also post them here just to contribute even for a bit.

[LoyceV]

Nov. 24

Kucoin

Withdrawals suspended

5240

XMR

Funds not returned

Reference 1, Archive

Both Reference links are the same. The latest date on the link is 13 days before November 24, and it says the account has been Unfrozen. The links are messy and hard to read, but am I missing something here?

[paid2]

Both Reference links are the same. The latest date on the link is 13 days before November 24, and it says the account has been Unfrozen. The links are messy and hard to read, but am I missing something here?

Thank you for noticing and pointing it out! I've updated the OP with accurate information and link (by the way it seems this archive service is not working well right now):

Nov. 24

Kucoin

Withdrawals suspended

5240

XMR

Partially returned

Reference 1, Archive

"Nov. 24" should be read like "November 2024". The whole table was broken (at least from my screen) when I tried to write the full date (I mean including the day).

However as I understand the thread on Reddit, up to today the funds are only partially returned:


https://oshi.at/Tyod/uCrX.png

https://oshi.at/jDzJ/Aokg.png

(I'm working on improving this table, and will update it when it will be ready.)

[paid2]

Adding old cases to the list:

Apr. 24

N.Exchange

Single deposit frozen

1

BTC

Funds not returned

Reference 1

Mar. 23

N.Exchange

Two deposits frozen

2.7

BTC

Funds returned

Reference 1

June 22

OpenChange

Single deposit frozen

0.25598350

BTC

Partially returned

Reference 1

Jan. 22

HitBTC

Withdrawal suspended

15147

DOGE

Funds not returned

Reference 1

The second list, “other ressources”, has also been updated and is now more readable.

[paid2]

More old cases added:

Sep. 24

Waddex

Withdrawals suspended

10033

USDT

Funds not returned

Reference 1

Apr. 24

ChangeNOW

Single deposit frozen

0.06

BTC

Funds not returned

Reference 1

More links added to the second list "other resources".

[NotATether]

You should consider converting this table into a website.

Then you could scale all of the cases of missing crypto deposits to users on social media such as X.

News websites could site your resource when the article is about an exchange.

And you would get a lot more visibility and reach that way.

Currently this list only includes scam accusations that have been make on bitcointalk, but we know that even more happen off-site.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

You should consider converting this table into a website.

That'd be an excellent idea if OP is able to do it and keep it maintained; as it stands I'm just hoping he has enough motivation to keep this thread up to date as time passes, because I've seen quite a few with a similar theme get abandoned for whatever reason.

"KYC shotgun".  Never heard that term in my life, and yet I know exactly what it means.  Also, I didn't realize that

- KYC requested by a non-registered company

was a problem with the non-KYC exchanges still in existence.  By 'non-registered' I'm assuming that means some entity that has no standing to enforce KYC regulations?  Anyway, I missed this thread when you created it, OP.  I'm glad you did, and keep up the good work!

[NotATether]

"KYC shotgun".  Never heard that term in my life, and yet I know exactly what it means.  Also, I didn't realize that

- KYC requested by a non-registered company

was a problem with the non-KYC exchanges still in existence.  By 'non-registered' I'm assuming that means some entity that has no standing to enforce KYC regulations?  Anyway, I missed this thread when you created it, OP.  I'm glad you did, and keep up the good work!

You have no legal standing to require documents from other users if you yourself are not vetted by a government agency. (i.e. have licenses to take such data.)

There are some services, e.g. Pi Network that absolutely demand your documents to withdraw but as far as I know of, none of those are registered companies with a regulatory license.

[LoyceV]

You have no legal standing to require documents from other users if you yourself are not vetted by a government agency. (i.e. have licenses to take such data.)
~none of those are registered companies with a regulatory license.

For those services, it's the other way around: they have no reason to follow privacy regulations, because they're untouchable.

[paid2]

You should consider converting this table into a website.

Then you could scale all of the cases of missing crypto deposits to users on social media such as X.

News websites could site your resource when the article is about an exchange.

And you would get a lot more visibility and reach that way.

Currently this list only includes scam accusations that have been make on bitcointalk, but we know that even more happen off-site.

Thank you for the suggestion!

Indeed, most of the cases on the current list are from Bitcointalk (and only a few from Reddit). I'm already trying to find other sources, but it's quite difficult to find credible cases with enough evidences on social networks when you're not very active on them yourself.

I've been planning for some time to publish a minimalist page that would mirror this list - and potentially propose some more information (it's only a matter of time, should be done within the current year). It would be great to get to the point where users could share their cases themselves directly on the website for review before publication, but that would require a certain amount of notoriety that I'm far from having now.

was a problem with the non-KYC exchanges still in existence.  By 'non-registered' I'm assuming that means some entity that has no standing to enforce KYC regulations?  Anyway, I missed this thread when you created it, OP.  I'm glad you did, and keep up the good work!

Indeed, an unregistered / unregulated entity has no legal ground to receive/store/process the legal documents of its users. We should even consider it dangerous to send one's legal documents to random people on the Internet, and all these unregistered API resellers who use KYC procedures as a pretext to confiscate (and often to keep) people's funds, are in reality probably no more than greedy private individuals behind their laptops (at least from a legal perspective. In reality we could easily suspect that they are often part of a well organized scheme..).

Also, this hurts the whole ecosystem by maintaining the myth that there are “clean” and “dirty” crypto, as well as hurting users' privacy and data security, and in most cases it's simply illegal. Unfortunately, it became a whole part of their business model.

What's more, it's often totally hypocritical. For example, Germany recently seized 47 exchanges for money laundering reasons, even though these exchanges were performing "AML checks" and imposing KYC on their users lol.

That'd be an excellent idea if OP is able to do it and keep it maintained; as it stands I'm just hoping he has enough motivation to keep this thread up to date as time passes, because I've seen quite a few with a similar theme get abandoned for whatever reason.

"KYC shotgun".  Never heard that term in my life, and yet I know exactly what it means.  Also, I didn't realize that

Motivation is not a problem
As long as I'm active here, I'll keep my threads up to date when necessary. And normally - unless there's a catastrophe - I plan to remain active here for a long time to come touching wood.

[paid2]

New case added, LTC deposit frozen, involving Coinbase:

Mar. 25

Coinbase

Single deposit frozen

5.230274

LTC

Funds not returned

Reference 1

[Trêvoid]

Once again Thank you for creating this thread @paid2

 
The thread i created has been updated. More evidence added.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5511957.new#new

Once again to all, I would strongly suggests to stay away from ChangeNow.io