Crypto scams are growing rapidly. Learn about the most common frauds of 2025 and how to protect your digital assets with practical tips.
Because of their decentralised structure, cryptocurrency markets, coupled with the prospect of high returns, provide a perfect breeding ground for fraudulent activity.
The expanding adoption of digital assets has led to more sophisticated and far-reaching scams targeting naïve investors to steal their funds. The cryptocurrency industry has seen a significant increase in fraudulent activity during 2024 and 2025, resulting in significant financial losses and an erosion of trust among investors in digital assets. This article explores various cryptocurrency scam strategies and covers the crucial events of 2024.
Alarming Numbers: Cryptocurrency Scams Statistics in 2024-2025
The data regarding cryptocurrency scams is sobering. Chainalysis's report showed that on-chain transactions channelled at least $9.9 billion to crypto scams during 2024. This estimate represents the lowest possible value, which is likely to increase as investigators discover new criminal addresses. The crypto fraud and theft industry will exceed $12 billion in 2024 if it continues to grow at the 24% annual rate observed since 2020.
Investopedia reports that crypto losses exceeded $10 billion globally in 2024. In the same year, crypto losses in Singapore accounted for 25% of total losses due to scams, showing a substantial increase from the previous year's 6.8% share. After interacting with a fraudulent encounter link, one Singaporean victim suffered a $125m cryptographic loss due to malware used to conduct the scam.
Advances in Artificial Intelligence technology have caused an increase in cryptographic scams. The company Chainalysis has documented an incredible 1,900% increase in AI-related cryptographic fraud from 2023 to 2024. Scammers are using AI technology to create fake personas and mimic real people, producing authentic content that dupes victims into fraudulent investments.
Types of Cryptographic Scams: A Gallery of Muggers
Cryptographic scammers employ an evolving set of techniques to exploit their victims. The following section details the most frequently encountered cryptographic scams.
Phishing Scams
Scammers impersonate real companies, including cryptographic exchanges and wallet services, to trick users into handing over private keys and authentication information. These scammer-initiated cyber attacks involve fake electronic messages and websites designed to appear authentic. Hackers initiated the recent Gemini scam by convincing users to transfer their funds into an Exodus wallet. Following a data breach in 2020, Ledger users suffered a major phishing attack that led to the theft of recovery phrases.
Fake Websites and Exchanges
Scammers create fake crypto exchanges along with counterfeit versions of crypto wallets to trick users. These fraudulent websites operate using domain names that appear identical to legitimate platforms. Fraudsters initially allow small withdrawals to gain users' trust, but block withdrawals after detecting larger deposits. The fake websites act as phishing pages that capture user input for malicious purposes.
Schemes Pump and Dump
Scammers create artificial price increases for low-value cryptocurrencies, dubbed "the pump", by spreading misleading positive claims and conducting synchronised buying transactions via social media. When scammers sell their digital assets during the price spike, the market value drops sharply, causing heavy losses for other investors. The notorious Squid Game token scam of 2021 is a well-known example of such fraudulent operations.
Fake Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)
Scammers create fake crypto projects that look like promising investments to fool unsuspecting people. These organisations produce whitepapers and marketing materials that appear to be authentic, but lack any supporting technological advances. Once the scammers acquire enough money, they withdraw the funds and disappear. OneCoin's ICO stands out as the largest crypto scam in history due to the theft of billions of dollars from investors.
Fake Apps
Malicious actors manage to place fake crypto wallets and trading apps in app stores. These apps can steal users' passwords and private keys, leading to stolen funds. This category of scams includes the fraudulent Trezor wallet app on the Google Play Store.
Giveaway scams
Crooks impersonate celebrities and influencers on social media platforms to convince people to send them cryptocurrencies by promising to multiply the funds sent. Fraudsters receive money from people who believe they will get more in return, but instead the criminals pocket the funds. Fraudulent operations commonly exploit the likeness of Elon Musk to deceive people.
Romantic Scams (Pig Butchering)
Online romance scammers build relationships with their victims, which they use to gain their trust before persuading them to invest in fraudulent cryptographic schemes. Fraudsters employ 'pig butchering' methods to build trust by providing victims with excessive attention and affection before taking their money. According to Chainalysis, scam revenues increased by almost 40 per cent during 2024 while deposits increased by 210 per cent.
Cloud Mining Scams
Usersers can rent remote cryptocurrency mining hardware using these schemes for a fee, receiving a share of the mining profits in return. Investors often suffer financial losses or diminished returns because many companies in this industry operate fraudulently and fail to deliver on their promises.
Recovery Scams
Scammers target people who have previously lost money in cryptocurrency fraud, offering to recover their stolen funds for a fee. Scammers often impersonate law enforcement officers or recovery companies to target susceptible victims.
Poisoning of Addresses
Scammers initiate small transactions from an address that looks very similar to one that victims normally use. The fraudsters' fraudulent transactions corrupt the victims' address books so that future payments automatically go to addresses controlled by the fraudsters. The scam has increased by 15,000% in 2024 after a major attack in May.
Protect Yourself from Cryptographic Scams: Remain Vigilant
The existence of numerous sophisticated cryptographic scams requires investors to remain vigilant as they take active measures to safeguard their assets. These key recommendations will allow you to protect yourself from potential threats.
Be Sceptical of Unsolicited Offers: Any sudden offers to invest in cryptocurrencies that require you to hand over your assets deserve strong scepticism, especially if they promise guaranteed extraordinary returns that seem implausible.
Verify Information Through Official Channels: Users should validate important platform announcements and security warnings by consulting official websites and verified social channels before trusting them. Do not trust any unverified information received via email or other sources.
Never Share Private Keys or Recovery Phrases: To access your cryptographic wallets, you need your private keys and recovery phrases because they serve as essential login credentials. Keep these private keys and store them away from computer networks.
Beware of Impersonations: Fraudsters imitate customer service representatives and employees of legitimate organisations to scam individuals. Don't provide sensitive information to unsolicited contacts who contact you.
Use Strong, Unique Passwords and Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Use distinct, strong passwords to protect your exchange and wallet accounts and enable 2FA to enhance security measures.
Twice-Check Wallet Addresses: Before transferring any cryptocurrency, confirm that you have the correct wallet address for the recipient. Consider sending before a small test transaction.
In-depth Project Research: Investigate project teams closely as you research details on the underlying technology and whitepapers to complete your community analysis before committing to cryptocurrency investments. Conduct detailed investigations whenever you find projects with anonymous teams making unrealistic promises and unclear documentation.
Be Cautious on Social Media: Examine crypto materials shared on social media platforms more vigilantly. Be careful when encountering fake giveaway promotions and celebrity endorsements, and also examine social media profiles that show dubious follower counts and engagement data.
Report Suspicious Activity: If you notice suspicious activity or believe you are being targeted by a scam, you should report it immediately.
Conclusion: Navigating the dangerous waters of crypto
Investors in cryptocurrency markets face both exceptional opportunities and serious risks due to prevailing fraudulent behaviour. Security breach assessments for 2024 and 2025 incidents demonstrate the persistent threat posed by fraudulent entities. Investors can avoid becoming targets of scams through ongoing education on common cryptographic scams and security threats, along with maintaining effective security habits.
The development of the cryptocurrency market requires ongoing education and awareness to establish more secure and reliable operating conditions.
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Because of their decentralised structure, cryptocurrency markets, coupled with the prospect of high returns, provide a perfect breeding ground for fraudulent activity.
The expanding adoption of digital assets has led to more sophisticated and far-reaching scams targeting naïve investors to steal their funds. The cryptocurrency industry has seen a significant increase in fraudulent activity during 2024 and 2025, resulting in significant financial losses and an erosion of trust among investors in digital assets. This article explores various cryptocurrency scam strategies and covers the crucial events of 2024.
Alarming Numbers: Cryptocurrency Scams Statistics in 2024-2025
The data regarding cryptocurrency scams is sobering. Chainalysis's report showed that on-chain transactions channelled at least $9.9 billion to crypto scams during 2024. This estimate represents the lowest possible value, which is likely to increase as investigators discover new criminal addresses. The crypto fraud and theft industry will exceed $12 billion in 2024 if it continues to grow at the 24% annual rate observed since 2020.
Investopedia reports that crypto losses exceeded $10 billion globally in 2024. In the same year, crypto losses in Singapore accounted for 25% of total losses due to scams, showing a substantial increase from the previous year's 6.8% share. After interacting with a fraudulent encounter link, one Singaporean victim suffered a $125m cryptographic loss due to malware used to conduct the scam.
Advances in Artificial Intelligence technology have caused an increase in cryptographic scams. The company Chainalysis has documented an incredible 1,900% increase in AI-related cryptographic fraud from 2023 to 2024. Scammers are using AI technology to create fake personas and mimic real people, producing authentic content that dupes victims into fraudulent investments.
Types of Cryptographic Scams: A Gallery of Muggers
Cryptographic scammers employ an evolving set of techniques to exploit their victims. The following section details the most frequently encountered cryptographic scams.
Phishing Scams
Scammers impersonate real companies, including cryptographic exchanges and wallet services, to trick users into handing over private keys and authentication information. These scammer-initiated cyber attacks involve fake electronic messages and websites designed to appear authentic. Hackers initiated the recent Gemini scam by convincing users to transfer their funds into an Exodus wallet. Following a data breach in 2020, Ledger users suffered a major phishing attack that led to the theft of recovery phrases.
Fake Websites and Exchanges
Scammers create fake crypto exchanges along with counterfeit versions of crypto wallets to trick users. These fraudulent websites operate using domain names that appear identical to legitimate platforms. Fraudsters initially allow small withdrawals to gain users' trust, but block withdrawals after detecting larger deposits. The fake websites act as phishing pages that capture user input for malicious purposes.
Schemes Pump and Dump
Scammers create artificial price increases for low-value cryptocurrencies, dubbed "the pump", by spreading misleading positive claims and conducting synchronised buying transactions via social media. When scammers sell their digital assets during the price spike, the market value drops sharply, causing heavy losses for other investors. The notorious Squid Game token scam of 2021 is a well-known example of such fraudulent operations.
Fake Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)
Scammers create fake crypto projects that look like promising investments to fool unsuspecting people. These organisations produce whitepapers and marketing materials that appear to be authentic, but lack any supporting technological advances. Once the scammers acquire enough money, they withdraw the funds and disappear. OneCoin's ICO stands out as the largest crypto scam in history due to the theft of billions of dollars from investors.
Fake Apps
Malicious actors manage to place fake crypto wallets and trading apps in app stores. These apps can steal users' passwords and private keys, leading to stolen funds. This category of scams includes the fraudulent Trezor wallet app on the Google Play Store.
Giveaway scams
Crooks impersonate celebrities and influencers on social media platforms to convince people to send them cryptocurrencies by promising to multiply the funds sent. Fraudsters receive money from people who believe they will get more in return, but instead the criminals pocket the funds. Fraudulent operations commonly exploit the likeness of Elon Musk to deceive people.
Romantic Scams (Pig Butchering)
Online romance scammers build relationships with their victims, which they use to gain their trust before persuading them to invest in fraudulent cryptographic schemes. Fraudsters employ 'pig butchering' methods to build trust by providing victims with excessive attention and affection before taking their money. According to Chainalysis, scam revenues increased by almost 40 per cent during 2024 while deposits increased by 210 per cent.
Cloud Mining Scams
Usersers can rent remote cryptocurrency mining hardware using these schemes for a fee, receiving a share of the mining profits in return. Investors often suffer financial losses or diminished returns because many companies in this industry operate fraudulently and fail to deliver on their promises.
Recovery Scams
Scammers target people who have previously lost money in cryptocurrency fraud, offering to recover their stolen funds for a fee. Scammers often impersonate law enforcement officers or recovery companies to target susceptible victims.
Poisoning of Addresses
Scammers initiate small transactions from an address that looks very similar to one that victims normally use. The fraudsters' fraudulent transactions corrupt the victims' address books so that future payments automatically go to addresses controlled by the fraudsters. The scam has increased by 15,000% in 2024 after a major attack in May.
Protect Yourself from Cryptographic Scams: Remain Vigilant
The existence of numerous sophisticated cryptographic scams requires investors to remain vigilant as they take active measures to safeguard their assets. These key recommendations will allow you to protect yourself from potential threats.
Conclusion: Navigating the dangerous waters of crypto
Investors in cryptocurrency markets face both exceptional opportunities and serious risks due to prevailing fraudulent behaviour. Security breach assessments for 2024 and 2025 incidents demonstrate the persistent threat posed by fraudulent entities. Investors can avoid becoming targets of scams through ongoing education on common cryptographic scams and security threats, along with maintaining effective security habits.
The development of the cryptocurrency market requires ongoing education and awareness to establish more secure and reliable operating conditions.
Sign up for Spaziocrypto®
The community for Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and Innovative Technologies enthusiasts, combining Passion, Knowledge and Opportunities in the Digital World