Rules that catch most scams

In 2025 Americans alone reported losing $11.4 billion in scams involving cryptocurrency, according to the FBI, and many losses are never reported. Scams change their story every year, but nearly all of them break one of a few simple rules. Knowing the rules works better than knowing every scam.

The rules

1. Nobody legitimate ever asks for your seed phrase. Not a wallet maker, not an exchange, not "support". Whoever has the words has the bitcoin.
2. No government, bank, police force or utility asks to be paid in bitcoin, or tells you to move your money into bitcoin or a bitcoin ATM to protect it.
3. Guaranteed returns are a lie. Doubling, "risk-free" trading, a mentor whose tips never lose: real investments can fall.
4. A new online friend who steers you to an investment is a scam, however long you have been talking. This is the costliest scam of all.
5. If you must pay to withdraw, you can't withdraw. A "tax", "fee" or "unlock deposit" before releasing your money means the money isn't there.
6. Urgency and secrecy are the tell. "Act today", "don't tell your bank", "stay on the phone": a real organization lets you hang up and call back.
7. Nobody can reverse a confirmed payment for a fee. People who promise to recover lost bitcoin are usually the next scam.

"Is this platform legit?"

It is the question beginners ask most in forums. A few checks catch most fakes:

• How did you find it? If a person you met online, an ad or a message led you there, assume it is fake until proven otherwise.
• Is it registered? Financial regulators publish lists of registered exchanges, and warning lists of fake ones. Search the regulator's own site, not the platform's claims.
• What do others say, outside the site? Search its name with "scam" and read forums, not the reviews on its own pages.
• Can you withdraw? A real exchange lets you take out what you put in, minus a stated fee. Being asked to pay before withdrawing is the sign of a fake.
• How old is it? Fake platforms are often weeks old and copy the look of real ones.

Why scammers ask for bitcoin

A bitcoin payment can't be reversed, it crosses borders in minutes, and the person paying often doesn't understand what they are doing. Those three facts make it the payment method scammers push hardest. They are also why bitcoin ATMs, which turn cash into bitcoin on the spot, appear in so many cases.

If something feels off

Stop, and don't send anything more. Call the organization on a number you look up yourself, not one you were given. Tell someone you trust; scammers rely on you keeping quiet. The next lessons cover the common scams, being asked to pay in bitcoin and what to do if it already happened.