Top Crypto Scams to Avoid in 2025

As new cryptocurrency investors dive deeper into the various ecosystems of the market and learn more about the relevant technologies, they will soon realize that there are several risks associated with cryptocurrency trading. In fact, this remains a major barrier for most people interested in investing in cryptocurrencies; there is a perception that cryptocurrencies are dangerous, and various scams surround them.
These issues do exist and pose a greater threat to overall adoption than market volatility. Online scams are everywhere, and if one is not careful, they can target anyone - the cryptocurrency space is no exception. If you are not cautious enough, there is indeed a reasonable risk (although the possibility is low) of losing part of your cryptocurrency investment.
With this in mind, this article will detail the top cryptocurrency scams that investors fall victim to and the measures that must be taken to avoid these scams. The most effective protection remains vigilance - use hardware wallets for large holdings, enable all available security features, and verify transactions through multiple channels before authorizing.

Latest Developments in Cryptocurrency Scams for 2025

By 2025, the landscape of cryptocurrency scams has undergone significant changes, with several notable developments emerging:
-
Artificial Intelligence Investment Scam Create highly realistic deepfake videos endorsed by cryptocurrency influencers to promote fraudulent tokens -
Cross-chain bridge vulnerability For users during asset transfer between blockchains -
The “DeFi (Decentralized Finance) “liquidity mining” scam Promising unrealistic returns while siphoning off funds
By 2025, scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, using advanced technology to create more convincing schemes. A worrying trend is the rise of “distributed identity theft,” where scammers collect fragmented pieces of personal information over time, ultimately gaining control of cryptocurrency wallets.
Platform security measures are also continuously evolving, with exchanges now implementing biometric verification, continuous behavioral analysis, and decentralized identity solutions to protect users from these emerging threats.
The most effective protection remains vigilance - use hardware wallets for large holdings, enable all available security features, and verify transactions through multiple channels before authorization.

Overview of common encryption scams and methods to avoid being deceived

• Counterfeit legitimate exchanges/encryption websites

• Phishing scams on social media

• Counterfeit mobile encryption applications and dApps

• Encryption carpet scam

Regardless, you need to remember: ensure that the trading platform you are using is legal, and under no circumstances…
Do not share your encryption wallet password. .

New encryption investors are continually entering the market, using different ecosystems, and further understanding the technology. They will soon realize that there are various risks associated with encryption trading. In fact, these risks remain a major barrier preventing most interested cryptocurrency investors from entering the market, as they perceive the risks of cryptocurrency to be high and believe there are many scams.

The problems they mentioned do indeed exist, and compared to the risks brought by market volatility, these risks pose a greater threat to the widespread adoption of encryption. Online scams are everywhere, and if you are not careful, anyone using encryption could fall victim. If you are not careful, you may lose some encryption investments, and you cannot recover them through legal means, but the probability of this happening is very low.

To provide readers with a more detailed understanding, this article introduces common encryption scams that investors may encounter and the measures that must be taken to avoid these scams.

Counterfeit legitimate exchanges/encryption websites

A fake website disguised as an exchange. Source: CoinGecko

This is likely the most common scam among all frauds – scam websites disguise themselves as conducting legitimate encryption business, asking encryption users to connect their decentralized wallets for transactions.

There are various forms of websites like this, offering a range of different scams to attract inexperienced users: providing heavily discounted encryption trading, fake airdrops, currencies tied to scam events, or simply displaying webpages that mimic the conventional services mentioned above. When enjoying decentralized services, no identity verification regulations are required, allowing users to trade; however, this creates a problem. Users can start trading just by connecting their wallets, which is quite convenient, but it easily allows some scammers to target new encryption users for fraudulent activities.

After connecting the digital wallet, the website may ask users to share their wallet mnemonic phrases.
Please remember to never share under any circumstances.
Once they provide some excuse for why they need to obtain that information and have gotten it, you have fallen for it: the scammer can easily access your funds and withdraw them to other wallets.

So how can we avoid this scam? You must be 100% sure that your digital wallet is connected to the official website. Additionally, even if the website itself is legitimate, make sure that the website you are using has a good reputation—just being legal does not mean that the company has security measures that meet the standards. Finally, of course, never share your mnemonic phrase.

Phishing scams on social media

Phishing is also a very common type of scam that occurs not only in the encryption field but also in other areas. Scammers impersonate others (usually from legitimate organizations) and request your private information in exchange for rewards or services; we refer to this as phishing scams.

The screenshot above shows us one of the largest phishing scams in history. Last year, a group of hackers hacked into the Twitter accounts of several big celebrities, including Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Barack Obama. The messages displayed on their accounts were all the same: If you send a certain amount of Bitcoin to our wallet, we will send back double the BTC to you. Doesn’t that sound too good to be true? Yes, it is.

These phishing scams often occur on the most commonly used encryption social media platforms, such as Twitter, Telegram, and Discord. The best way to avoid falling victim is to ensure 100% that the user you are talking to is real; is the person you are conversing with the same as their Twitter account? How many followers do they have? Do the Telegram and Discord accounts have the “admin” label for the encryption group?

Staying vigilant is key. Of course, it needs to be reiterated that you should never, ever share your wallet mnemonic phrase or any private information with others. Under no circumstances will group administrators or even the actual developers of the encryption project ask for your personal details.

Fake mobile encryption applications and dApps

Cryptocurrency influencer Alex Saunders is warning about a fake Uniswap dApp that can actually be downloaded from the Google Play Store. Be careful! Source: Crypto.co

As previously mentioned, another very common form of scam that scammers implement against encryption users is through fake encryption mobile applications and dApps (decentralized applications). This method is very similar to its corresponding browser scams, but is initiated within mobile applications. Mobile applications also have a large user base. For example, suppose you want to use Uniswap—the largest decentralized platform based on the Ethereum network. Their original website and mobile exchange address is app.uniswap.org. However, criminals can create another platform that is very similar to Uniswap under the address app.uniswapexchange.com.

Avoiding this scam method is the same as avoiding the first type of scam, which is to ensure that you are using the correct address and not sharing any private information. Additionally, using trusted encryption wallet applications like Trust Wallet will also reduce the risk of being scammed—because the list of dApps it provides is pre-established and includes the most commonly used and verified ones, such as Uniswap and PancakeSwap. However, you can also access other dApps you want to visit, but the risk is yours to bear.

notorious encryption rug pull scam

A rug pull is the most complex, longest-lasting, and also the most intricate scam, which has caused the greatest harm to the entire community. Essentially, the scammers create a project and promote it as a legitimate purpose, detailing the project’s goals, team members, roadmap, and more. Once the value of the cryptocurrency reaches the desired price, the founders will steal the cryptocurrency from the community and sell everything as quickly as possible. As the name suggests, the metaphorical imagery of “pulling the rug” is used to gain supporters.

According to data from Chainalysis, scammers involved in rug pulls made over $2.8 billion in net profits in 2021—an absolutely huge sum for criminals who promoted their projects through false visions and excuses to exploit investors.

Avoiding carpet pulling scams is much harder than avoiding other types of scams. Simply put, you must be absolutely sure that the encryption project or company is legitimate. Look at the founders: are they anonymous? While several encryption projects have anonymous contributors, anonymous projects do carry a higher risk. Check their official documents, such as websites and white papers, whether their projects have great goals or are just aimed at making money. How long have they been around? Additionally, checking news related to them on encryption news websites can also help you gain further insights.