#1 Pig butchering
A stranger befriends you on dating / chat groups, leads you to a "teacher's room", recommends a 5× futures play, you "win" → you scale up → withdrawals stop.
Tell: insurance-salesman tone, "hedge fund analyst" persona, always a sure thing.
#2 Fake support
"Your exchange account has a suspicious login — click here to verify." The link is phishing; entering your seed phrase or API key drains your assets.
Tell: real support never DMs you on WhatsApp / Telegram out of the blue.
#3 Fake OTC shop
No licence, no physical store, takes orders on Telegram, asks you to send coins first.
Tell: see how to verify an OTC shop.
#4 Airdrop phishing
A random token appears in your wallet; clicking the included site asks for token approval → your wallet is drained.
Tell: unknown tokens — don't interact, don't approve.
#5 KOL pump-and-dump / rug pull
Influencer shills a new token; price pumps; team dumps; retail holds zero.
Tell: closed-source contracts, unlocked liquidity, anonymous team.
#6 Yield platform Ponzi
"1.5% daily" / "36% APY locked". Early users get paid from new deposits; collapse is just a matter of time.
Tell: any promised yield in crypto is a Ponzi.
#7 Fake BTC / fake BTC
Edited screenshots, fake QR codes, sending USDD instead of BTC to fake a payment.
Tell: only your wallet — chain and contract verified — is proof of receipt.
#8 Cloned websites / apps
Search-ad results may impersonate Binance or MetaMask.
Tell: bookmark the official site; only install from the official app store / website.
Universal red flags
- ✘ "Send first" / "release first".
- ✘ Any promised yield.
- ✘ Sites asking for seed phrases or unfamiliar token approvals.
- ✘ "Great opportunities" from strangers.
If hit: keep all chat logs, TXIDs and receipts; file a police report; ask exchanges to freeze receiving addresses.
