Confidence-enabled cryptocurrency investment fraud can begin with an online relationship and end with vanished savings. Scammers may direct people to a convincing website or app that shows fictitious balances and profits, then block withdrawals or demand more money. The scale is serious: the FBI says complaints involving cryptocurrency accounted for more than $11 billion in reported losses in the United States in 2025—but that broad category includes many kinds of crime, not just this scam.
What the scam looks like
The pattern is often less like a hacked account than a con built on trust. A scammer may meet someone through an unsolicited text, social media, or an online friendship or professional connection. After establishing rapport, the person introduces an investment opportunity and steers the target to a platform they control. The FBI cautions against investing on the advice of someone met solely online. FBI guidance on cryptocurrency investment fraud describes this approach.
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The site or app may look polished and display rising balances. Those numbers do not establish that an investment exists: the platform can be controlled by the criminals and its performance fabricated. In some cases, a small early withdrawal is allowed to build confidence. Later, when the person tries to withdraw more, the platform refuses or demands an additional payment.
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The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report, released in April 2026, says the Internet Crime Complaint Center received 1,008,597 complaints overall, associated with nearly $21 billion in reported cyber-enabled crime losses. Complaints are not a census of all incidents, and reported losses do not capture every fraud. The report also records more than $11 billion in losses among complaints involving cryptocurrency. That is a broad category, not a total for confidence-enabled investment fraud alone. FBI 2025 Internet Crime Report.
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Other figures describe different periods and categories, so they should not be added together. The FTC reported more than $1 billion in consumer losses to fraud involving cryptocurrency from January 2021 through March 2022; $575 million of that was reported lost to bogus cryptocurrency investment opportunities. In a separate 2026 report, the FTC said reported losses to investment scams broadly exceeded $7.9 billion in 2025, with a median reported individual loss above $10,000. That investment-scam figure is not limited to cryptocurrency. FTC cryptocurrency fraud data for January 2021–March 2022; FTC 2025 fraud-loss data.
How to tell if a crypto investment website may be a scam
No single clue proves fraud, but several together warrant stopping before you send money. The SEC and CFTC identify guarantees of high returns with little or no risk, confusing technical language, unsolicited pitches, unlicensed sellers, and pressure to act immediately as warning signs. All investments carry risk; a promise that they do not is a reason for skepticism, not reassurance. See the SEC’s guidance on investment fraud warning signs and the CFTC advisory on crypto relationship scams.
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- The pitch follows online trust-building. A new online contact, friend, or supposed professional adviser gradually turns conversation toward investing.
- The returns sound guaranteed. Claims of unusually high profits with little or no risk conflict with the basic reality that investments carry risk.
- You are pushed to act quickly. Urgency can stop you from checking the seller, firm, or platform independently.
- The platform’s proof comes from the platform itself. A displayed balance, profit, or successful small withdrawal does not authenticate the investment or prove that larger withdrawals will be honored.
- You are asked to pay more to withdraw. A demand for extra cryptocurrency, a purported tax, or a release fee can be an advance-fee tactic. Paying it does not establish that the displayed funds are real.
- The app, exchange, or domain is hard to verify. The FBI warns about suspicious apps and domains imitating legitimate exchanges.
Checks to make before sending funds
- Verify the firm and the person selling the investment independently, including checking registration where relevant. Do not rely on a link, certificate, or contact supplied by the person pitching it.
- Authenticate the platform and its web domain through information obtained independently. A familiar-looking name or logo is not proof that the site belongs to a legitimate exchange.
- Ask whether the return and risk claims are specific and credible. Treat guarantees, technical jargon you cannot verify, and pressure to decide immediately as reasons to pause.
- Do not treat a small withdrawal as validation. If withdrawing supposed profits requires another payment, stop and do not send more.
What to do if you have already paid
Act promptly. The FBI advises victims to stop sending money and report the matter to IC3. Contact your bank or the exchange you used as well. Reporting can help authorities assess and investigate the fraud, but the cited guidance does not promise that funds will be recovered.
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- Stop payments and contact the financial institution involved. Tell your bank or exchange that you believe you were defrauded and ask what steps it can take on your account or transaction.
- Preserve evidence. Save messages, emails, usernames, phone numbers, web domains, app names, and a timeline of events. Record wallet addresses, cryptocurrency type and amount, transaction dates and times, transaction hashes, and relevant bank or exchange details. If you do not have all the transaction data, the FBI says to report what you know.
- File a report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Include as much identifying and transaction information as possible. The FBI advises not to alert suspected criminals that it is involved, as doing so could compromise an investigation. Use IC3’s official reporting site.
- Be wary of recovery offers. Someone promising to retrieve lost cryptocurrency for a fee—or asking for another payment to unlock funds—may be targeting you again. The FBI says it will never ask for money, move communications to private messaging apps, or request bank account details or personal identifying information through its fraud intervention. If unsure about a caller, verify contact through an official channel you find independently.
How the FBI’s Operation Level Up fits in
Operation Level Up is an FBI initiative to notify potential victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud. As of January 2025, the FBI said it had notified more than 4,300 potential victims and estimated it had prevented $285 million in losses. That figure describes estimated losses prevented, not money recovered for victims. The agency’s feature on the initiative also advises people affected by online fraud to contact their banks and report to IC3. FBI: Operation Level Up.
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