The most common type of cryptocurrency fraud involves investment projects or Ponzi schemes. People usually become involved in these projects after clicking advertisements on social media that promise high and fast returns on their investments. They enter their personal information (phone number and email address) to join the project. Shortly afterward, they are contacted by experts in social engineering who quickly convince them that the project is trustworthy. Victims invest real money or genuine cryptocurrency, but when it comes time to receive their payouts, fake coins are transferred to their accounts instead.
Drainer
While investment scams primarily target beginners, drainer scams can deceive even experienced cryptocurrency users.
A drainer is a script that automatically transfers funds from your wallet to a scammer's wallet. In other words, it is software specifically designed to drain victims' cryptocurrency wallets. These scripts may be embedded in malicious websites, phishing messages, or disguised as legitimate software. You can also become a victim by participating in suspicious projects that promise generous airdrops.
Can You Recover Your Funds, and Where Should You Turn for Help?
Every week, people who have fallen victim to cryptocurrency scams come to our exchange service. Some have lost $1,000, while recently someone contacted us after losing more than $200,000. They all ask the same question: “How can I get my money back?” The answer is the same: it is almost impossible, but we will still try to provide a few useful recommendations.
The first 24 hours after the theft are critically important. During this time, try to trace the movement of the stolen tokens through the blockchain.
At the same time, gather all available evidence of the theft, including screenshots of your conversations with the scammer, the addresses of the smart contracts involved, and proof that the funds were transferred from your wallet. It is also important to save the hash of every transaction carried out by the scammer and record the hashes of the tokens involved in those transactions.
While tracing the movement of the tokens through the blockchain, pay close attention to whether they passed through cryptocurrency exchange services (centralized exchanges) or platforms that provide customer support. If they did, contact those platforms immediately, provide evidence of the theft, and request that the stolen tokens be flagged as suspicious.
If the funds were transferred in USDT, you may try to have them frozen in the scammer's wallet by contacting Tether through the appropriate request form as soon as possible. However, resolving such a request may take more than a month. By the time the support team is able to take any action, the scammer will most likely have already moved the funds through multiple wallets. This is precisely why we say that recovering stolen funds is almost impossible.
This industry is full of professionals who know how to cover their tracks. After stealing cryptocurrency, the funds are often moved through decentralized exchanges (Uniswap, 1inch, ApeX Pro, etc.) or laundered using cryptocurrency mixers. After these "procedures," the transaction trail is effectively lost. Even if the scammers contacted you via Viber, WhatsApp, phone calls, or video calls, that information is unlikely to help. Such individuals typically use phone numbers purchased online or registered under someone else's identity.
Under no circumstances should you contact "lawyers," "brokers," or "international fund recovery agents." In most cases, they are simply part of the same scam network.
Should You Report It to the Police?
You can try, provided you have at least one genuine lead: you met the scammer in person, you have a mutual acquaintance, or you transferred the money to the scammer's personal bank account. Even then, however, the chances of recovering your funds are one in a million.
If you have successfully recovered stolen funds, share your experience in the comments 👇🏻.
Protect your funds!