Don’t Get Scammed: A Complete Breakdown of Modern Crypto Scams

[MisFoxie]

This topic is based on what I experienced and what I learned about Crypto scams.  I hope It will help newbie to learn about Crypto scams and give them ideas to avoid it. Scammer constantly change to  different scamming  method as time goes, they
Manipulate our fear, greed, trust and urgency to steal assets from us. Some common scamming methods are….
 

• Phishing scams
• Ponzi and pyramid scams
• Pig butchering scam
• Impersonation and fake support
• Pump and dump scam
• AI assisted and deepfake scam

       

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Phishing Scams

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Phishing Scams:

• Scammer sent message like your wallet at risk, account is suspended, claim free token, you will $1000 claim here, etc.
• This kind of message come from Sms, Email, telegram or discord.
• the link they sent look real when victim click it, it lead to a fake website.
• After opening the link it will ask victim to connect wallet or enter seed phase. Then a malicious smart contract drains the whole wallet.
  

How to avoid phishing Scams:

• You have to set rule to yourself never share private key or seed phase to anywhere.
• Scammer success because of our fear, greed and trust.
• Bookmark official website, always check links before fully trust them. well Use hardware wallets if its possible.
• when someone say you win something but you never did anything to win. You should understand that it's a scammers message.

you can get detailed knowledge abouts phishing scams Here: THE LURKING DANGER OF CRYPTO PHISHING SCAMS

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Ponzi and Pyramid Scams

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Both are investment they where they promises victim guaranteed income. people become greedy when they heard about high return without any work.

How pyramid scam work:

• In ponzi scam , Account creation doesn't cost money they promise to give 10% daily earning
• scammer give early investors payment from their own pocket to build trust in victim.
• After victim make profit and build trust with scammer, victim invite friends and relatives in this field.
• When many people join this investment scheme , scammer take all the money and shut the website.

How pyramid scam work:

In pyramid scheme user need to invite new users to earn money. But opening an account isn't free, To open an account a person need to pay money. When a new member open the account old user who refer gets a part of the opening fee. New user won't get a single penny until that person invite new user. Basically to earn the initial opening fund or more a person need to invite at least 2/3 new person.

How to avoid Ponzi/pyramid Scams:

• When someone say guaranteed profit be strict and research the full process. There is no guaranteed profit without risk. think carefully does Money come out of thin air?
• Even sometimes friends or family members suggest you to invest in such website don't believe in them. They could be a victims of this scam they don't even know they are being baited
• Well if you read and completely understand how those scams are done . You should directly know if it's a scam or not. Some learn by doing mistakes while some learn from other persons mistakes

you can get detailed knowledge about Ponzi and Pyramid scams Here: Ponzi Scheme: Definition, Examples, and Origins

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Pig butchering scam

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How Pig butchering scams are done:

• Scammer build a long term relationship like a month or two. when victim  build trust with scammer then scammer suggest a safe trading site.
• when scammer build trust with victim they suggest a safe trading site to their terget.
• When victim deposit money in that trading site they shows fake profit only in website. but when they want to widthraw the money it block widthraw
• They will ask for more money to proceed withdraw. When more money is deposited scammer completely shut down the site and disappear.

You can get detailed knowledge abouts Pig butchering scams Here: Pig Butchering Scams: What They Are and The Red Flags You Must Spot Early

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Impersonation and Fake Support

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How Impersonation and Fake Support scams are done:

• Impersonation scams are where they pretend to be someone you trust or believe. Like a company, influencer or a real person to deceive you giving them money or crypto.
• A influencer who you trust because he have many fame. And you want to get some help from such person and they ask you to give them crypto and so you give them money. Later you discovered it was a scammer pretend to be that influencer.
• scammer sent fake text through email or other way to you by saying your account is breached and need urgent upgrade and you believe them because they look like a original one.
• They may suggest you to give your private key or seed phase, or maybe suggest you to install fake app or extension that way they will get full access to your wallet.

you can get detailed knowledge about Impersonation and Fake Support scams Here: How to Recognize and Avoid Impersonation Scams in Crypto

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Pump and Dump scam

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How Pump and Dump scam are done:

• Scammer may ask you to join a group where they give premium signal for free. You'll see many coin pumped and believe that it was a genuine signal.
• They make FOMO so that people buy that coin without proper research. Basically it was a shitcoin from the beginning but after they buy that shitcoin it pump.
• After seeing big pump victim buy at high rate while scammer sell them at high price. Victim left with shitcoin that has no value.

How to avoid Pump and Dump Scams:

• if possible Avoid every signal group completely. Instead learn technical analysis and do your own research.
• Don't buy trending coin that is hyped only by social media. If it's looks too good to be true it's likely a scam.
• You receive a call and the sound is exactly like your family members and ask you to give them crypto as they are in a emergency situation.

you can get detailed knowledge about Pump and Dump Scams Here: Understanding Pump-and-Dump Schemes: Definition, Illegality, and Types

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AI Assisted and DeepFake Scams

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How AI Assisted and DeepFake Scams are done and how we can avoid:

• This type of  scam is new and advance from other. Scammer use AI genareted video or voice to impersonate other to convince victim. It far more convincing than traditional method.
• In AI videos figures like Elon mask asking user to sent crypto to a wallet address to get money dubbled
• they may show fake video where user claim guarenteed profit using AI, show fake dashboard and manipulate result
• they may show fake video where user claim guarenteed profit using AI, show fake dashboard and manipulate result, they mey suggest to connect wallet, private key, or to test deposit

• Verify announcement bia official website not only by appearance, Never rely on one video or message.
• Assume no real giveaway that require sending money first
• AI will keep getting better and better So we also have to be better day by day.

You can get detailed knowledge about AI Assisted and DeepFake scam here: AI scams: What are they and how can you avoid them?

Note: There is no end to the scamming method. They make new method if previous one fails. We always have to be aware of such a scam. Sometimes knowing the scamming method can save us. I also experienced many types of scam myself and Those are Ponzi and pyramid scam, Phishing scam, Telegram username buying scam. See some investment scam that are unique but at the end their goal is same. It's to get money from us. We should Always be wary of them


Stay Safe

[Emjay24]

How to avoid Ponzi/pyramid Scams:

• When someone say guaranteed profit be strict and research the full process. There is no guaranteed profit without risk. think carefully does Money come out of thin air?

Most of them guarantee profits while their business models are vague, if you can do yourself some good to verify their licenses, you'll see it's fake but most people are in a hurry and rush into a mess.

• Even sometimes friends or family members suggest you to invest in such website don't believe in them. They could be a victims of this scam they don't even know they are being baited

Other times they're the owners of those scam vehicles or part of the scam team, more reason why they have unmatched confidence in the project and the accounts they show you as proof of their deposits and withdrawal are mere proxies, we need to be very careful and never trust anyone in this crypto space.

• Well if you read and completely understand how those scams are done . You should directly know if it's a scam or not. Some learn by doing mistakes while some learn from other persons mistakes

It is simple, when something sounds too good to be true, it is definitely a scam. Other times it may look normal and still be a scam, more reason we need not trust but always verify.

[Mahiyammahi]

In crypto space Ponzi Scheme Types Project gives you always a big return if you're a early bird. Even though people know that it could lead to scam or in longer run they could fail but still early bird alway makes profit in ponzi type project.

In 2025 a big scam was done as a name of Pre Sale Toke. Even though a projects all tokens we're 100% unlocked people we're selling presale locked token in 50-60% discount. Which was basically lead to a ponzi scam .

I just heard the name Pig Butchering. Although I know the Scam methods but didn't know that this scam has a name to tag with . Eric Bergman got scammed $1.25M dollar while he was investing Team Water. A fake account impersonating Mr Beast, built a relation with him and them totally scammed him go away.

Read his Story here - https://x.com/i/status/1961439631653617983

These people tries months to just built a strong relationship with you.

[TokenTikas]

At first, after seeing this post, I thought this kind of post is usually made by AI. Then again, when I saw a new member wrote such a big post, I assumed it was done with AI. But this post is completely human-written and it is a very important and timely post.

The real situations shared here show the current crypto world clearly and it’s a very good post to help people stay alert. From real experience, the writer explained each scam in a clear way, which is helpful for beginners and also a warning for experienced users.

Even though I already knew about this spamming before, the way the Phishing and Deepfake scam parts were presented here was really well done. This kind of post can help many people escape scammers and avoid being a victim. That’s why from my own side, if everyone stays careful personally, we can stay safe from scams but no matter how careful we normal users try to be, scammers already have better ideas about all these things. The ones that are professional-level scammers will even move forward with higher-level tricks, leaving these ones behind. In the crypto world, we must always stay alert because if you lose focus even for one moment, scammers will quickly see the chance and use it to scam.

[Pterosaur]

Annnd, now this is what I called content. ..

Well written and well put together, you've said it all and I don't think anything else is missing other than fake app downloads even on our favourite app stores. Not a single one of them is safe. Ordinary good looking keyboard app will spy on you and keep  every words you type stored into the cloud.

If you use this keyboards to insert your seed phrases you are already compromised.
Nothing is safe on the internet anymore, scams are waiting in every corners.

[Ronsbit]

Annnd, now this is what I called content. ..

Well written and well put together, you've said it all and I don't think anything else is missing other than fake app downloads even on our favourite app stores. Not a single one of them is safe. Ordinary good looking keyboard app will spy on you and keep  every words you type stored into the cloud.

If you use this keyboards to insert your seed phrases you are already compromised.
Nothing is safe on the internet anymore, scams are waiting in every corners.

Obviously, scams are everywhere, and we just need to be careful with what we do online, all in the name of surfing the internet and downloading unknown apps we have no knowledge about. People have lost assets, funds, and vital information due to carelessness about what they have no idea about. We should not allow such to happen to us before we learn our lesson; other people's expository and experience should be a teacher and a lesson for us to learn from, except you want to learn the hard way.

We should do our best to avoid downloading unknown apps and the access we grant them because it is through such medium that funny things happen to us through our devices, unknown to us. Video permission we grant, mic permissions, and other access we grant to apps on our gadgets sum up to the problems we face, unknown to us. Mind what you download and access, as you grant such apps.

[Hatchy]

Phishing scam has gained a popularity lately.. it's just one method that most crypto users would not pay attention to. Alot of crypto investors easily falls prey to these scammers simply because they over look they aspect of security.. most of them spend money buying expensive hardware wallets devices thinking that their money are safe in there. Yes it is but if you don't follow proper procedures to secure your funds, you will still fall prey to scammers. Don't feel relax at any point, the security of your funds rest on you alone. That's the purpose of using a self custody..

[Doan9269]

What use to surprised me the most is this, despite all the awareness about scams and the various examples being set, some will still have the opportunity of coming across these and yet, fall a victim of any of the related scam and act as if they were not warned, we should be able to remained guided and always informed, because scam is real and those trying to deprive us of what belongs to us are not sleeping, so we must also wake up to the task ahead and secure what belongs to us.

[coinrifft]

Good breakdown, but if I may add, it also good to know on where to report crypto scams. Here are some of them:

• https://chainabuse.com/report
• https://www.ic3.gov/
• https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/
• https://www.europol.europa.eu/report-a-crime
• https://safebrowsing.google.com/safebrowsing/report_phish/

Those are only few that I know, maybe some of you can add on the list.

[Davidvictorson]

In my estimation, there is no scam that is new under the sun. All the scams that can be thought up have already been thought up. Anything we see now are just being reinvented and re-engineered from the old but nothing is new. Ponzi schemes is almost as man if I do say so. They are adapted to fit the new medium or platform where they want it to be executed.

Very good information and write up by the way. This will be a reminder for newbies and a refresher for the oldies.