Crypto scams look like chaos from the outside. From the inside — looking at the 228+ entities GACS has verified onto its blacklist — they're actually just six repeating patterns. If you can recognize the pattern, you can stop yourself before any money moves.
Here are the six, in rough order of total losses.
1. Pig butchering (a.k.a. romance investment scam)
How it works: A stranger matches with you on a dating app, Telegram, WhatsApp, or LinkedIn. They are friendly, attractive, and have an interesting life story. Over weeks they build genuine-feeling rapport. Eventually they mention they "trade crypto on the side" and offer to show you how. They guide you to a slick-looking trading platform that shows your deposits "growing" rapidly. Every withdrawal you try to make requires another "fee," "tax," or "verification deposit." There is no withdrawal. The money is gone the moment it landed.
Why it works: The trust is built before the money is asked for. By the time you see a red flag, you've been talking for a month and "they would never lie to me."
Defense: Anyone you've never met in person who introduces a trading opportunity is running this script. Read the full pig-butchering breakdown.
2. Fake brokers / cloned exchange platforms
How it works: A polished website mimics a real exchange (often using a name 1–2 letters off, or a Cyrillic look-alike). You deposit. The dashboard shows your balance going up. When you try to withdraw, you're told you need to pay a "tax," "anti-money-laundering fee," or "minimum balance unlock." Each fee leads to another.
Why it works: The dashboards are genuinely convincing. They use real price feeds, fake P&L numbers, and live chat support that sounds professional.
Defense: Only use exchanges with public regulatory licenses (Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, Bitstamp, Bitfinex, OKX, KuCoin in supported regions). Run any unfamiliar broker through Safe Scanner before depositing. We track 74 active fake brokers on the public list.
3. Drainer wallets (one-signature theft)
How it works: You see an "airdrop claim" page, a "free NFT mint," or a "wallet check" tool. You connect your wallet. The page asks you to sign a transaction that looks routine. That signature actually grants the scammer permission to transfer every asset out of your wallet. It happens in seconds.
Why it works: Wallet signature prompts are intimidating and most users don't read what they're approving.
Defense: Never connect your wallet to a site you didn't independently verify. Use a separate "burner" wallet for anything experimental. Read every signature prompt — if it asks for unlimited token approval, reject. We track active drainer wallets here.
4. Rug pulls and exit-scam tokens
How it works: A new token launches with heavy social-media hype. The team owns most of the supply. Once liquidity peaks, the team sells everything, draining the liquidity pool. The token price falls to zero in minutes. Sometimes it's a "soft rug" (slow team selling); sometimes it's a hard rug (one transaction, gone).
Why it works: FOMO. Charts going vertical override common sense.
Defense: Before buying any new token, check the GACS token blacklist, look up the contract on Etherscan / BscScan, verify liquidity is locked, and confirm the team is doxxed. Read rug pull explained.
5. Impersonation scams (fake support, fake celebrities)
How it works: A "support agent" or a "Elon Musk / CZ / Vitalik" account contacts you. They offer to fix an account issue, send you free crypto, or let you into an exclusive deal. The deal always requires you to send a small "verification" amount first, or to type your seed phrase, or to connect your wallet. You lose everything.
Why it works: People expect support to reach out. They want to believe the celebrity is real.
Defense: Real support never DMs first. Real celebrities never DM strangers. No legitimate service ever asks for your seed phrase. We track active impersonation accounts here.
6. Recovery scams (the second wound)
How it works: After you've already lost money in any of the above, a "recovery expert," "asset-recovery lawyer," or "blockchain forensics specialist" reaches out. They claim they can claw back your funds for an upfront fee or retainer. They take the fee. There is no recovery.
Why it works: Victims are emotionally devastated and desperate for any path back. The recovery offer arrives at exactly that vulnerable moment.
Defense: No legitimate firm asks for upfront retainers to recover stolen crypto. Law enforcement is free. If someone DMs you offering recovery services after a previous scam, they are the second scammer. Read the full breakdown.
The common thread
All six patterns rely on moving you off a safe channel onto a hostile one — off the dating app onto WhatsApp, off the real exchange onto a clone, off your normal wallet onto a "claim" page. Anywhere a stranger or unprompted message is steering you toward a new app, link, wallet, or platform, slow down.
The one defense that works against all six
Before you click, sign, or send: paste the URL, wallet, or platform name into the GACS Safe Scanner. 4 seconds. Free. No login. It cross-checks all six patterns against the live blacklist.
That single habit prevents the vast majority of crypto losses. Make it muscle memory before you make your next transaction.