Cryptocurrency scams take many forms, but the one that costs Americans the most is the crypto investment scam, often called “pig butchering.” A stranger befriends you, sometimes after a “wrong number” text, then shows you how much they make on a crypto trading platform. The platform is fake: it shows profits that don’t exist, and when you try to cash out, you’re told to pay a tax or a fee first. Protect yourself by checking the platform and the “adviser” with regulators before you send anything, and never pay to withdraw your money or to get lost crypto back.
The losses are large and still growing. In 2025, people reported 61,559 crypto investment fraud complaints and $7.2 billion in losses to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), up from $5.8 billion in 2024, and the 2025 IC3 report ranks it as the costliest scheme Americans reported that year. Investment scams also caused the largest losses reported to the FTC in 2025: $7.9 billion.
From the inside, it rarely feels like a scam. Of the 3,780 people the FBI contacted in 2025 through Operation Level Up, its program for warning victims while a scam is still running, 78% didn’t know they were being scammed, according to the IC3 report. So this guide gives you checks to run yourself, at each stage, before the next transfer.
How a crypto investment scam unfolds, stage by stage
Federal agencies describe the same sequence again and again. The pace varies, and FINRA notes the talk can turn to investing after days, weeks or even months. But the order rarely changes, and every stage has a tell.
- A message out of the blue. A “wrong number” text, a friendly direct message, a dating match or a new business contact; FinCEN notes that scammers sometimes pretend to have mistyped a phone number. The tell: a stranger’s mistake becomes a warm chat, then a request to move to WhatsApp or Telegram. See how these openers read in text message scams, and why the app switch matters in how to identify a scammer.
- Trust on a schedule. Daily messages, photos of a comfortable life, a shared hardship, sometimes romance. Meetings fall through, and video calls are short or glitchy; the FBI warns that scammers use deepfakes and hired actors. The tell: time for you every day, but never time to meet.
- A pitch that doesn’t sound like one. They don’t ask for money. They mention their results in crypto futures, an AI trading bot or gold, and offer to show you how. The tell: investment advice from someone you know only online.
- The first deposit. They walk you through opening an account at a real exchange, buying crypto such as Ethereum or the stablecoin USDT, and sending it to a “deposit address” on their platform. Some people are told to feed cash into a crypto ATM instead. The tell: you buy crypto in one place and send it to an address from a chat. FinCEN’s analysis describes this as a common path, and the address belongs to the scammers.
- Profits on screen, and a withdrawal that works. The dashboard shows steady gains, and a small withdrawal arrives as promised. A joint investor alert from the SEC, CFTC, FINRA and NASAA says victims may be allowed small withdrawals to build confidence. The tell: returns that only go up, on a platform you found through them.
- The squeeze. Now come the bigger asks: a deadline that ends tonight, an offer to “match” your deposit or lend you the difference. Victims empty savings and retirement accounts, take out home-equity lines and personal loans, and borrow from family. The tell: pressure to borrow, plus advice to keep it from your bank, your family or your financial adviser.
- The fee to withdraw. Ask for a large withdrawal and the account is frozen until you pay a tax or a fee, or repay a “loan.” FinCEN says an advance-fee demand often marks the final stage. The tell: any payment required to reach your own money. Pay nothing.
- The second scam. Later, a “law firm,” a “fraud recovery investigator” or even an “FBI agent” offers to get your money back, for a fee. See recovery scams below.
Who is really on the other end
Often it isn’t one person. The same FinCEN alert, issued in September 2026, describes industrial-scale scam centers, mainly in Cambodia, Burma and Laos, staffed partly by trafficked workers. It says criminal groups have trafficked “hundreds of thousands of people” to these compounds.
In October 2025 the Justice Department charged the chairman of Cambodia’s Prince Group over forced-labor scam compounds and moved to forfeit about 127,271 bitcoin, then worth about $15 billion, the largest forfeiture action in its history. For you, the point is practical: whoever is typing is playing a part, so judge what you can check, not how convincing they seem.
Signs of a fake crypto trading platform
A fake platform can look as polished as a real exchange, with live charts, a support chat and an app. In a December 2025 case, the SEC charged three purported crypto trading platforms that falsely claimed government licenses; no trading took place, and investors who tried to withdraw were told to pay fees first. Hold any platform up against this list.
- You found it through them. The link, app or invitation came from someone you met online, not from your own research.
- The returns are steady and high. The FTC warns not to trust anyone who promises you can make money quickly and easily in crypto.
- You pay a person, another company or an address from a chat. The joint investor alert lists payments to an individual or an unrelated business, and investments you must pay for in crypto, as red flags.
- It shows licenses you can’t confirm. Certificates and “regulated” badges are easy to fake, so look them up yourself with the checks below.
- Support lives in a chat app. Help comes only through WhatsApp, Telegram or a chat window, with no address or phone number you can verify.
- The web address is new or almost right. It imitates a real exchange’s address, or the site is only weeks old.
- There’s a group chat full of winners. A WhatsApp or Telegram “investment club” where members post profits and someone hands out tips.
- Withdrawals come with conditions. A tax, a fee, a deposit or a “loan” repayment before you can cash out.
One sign means stop and check. Two or more mean you send nothing else until you’ve run the checks below, and a withdrawal fee settles the question.
Check before you send: the adviser, the platform, the person
Run these checks before any transfer, and again before any “fee.” The regulator lookups are free, and the person you’re checking never has to know. NASAA says state securities regulators “should be the first call for an investor.”
| What to check | Where to check it | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| An adviser, broker or trading “mentor” | The SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure and FINRA’s BrokerCheck | No record. Or a real, registered name you can reach only on WhatsApp or Telegram: scammers may impersonate real firms, so contact the firm through the details in its record. |
| A platform for crypto futures, options or forex | The National Futures Association’s BASIC search and the CFTC’s RED list | Not registered with the CFTC or not an NFA member, or named on the RED list of foreign firms that appear to need CFTC registration but don’t have it. |
| A license or registration the platform shows you | FinCEN’s money services business search, or state licenses through NMLS, which the CFTC points to for virtual currency companies | A certificate sent as an image. FinCEN says a listing is not an endorsement and that it doesn’t verify what businesses submit. |
| The platform’s name and web address | California regulators’ Crypto Scam Tracker, plus a web search of the name with “review,” “scam” or “complaint,” as the FTC suggests | Listed in the tracker, complaints about withdrawal fees, or an address that imitates a real exchange. |
| Anyone selling you an investment | Your state securities regulator, through NASAA’s Contact Your Regulator page | Not registered in your state, or past complaints and actions. |
| The person who introduced you | If you know their full name, a name search | Their city, age or line of work doesn’t match what’s publicly visible under that name. A match proves little: scammers borrow real people’s names. |
A clean result isn’t a green light: a registered name can be borrowed, and victims often buy crypto on a real exchange before sending it to a fake one. Watch where the money goes. If it leaves an account in your name for an address someone gave you in a chat, stop.
Crypto romance scams: when the relationship is the pitch
A crypto romance scam is the same script with a dating profile at the front. If someone you’ve never met brings up a trading platform, the relationship has become a sales channel, however real it feels. The FTC’s rule is worth memorizing: never mix online dating and investment advice.
The joint investor alert adds more signs: a first message that seems meant for someone else, fake profit screenshots, repeated excuses not to meet, and a requirement to pay in crypto. For profile red flags, video-call tests and how to talk to someone you love who’s involved, see how to avoid romance scams and how to spot a fake dating profile.
Other cryptocurrency scams to know
Investment scams cause the biggest losses, but crypto turns up in other scams too. One FTC line covers them all: “Only scammers demand payment in cryptocurrency.”
- Impersonators. “Your bank,” a government agency or tech support says your money is at risk and tells you to move it into crypto, sometimes by feeding cash into a crypto ATM. IC3 counted 13,460 crypto ATM complaints in 2025, with about $389 million lost.
- Fake giveaways. A celebrity or company account promises to double any crypto you send.
- Blackmail. An email claims to have embarrassing images of you and demands bitcoin.
- Job and task scams. Small payouts for simple online tasks, then a crypto deposit to unlock your pay. See how to spot a fake recruiter.
- Hyped new tokens. Promoters talk up a new coin, then sell out and leave buyers holding something close to worthless.
Already sent crypto? What to do in the first hour
Speed matters more than certainty. Crypto payments usually can’t be reversed, but the company that moved your money may be able to act if you reach it fast, and the FBI asks victims to report as soon as possible.
In the first hour
- Stop paying. No fee, tax, “unlock” deposit or loan repayment, whatever they threaten. The FBI says not to pay fees or taxes to withdraw.
- Call the exchange or crypto ATM operator. The FTC says to tell them it was a fraudulent transaction and ask them to reverse it. If money left your bank by wire or transfer, call the bank too.
- Save the evidence before you block anyone. Wallet addresses, transaction IDs (hashes), amounts, dates, the platform’s web address, usernames, phone numbers and screenshots of the chats. The IC3 asks for most of these details, and the chats show how the scammers reached you.
- Lock your accounts. If you shared a password or a login code, change it and turn on two-factor authentication, starting with your email and the exchange.
- Don’t tell them you’ve reported it. You owe them no explanation, and the FBI asks victims not to tell suspects that the FBI is involved.
In the first week
- File a complaint at ic3.gov, even without every transaction detail. If you’re 60 or older, the Justice Department’s National Elder Fraud Hotline, 833-FRAUD-11 (833-372-8311), can help you file.
- Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and report the platform or “adviser” to the SEC and to your state securities regulator.
- Tell someone you trust. These losses can be devastating: in 2025 the FBI referred 38 people it reached through Operation Level Up to a victim specialist for suicide intervention. If you feel hopeless, call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
- Expect a recovery offer, and read the next section before you answer it.
Crypto scam recovery: the second scam waiting for victims
After a loss, the next message is often an offer to get your money back. IC3 logged 10,516 recovery-scam complaints in 2025 with about $1.4 billion in losses, a figure it says can include the original scam. NASAA says an unsolicited offer to recover lost crypto is “almost certainly” a recovery-room scheme.
Recovery scammers often know details of your loss: the CFTC says fraudsters keep and sell victim lists that include the amount lost. The FBI has warned of fake crypto recovery law firms that cite your transfer dates and amounts, claim ties to real or invented agencies, and ask for fees in crypto or gift cards. In July 2026 it warned of criminals posing as FBI and IC3 staff on Facebook Messenger and Telegram, with deepfake videos and a copycat IC3 site.
| Question | Recovery scam | Real help |
|---|---|---|
| Who makes contact? | They find you, by message, call, ad or social media, and already know about your loss. | You contact them: IC3, the FTC, your state securities regulator, your bank or exchange. |
| What does it cost? | An upfront fee, “retainer,” “donation” or “tax,” often growing over time. | Reporting is free, and IC3 never asks for payment to recover funds. |
| How do they want to be paid? | Crypto, gift cards or a payment to a third-party company. | Government agencies don’t ask you for money at all. |
| How do they prove who they are? | Letterhead, badges, a video of an “agent,” a web-based email address. | Federal agencies such as the CFTC use .gov email addresses, and real restitution notices usually come by mail. |
| What do they promise? | Your money back, sometimes “already located.” | No promises: NASAA cautions that lost crypto is unlikely to be recovered. |
One exception: under Operation Level Up, FBI agents do contact some victims first, by phone or from an @fbi.gov email address, and they never ask for money, logins or a move to a messaging app. IC3 itself never contacts you directly. If you’re unsure, hang up and call your local FBI field office yourself.
Government recovery is slow, and it costs you nothing. The Justice Department’s Scam Center Strike Force reported in September 2026 that it had restrained about $938 million in crypto, and says its seizure team works to return stolen funds to victims. If you want a lawyer’s help, find one yourself rather than answering an ad or a message, check the lawyer with your state bar, and walk away from anyone who wants an upfront fee to get your money back.
Common questions about cryptocurrency scams
What is a pig butchering scam?
It’s the common name for a crypto investment scam in which a stranger builds a friendship or romance, then steers you to a fake trading platform. FinCEN’s 2023 alert explained the name: like a hog fattened before slaughter, the victim is built up over time before the scammers take their money.
How can I tell if a crypto trading platform is fake?
Start with how you found it: if the link came from someone you met online, assume it’s fake until proven otherwise. Check the company and anyone advising you with regulators, search the platform’s name with words like scam or complaint, and read the withdrawal rules. A fee or tax to withdraw means it’s a scam.
Should I pay the tax or fee to withdraw my crypto?
No. A demand for taxes or fees before you can withdraw often marks the final stage of the scam, and the FBI says not to pay it. The balance on the screen isn’t real, so paying only adds to your losses. Stop sending money and report it at ic3.gov.
Can you get money back from a crypto scam?
Sometimes, though rarely quickly. Call the exchange or crypto ATM operator you used right away and ask them to reverse the transaction, then report to IC3 and the FTC. Federal agencies have seized and restrained hundreds of millions of dollars in scam crypto without charging victims. Anyone who wants an upfront fee to recover it is running another scam.
Are crypto recovery services legit?
Treat any recovery service that contacts you first, or wants an upfront fee, as a scam. The FBI, CFTC and NASAA all warn that fake recovery firms target people who have already lost money, sometimes posing as lawyers or government agents. IC3 never charges to recover funds and never refers victims to companies that do.
Can crypto scammers be traced?
Sometimes. Crypto transfers are recorded on public blockchains, which helps investigators follow the money, though the IC3 notes that tracing gets harder once funds reach overseas exchanges. That’s why the wallet addresses and transaction IDs in your IC3 report matter. NASAA adds that you can often see where your funds went yourself, so be wary of firms that charge for a blockchain report.
How can I help a parent who believes the platform is real?
Skip the argument about the person and focus on the platform. Look it up together with your parent’s state securities regulator, and ask whether the full balance can be withdrawn without a fee. If your parent is 60 or older, the National Elder Fraud Hotline can help with an IC3 report. Most people the FBI warns had no idea they were being scammed, so patience helps.