All scam types on GACS

Rug-pull tokens & honeypot contracts

Token contracts designed to trap buyers — no sell, hidden mint, blacklists, or dev drains.

Memecoin pump-and-dump scams

Coordinated pumps, insider snipes, and paid-influencer dumps on new memecoins.

Wallet drainer addresses

Known drainer contracts and receiving wallets tied to signature-phishing kits.

Airdrop scams

Fake claim pages that drain wallets the moment you connect to 'claim' a token airdrop.

Cryptocurrency scams — full guide

The full taxonomy of crypto scams: fake exchanges, drainers, rug-pulls, giveaways, recovery cons.

Bitcoin scams

Bitcoin-specific scams — ATM refund cons, wallet drainers, 'seizure' extortion, mining fakes.

Most common crypto scams 2026

Ranked list of the crypto scams causing the most losses this year.

How to spot a crypto scam

Red flags that separate a real project from a drainer or rug-pull.

Is crypto itself a scam?

Answering the top-searched question honestly — what's fraud vs. what's just risk.

Investment & Trading

10 pages

Fake brokers & boiler-room scams

Bogus trading platforms and boiler-room 'account managers' that inflate fake gains before locking withdrawals.

Investment scams

Fake brokers, guaranteed-return pitches, and 'signals' groups that farm deposits.

Fake broker scams

How boiler-room brokerages fake gains, block withdrawals, then vanish.

Fake online casino scams

Unlicensed casinos, rigged games, and 'bonus' schemes that lock funds.

Crypto trading fraud — red flags

How to spot the fraud patterns that hide behind 'trading' pitches — signal groups, copy-trade cons, and fake performance.

Pig-butchering scam

Long-con romance-plus-investment scam that starts with a wrong-number text.

Pig-butchering text examples

Real opening messages, scripts, and grooming tactics.

What 'pig-butchering' means

Where the term comes from and what makes it different from a normal romance scam.

Job-offer scam

Fake recruiters, task-work funnels, and the deposit-refund trap.

Job-search scams

How to spot a fake listing on LinkedIn, Indeed, and Telegram groups.

Impersonation & Social

8 pages

Social impersonation & fake giveaways

Clone accounts, fake support DMs, and 'double-your-crypto' giveaways on X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube.

Sextortion scams

Extortion emails and DMs claiming compromising material to force crypto payments.

Amazon impersonation scam

Fake Amazon 'order' texts and refund calls used to install remote-access tools.

Geek Squad renewal scam

'Your subscription renewed' emails that trick you into calling a fake support desk.

How scammers use AI to impersonate you

Voice clones, deepfake video calls, and the account-takeover playbook.

Romance scammer photos

How to reverse-search a stolen model photo and confirm a romance profile is fake.

Romance scam warning signs

The behavioural red flags before money is ever mentioned.

Romance scam checker

Free tool — paste a profile, photo, or story to check against known patterns.

Payment Apps & Refunds

7 pages

PayPal scams

Fake invoices, friends-and-family fraud, seller/buyer chargebacks.

PayPal scam refund

How to open a proper PayPal dispute — and when to escalate to your bank.

Venmo scams

Fake payments, overpayment scams, and takeover attempts on Venmo.

Zelle scams

Why Zelle is the scammer's favourite rail — and what recourse actually exists.

Zelle scam refund

Reg-E, bank policy, and how to force a review after a Zelle scam.

Cash App scams and refunds

Cash flips, giveaway impersonators, and the real refund process.

Facebook Marketplace scams

Fake buyers, Zelle overpayment, and shipping scams on Marketplace.

Messaging & Phone

10 pages

Phone & SMS crypto scams

Scam-likely calls, wrong-number pig-butchering openers, SIM-swap threats, and 'fraud dept' spoofs.

WhatsApp scams

6-digit code takeovers, family-emergency impersonation, job/crypto pitches.

WhatsApp 6-digit code scam

How the 6-digit code takeover works and how to recover a stolen account.

Telegram scams

Fake support bots, job groups, and crypto 'admins' — the Telegram fraud playbook.

Telegram job scams

'Task' jobs, deposit refunds, and the recruitment funnel behind them.

Wrong-number text scams

The friendly wrong-number opener that leads to a crypto investment pitch.

AI phone scams

AI voice-cloned relatives, fake IRS/bank calls, and how to verify in seconds.

Check if a phone number is a scam

Free lookup — carrier, spoofing signals, and community reports.

Check if an email is a scam

Header, domain, and content analysis for suspicious emails.

Check if a DM is a scam

Instagram/X/TikTok/Discord DM safety checks.

Phishing & Fake Sites

7 pages

Fake websites & phishing sites

Look-alike domains, fake exchanges, and drainer pages that steal seeds, logins, or refunds.

Phishing overview

Email, SMS, and social-media phishing — how modern kits fool 2FA.

How to spot phishing

Practical checks that catch 95% of phishing attempts in seconds.

Check if a website is a scam

Free instant check — SSL, domain age, blacklist, phishing kit signatures.

Is this website a scam? (2026 checklist)

Updated 2026 red-flag checklist for any unfamiliar site.

Quishing (QR-code phishing)

Malicious QR codes on parking meters, menus, and mailed letters.

USPS delivery text scam

The fake 'undelivered package' text and the phishing site behind it.

Recovery & Aftermath

11 pages

Fake-returns / recovery scams

Fraudsters posing as recovery firms or refund agents targeting people who already lost money.

Recover money from a crypto scam

Realistic step-by-step — what actually works, what wastes time, and what's a second scam.

Recover stolen crypto funds

Where to file, who to contact, and how tracing actually works.

Stolen crypto recovery services

How to vet a legitimate on-chain investigator vs. a recovery-scam operator.

Recovery scam explainer

Why the 'we can get your money back' agents are almost always the same crew.

Recovery scam warning signs

The five tells of a fake recovery firm.

Recovery scams — deep dive

How the recovery-scam funnel is run from the same call centres.

Financial recovery services (vetting)

How to tell a legitimate on-chain investigator from a repackaged scam.

Fraud recovery experts

Directory of vetted, licensed investigators and lawyers by region.

Identity theft recovery checklist

The exact order of operations after your identity is stolen.

Fraud prevention playbook

The whole GACS prevention playbook in one long-form doc.

Family & Elder

4 pages

Elder fraud playbook

The full playbook for adult children helping an elderly parent through a scam.

Elder fraud prevention

Guardrails, freezes, and conversations that stop it before it starts.

Grandparent scam

'Grandma it's me' calls — now supercharged with AI voice cloning.

Talk to your parents about scams

How to have the conversation without triggering shame or defensiveness.

Reporting & Tools

13 pages

How to report pig-butchering

Where to file the report so it actually reaches an investigator.

How to report a scam

The right agency for the right scam — FTC, IC3, IRS, action fraud, and more.

Report a scam website

Where to submit a scam URL so it gets taken down fastest.

Report a scam email

The right inbox for phishing at each major provider.

Report a scam text

Forward-to-7726 and carrier reporting for SMS scams.

Report a phone scam

How to log a scam call so the number actually gets blocked.

Report a crypto scam

IC3, chain-analytics tips, and exchange abuse contacts.

Is this a scam?

One-page 30-second gut check for any suspicious contact.

Is this a scam? — full checklist

The long-form 15-question checklist for grey-area cases.

Crypto scam checker

Free instant check for wallets, tokens, and projects.

Honeypot checker

Free check for honeypot contracts before you buy a token.

Bitcoin address lookup

Check a Bitcoin address against known scam reports.

Global scam database

The full public database — searchable, filterable, exportable.