1. pig butchering scam: Scammers pretend to be friendly contact persons, often via social media platforms or dating apps. They slowly build up trust and start to entice you with “investment tips” that promise incredible profits. They usually show initial “successes” on fake platforms in order to persuade the victim to deposit large amounts. As soon as the trust has been exploited to the maximum and enough money has been deposited, the fraudsters disappear without a trace. They often use tricks to try to get even more money: Transactions get stuck, high fees are demanded, trading fees or taxes are due. Of course, you still get nothing after paying them; it’s all about squeezing the last bit of money out of them.
2. wallet hacking SMS and seed phishing: In this scam, victims receive fake SMS messages or emails claiming that their wallet has been compromised. The message prompts you to enter the *seed phrase* (the wallet’s security keywords) to “restore” access. Once the fraudsters obtain the seed phrase, they have complete control over the wallet and can withdraw all assets. **Note**: Reputable services will never ask for your seed phrase. The same is often claimed for exchanges: your account has been hacked and you should create a private wallet and transfer everything there. In addition, the fraudster wants the *seed phrase* of the new private wallet and clears it immediately.
3. fake recovery services after a scam: After a scam, some victims turn to alleged “recovery services”, or are even contacted by such services (once you have been scammed, you seem to be an easy victim for the next scam). They promise a high chance of success in recovering the stolen crypto. These services often require advance payments for “processing fees” or similar, but do not deliver any results and usually disappear after receiving the payment.
4. fake AI videos with well-known people: Fraudsters are increasingly using AI-generated videos with well-known personalities who supposedly recommend investing in certain platforms. These videos look deceptively real and suggest that well-known personalities support the platform.
5. coin doubling scam: Scammers promise that every cryptocurrency deposit sent to a certain address will be doubled and returned. They often claim that this is a “special offer”. In fact, it is a simple theft: as soon as the coins are sent, they are retained and there is no refund. Reputable providers never offer such doubling promotions.
6. fake recovery tools and wallet connection: A more recent scam uses fake websites that are supposed to help with “recovery” after a theft. The fraudsters demand that victims connect their wallets to the website and confirm certain access requests. This gives the fraudsters access to their wallets and enables them to withdraw all assets. Note: Avoid connecting your wallet to unknown websites.
7. seed entry on fake websites: This scam aims to trick the victim into entering their seed phrase on a fake website that looks deceptively similar to the real wallet website. As soon as the fraudsters receive the seed phrase, they can control and empty the victim’s wallet. Note: Reputable wallets never ask for the seed phrase on websites.
8. payout in worthless tokens: In some cases, victims are promised a payout from their investments, but instead they receive “worthless” tokens that have no real market value. These tokens cannot be traded on real crypto exchanges.
9. unsaleable tokens: In this scam, tokens are offered that at first glance show genuine trading activity. It looks as if other users can buy and sell the token without any problems, but in fact the token’s smart contract was programmed in such a way that only the fraudsters can sell the token.
10. multisig scam: comments on social media where someone shares their *seed phrase* and asks for help with the transfer. This is not a normal wallet, but a multisig. The people who see something like this like to set up the wallet and want to take the tokens themselves, but this requires fees in network tokens. Then they send ETH for the gas fees, for example; but they can’t send anything, whereas the fraudster can, because he has the necessary multi-signatures.
Important note on: “Recovery of lost funds”: If you have been the victim of such a scam, it is extremely unlikely that the stolen money can be recovered. If someone claims to be able to recover stolen coins for you, this is 99.9% of the time the next scam. These “recovery services” often demand advance payments and deliver nothing in the end.
Recommendations:
– Report the incident to the police: Report the incident as soon as possible, even if there is little chance of a refund.
– Protect your seed phrase: Never share it and only store it in a safe, physical location.
– Watch out for unrealistic promises of returns and check smart contracts.
– Be careful with new or unknown tokens.
– Avoid dubious platforms and offers.
– Check information thoroughly: do your own research and only trust reputable financial advisors.
If you have already fallen victim to one of these scams, you should report the incident to the relevant authorities. Be careful and protect yourself and your digital assets.
Ing Thomas Jochen Wagner, MBA
www.crypto-recovery.ch