Crypto scams come in many shapes and sizes, but they all aim to separate you from your money—often with speed, urgency, and clever deception.
Here’s a breakdown of the most common types you might encounter:
1. Rug Pulls
How it works: Developers create a token or DeFi project, hype it through social media, influencers, and fake promises. Once enough investors buy in, the team sells their holdings or drains liquidity pools, collapsing the price.
Clues to watch for: Anonymous team, no audit, unrealistic returns, no locked liquidity.
2. Phishing Attacks
How it works: Scammers send fake links via email, Telegram, or Twitter, leading to malicious sites that mimic real crypto exchanges or wallets. They steal your seed phrase or login.
Clues to watch for: Slightly misspelled domain names, urgent pop-ups, requests for your private keys.
3. Pump-and-Dump Schemes
How it works: A group artificially inflates a coin’s price via coordinated buys, hype, and fake news—then dumps holdings at the peak, leaving late buyers with losses.
Clues to watch for: Sudden price spikes with no real news, heavy promotion in small Telegram/Discord groups.
4. Impersonation Scams
How it works: Scammers pretend to be well-known figures (e.g., Elon Musk, Vitalik Buterin) or support staff, promising giveaways or “help” with transactions.
Clues to watch for: Requests for payment to “unlock” rewards, asking for personal keys, unrealistic promises.
5. Overpayment Trap (recently growing in P2P trading)
How it works: In peer-to-peer trades, the buyer “accidentally” sends more money than agreed, then asks for the difference back. Later, the original payment is reversed, and you lose both the crypto and the “refund.”
Clues to watch for: Unnecessary overpayments, pressuring for quick refunds.
6. Fake Airdrops & Giveaways
How it works: You’re told you’ve “won” crypto or qualify for a free airdrop, but must first connect your wallet or pay a fee.
Clues to watch for: Any request for gas fees or wallet access for a prize.
7. Malware Wallets & Fake Apps
How it works: You download a “wallet” or “trading app” that is actually spyware, stealing your private keys.
Clues to watch for: Apps not from official stores, lack of reviews, suspicious permissions.
💡 Golden Rules to Avoid Crypto Scams
Never share your private key or seed phrase — not even with “support.”
Double-check URLs before entering sensitive info.
DYOR (Do Your Own Research) on every project.
If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
Use multi-factor authentication and hardware wallets for storage.
If you want, I can also make you a scam-spotting checklist for crypto traders so you can instantly assess whether a deal is risky. That could save you from a lot of traps.