Bitcoin scams: how the common ones work and how to spot them
Most Bitcoin scams end the same way: you send the money yourself.
Most Bitcoin scams trick you into sending bitcoin or cash to the scammer: a fake investment platform, a caller posing as the government or your bank, a stranger telling you to feed cash into a Bitcoin ATM, or a fake support agent asking for your seed phrase. Bitcoin payments cannot be reversed, so prevention is the only reliable protection. If it happens, stop paying, keep every record, and report it at ic3.gov and ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
How big the problem is
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 181,565 complaints involving cryptocurrency in 2025, with reported losses of $11.366 billion, up 22% from 2024. People 60 and older reported $4.43 billion of that, more than any other age group.
Investment fraud was the largest single category, at $7.228 billion across 61,559 complaints. Complaints involving cryptocurrency ATMs and kiosks reached 13,460, with $389 million in losses, a 58% jump in losses from the year before. In the FTC's analysis of Bitcoin ATM reports from the first half of 2024, about 86% of people who reported losing money at a machine said it was a government impersonation, business impersonation, or tech support scam. All of these figures count only the losses people reported.
The scams that take the most money
Fake investment platforms are first by a wide margin. The FBI says these are mostly run by organized criminal groups in Southeast Asia, often using trafficked workers. Contact starts with a text, a dating app, a social media message, or an ad, then moves to a messaging app. The victim is shown a trading platform with fake profits, encouraged to invest more, and then charged "taxes and fees" when they try to withdraw money that was never invested.
Tech support and impersonation scams come next. A caller claims to be from your bank, Amazon, a tech support desk, or a government agency and says your money is at risk. In the bitcoin version, the fix they offer is to move your cash into bitcoin to "protect" it, usually at a Bitcoin ATM, where you scan a QR code they send you that holds the scammer's address.
Recovery scams target people who were already robbed. Fake law firms, fake recovery companies, and fake government officials offer to get stolen bitcoin back for an upfront fee. The IC3 logged 10,516 complaints about them in 2025, with $1.4 billion in reported losses (a figure that can include the earlier scam that led to the contact).
Seed phrase phishing goes after people who already self-custody. A fake email or text says your hardware wallet maker had a data breach and asks you to "verify" your wallet on a lookalike site, which collects your seed phrase. My security incidents log records several real campaigns against Ledger, Trezor, and BitBox owners. No wallet maker ever needs your seed phrase, so anyone who asks for it is stealing.
Giveaway and "doubling" scams promise to send back twice what you send. The FTC says only scammers guarantee profits, and promises of free money are fake.
Cash App Bitcoin scams
Cash App sells bitcoin and lets you send it to outside wallets, so a scammer can tell you to buy bitcoin there and send it to them. One version is fake support: someone posing as Cash App asks for your sign-in code, or tells you to send money or bitcoin to "fix" a problem with your account.
Cash App says its support will never ask for your sign-in code, and that anyone who does is not from Cash App. It also says that no platform can reverse a payment you initiated from your account, even if you were misled. Bitcoin sent to an outside address is final on the Bitcoin network itself, so no one at Cash App can pull it back.
Turn on Security Lock, which requires a passcode or biometric check before any payment goes through. Open Cash App the way you usually do, never through a number or link someone sent you.
Red flags that mean stop
- Anyone demands payment in bitcoin. The FTC says only scammers do that.
- Someone tells you to withdraw cash and deposit it into a Bitcoin ATM, or to scan a QR code they sent you.
- A government agency, police department, utility, or bank asks for bitcoin. The FBI says legitimate officials will not demand payment through a kiosk.
- An investment guarantees returns or shows steady profits you cannot withdraw without paying a fee first.
- Someone you met online, even after weeks of friendly chat, starts giving investment advice.
- A message asks for your seed phrase, sign-in code, or PIN for any reason.
- Someone offers to recover stolen bitcoin for an upfront payment.
- The caller wants you to stay on the phone while you are at the ATM or bank.
If a Bitcoin ATM operator warns you that a transaction looks like fraud, stop, as the FBI advises.
How to report a Bitcoin scam
- 1Stop sending money. A scammer who has been paid once will invent a reason for another payment, often a fee to release your "profits".
- 2Save everything: the transaction ID (TXID), the address you sent to, the ATM location and receipts, screenshots of chats, phone numbers, emails, website addresses, and usernames.
- 3File a report with your local police department. The FBI asks kiosk victims to do this in addition to filing with the IC3.
- 4File a complaint at ic3.gov. Include the TXID, the receiving address, and the kiosk location if you used one.
- 5Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Investment scams can also go to the CFTC and the SEC.
- 6Tell the platform you sent from, such as Cash App or the exchange. The FTC lists the exchange you used as a place to report.
- 7Ignore anyone who contacts you offering to recover the money. Those offers are the recovery scam described above.
Bitcoin cannot be reversed, but reports still matter. The FBI says complaints, combined with other data, help it investigate crimes, track trends and threats, and in some cases freeze stolen funds.
The habits that prevent most of this
Keep your holdings, including bitcoin, off social media, which is the first item in the FBI's advice for avoiding SIM swaps. Keep your bitcoin in a hardware wallet you control, with the seed phrase on paper or metal and never typed into anything.
Before you send bitcoin to anyone who contacted you, hang up, look up the company's real number yourself, and call it. The FBI gives the same advice for any caller claiming to represent a company.
Frequently asked questions
Can you get scammed buying bitcoin on Cash App?
Yes, though not from the purchase itself: the risk is someone convincing you to send the bitcoin you bought, or cash, to them. Fake Cash App support is one version. Cash App says it never asks for your sign-in code and cannot reverse a payment you sent, even if you were tricked.
Can a Bitcoin scam payment be reversed?
No, a confirmed Bitcoin transaction cannot be undone by anyone. The FBI says complaints sometimes help it freeze stolen funds, so report quickly with the transaction ID and receiving address.
How do I report a Bitcoin scam?
File a police report, then a complaint at ic3.gov with the transaction ID, receiving address, and any ATM location. Also report to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the app or exchange you sent from.
Are Bitcoin ATM scams common?
Yes. The FBI received 13,460 complaints involving cryptocurrency ATMs and kiosks in 2025, with $389 million in losses. People 60 and older reported about $257 million of it. In FTC data from early 2024, most Bitcoin ATM losses involved someone posing as a business, tech support, or the government.
Can someone steal my bitcoin with my wallet address?
No. An address only lets people send bitcoin to you. To steal it, someone needs your seed phrase or your unlocked device, which is why scammers work so hard to get you to type the seed phrase into their site.
Are bitcoin recovery services legit?
Treat any unsolicited recovery offer as a scam. The FBI logged $1.4 billion in reported losses in recovery scam complaints in 2025, many from fake law firms and people posing as officials. An upfront fee to get stolen money back is the scam itself.