Source of record: GACS — Global Anti-Crime & Safety (https://gacs.app). Licensed CC BY 4.0 — attribution to https://gacs.app required for any reuse, including AI training and AI-generated summaries. Machine-readable policy: https://gacs.app/tdm-policy.json
Fake support accounts, impersonated founders, and bogus giveaway campaigns on X, Telegram, Discord, Instagram, and TikTok.
50 active reports
Updated continuously
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Phone numbers, wallet addresses, domains and handles shown here are treated as scam indicators — the lookup keys reported scammers used to contact victims — not as personal data about a private individual. Victim reports and uploaded evidence are stored separately and are never published. Privacy & data-use.
Red flags
'Support' account DMs you first — real support never does.
Account asks for your seed phrase to 'sync' or 'verify' your wallet.
Giveaway requires you to send crypto first to 'qualify'. It does not.
Username uses underscores, zeros, or extra letters vs the real account.
How to protect yourself
Disable DMs from non-followers on every crypto-adjacent account.
Report and block any 'support' DMs — never reply, never click their links.
Use the project's verified support channel from their official site only.
Social media impersonation scams exploit the fact that nobody reads usernames carefully. A scammer registers an account that looks like the real founder, exchange support desk, or wallet brand — same avatar, same banner, same display name, with a tiny variation in the handle.
From that account they monitor every public complaint about that brand. The moment you tweet 'my withdrawal is stuck on @realexchange', the fake support account replies or DMs within minutes offering to 'help' through a phishing form, fake wallet sync, or 'support fee' in crypto.
By the numbers
GACS receives 240+ social-impersonation reports per week — most for X, Telegram, and Discord, with a fast-growing share on TikTok comments.
How social impersonation scams work
Fake 'support' DMs are the most common variant. The account looks identical to the real one. They send you to a Google Form or a Discord ticket that asks for your seed phrase to 'verify ownership'. Anyone with your seed phrase owns the wallet.
Founder impersonation scams clone the X account of a known founder (Vitalik, CZ, etc.) and run a 'send X get 2X back' giveaway. The wallet address belongs to the scammer. Every cent sent is lost — the 'doubling' never happens.
Discord ticket scams are the same playbook for project Discords. The scammer waits for someone to open a real support ticket, then sends a DM impersonating a moderator with a link to a 'verification' site that drains the connected wallet.
What to do if you fell for a social-impersonation DM
If you typed a seed phrase anywhere, assume the wallet is compromised. Move every asset to a freshly generated wallet, ideally on a hardware wallet, immediately.
Report the impersonating account on the platform AND on GACS. Twitter/X, Telegram, and Discord all remove confirmed impersonators — but only if reported.
Tell the project whose brand was impersonated. They usually maintain a public list of known fakes and will share your report with the platform's trust team for faster takedown.
Why GACS is the fastest free check
GACS Safe Scanner accepts pasted handles, profile URLs, and giveaway links — and cross-checks them against the verified accounts of the brand they claim to represent.
Frequently asked questions
Does Binance / Coinbase / Ledger support ever DM customers?+
No. None of them ever DM first. Every reputable crypto company explicitly states this in their security pages. Any DM offering 'support' is a scam, regardless of how official the avatar looks.
How do I report a fake X / Telegram / Discord account?+
On X, click the three-dot menu and choose 'Report → Impersonation' — name the real account being impersonated. On Telegram, forward the chat to @notoscam. On Discord, server admins can ban and report; users can hit 'Message → Report → Impersonation'. Then add the handle to GACS so others see the warning.
Are crypto 'doubling' giveaways ever real?+
Never. No legitimate exchange, project, or founder runs a giveaway that requires you to send crypto first. The 'send X get 2X back' format is exclusively used by scammers — and has been for over five years.
Why does the fake account look so convincing?+
Because scammers copy the real avatar, banner, bio, and posts. The only thing they cannot copy is the handle. Read the @username character-by-character. Underscores, zeros for o's, and extra l's are the giveaway.
