What Are the Common Crypto Scam Methods?

A transaction confirmed on a blockchain cannot be reversed; ethereum.org notes that no central authority can reverse it. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also says crypto payments usually cannot be reversed, that credit cards offer no chargeback protection for them, and it stresses that anyone demanding payment in crypto is a scammer.

For scale, the IC3's 2025 annual report logged 181,565 crypto-related complaints with $11.366 billion in reported losses; the average loss was $62,604. These are filings made in the US. In the sources we read, we found no comparable official dataset for Türkiye.

The sources highlight the following methods:

• Fake investment platform: a fake app shows gains that grow over time, a long-running fraud (IC3, FTC).
• Phishing: a site, email or app that imitates a real wallet or exchange and asks for a recovery phrase, password or payment (ethereum.org).
• Fake airdrop: a token is sent to your wallet, and you are directed to a site to claim it (ethereum.org).
• Giveaways and celebrity impersonation: a promise to multiply the amount you send; recordings of celebrities are shown as if they were being broadcast at that moment (ethereum.org, FTC).
• Fake support: a fake representative offers help by private message (ethereum.org).
• Recovery fraud: a person who says they can recover your lost funds asks for fees in advance. In IC3's 2025 data, crypto-related recovery fraud drew 10,516 complaints and $1.4 billion in reported losses; the loss can include damage from earlier fraud.
• Fake coin or token: buyers are lured in with fake exits (FTC). The way the money in a pool is pulled out is explained in the rug pull guide.
• Impersonating someone you know: a fake account poses as a relative, friend or colleague and asks for urgent money (Türkiye's Police General Directorate).

According to IC3, these scams usually start with a text message, social media post, advertisement or dating app, then move quickly to a messaging app. Victims are drawn into groups that appear knowledgeable about crypto or gold investing and are directed to send crypto to fake platforms. They see fake gains and are offered a credit offer for a bigger investment. When they try to withdraw, they are asked for taxes and fees, and then the scammers disappear. The FTC adds that fake "investment managers" send victims to fake websites where withdrawals are either blocked or tied to high fees.

According to IC3, crypto-related investment fraud drew 61,559 complaints and $7.228 billion in reported losses in 2025. Dividing the two figures gives an average of about $117,400 per complaint; this is our own simple division, not a figure from IC3.

In phishing, a fake site or email tries to obtain your recovery phrase, password or payment. ethereum.org says to avoid opening links from unknown addresses, to verify the site address before connecting a wallet, and to bookmark the sites you use often.

With a fake airdrop, a token lands in your wallet by itself, and the site you visit to claim it is used to take over your account there or send funds. In an approval trap, an unlimited spending permission given to a smart contract lets that contract empty the wallet. ethereum.org notes that disconnecting does not revoke the permission, permissions have no expiry date, and cancelling one takes a transaction with a network fee.

One sign is not proof; when several appear together, stop and verify.

• A payment or prepayment requested in crypto: the FTC treats this as a warning in itself.
• An assurance of gains or high returns: the FTC says only scammers will assure you of gains or big returns.
• Free money: the FTC says offers of free money are fake, and ethereum.org says giveaways are always scams.
• Urgency: ethereum.org says giveaways set a deadline for claiming, creating artificial urgency.
• A representative contacting you through a private or unofficial channel: ethereum.org says its staff do not contact people that way.
• A request for a recovery phrase, a private key or remote access to your computer.
• A fee or tax that must be paid before a withdrawal can be made.

Türkiye's Police General Directorate says fraud is regulated under Articles 157 and 158 of the Turkish Penal Code; using information systems, banks or credit institutions as tools counts as an aggravated form. The same body warns against fake social media accounts that pose as acquaintances and ask for urgent money, and says public officials will not ask you for account numbers, money or gold.

Law No. 7518 (Official Gazette: 2 July 2024, issue 32590) requires crypto asset service providers to obtain permission from the competent authority before they are established and begin operating; operating without permission carries 3 to 5 years in prison and a judicial fine. The law also states that a platform being given a permit to operate does not mean its transactions are under public assurance, and that crypto assets are not subject to investor compensation provisions. This section is not a legal opinion.

No step promises to recover the loss; the aim of these steps is to stop the loss from growing and to keep a record.

• Do not make a new payment: a fee, tax or recovery charge demanded for a withdrawal is a new loss.
• Move remaining assets to a new wallet that the attacker cannot reach, and revoke the token permissions you granted (ethereum.org).
• Change the passwords of linked exchange accounts and turn on two-step verification.
• Keep transaction numbers, addresses, screenshots and messages.
• If the money went to a centralized exchange, report it to its support team at once; ethereum.org notes that exchanges can sometimes freeze accounts flagged for fraud.
• Türkiye's Police General Directorate says victims of social media fraud should go at once to the nearest police unit or the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to file a criminal complaint; these are also the first points of contact for crypto fraud victims.

The RWA-paired meme coin page on Lzzo.com lists the coins; their detail pages show pool liquidity, pool age, 24-hour swaps and trading volume. These help spot a new, thin or inactive pool, but alone they do not show whether a token is a scam. Being listed is not an endorsement, and Lzzo.com is not a brokerage or trading platform.