What it looks like
You're introduced to a trading or "investment" platform by an advert, a friend of a friend or someone you met online. You deposit crypto and the dashboard shows strong returns. You may be allowed one small withdrawal to build trust. When you try to withdraw more, new obstacles appear: taxes, verification fees, "unlock" charges. The funds you deposited went to wallets controlled by the people running the site.
Red flags
- Returns that are high, steady and never seem to dip.
- A domain registered recently, or a name very close to a well-known exchange.
- Support only through chat apps, and staff who push you to deposit more.
- Withdrawal fees you must pay before you can withdraw.
- No clear company, licence or address you can verify independently.
What to do next
- Don't pay any fee to withdraw. Paying more rarely releases anything.
- Run the site through our website checker and the deposit addresses through the wallet checker.
- Save your deposit transaction hashes and screenshots of the dashboard.
- Start a free assessment. Deposits to fake platforms often pass through exchanges, which can freeze funds when police or a court asks them to.