Rug pull scams on crypto launchpads have emerged as a dominant threat to decentralized investors worldwide. Launchpads, designed to offer early access to promising tokens, are increasingly weaponized by fraudulent developers to disappear with investor funds. This article dissects how these schemes operate, what red flags to watch for,...
Malicious smart contract exploits occur when attackers identify vulnerabilities—such as backdoor functions, flawed access controls or logic errors—in decentralized applications and deploy transactions that drain user funds, protocol treasuries or liquidity pools. In 2025, exploited contracts have accounted for over USD 2 billion in losses across various DeFi, NFT...
ATM skimming has expanded into the cryptocurrency realm. Fraudsters install concealed skimming devices on Bitcoin, Litecoin and other crypto-dispensing ATMs, capturing card data and PINs, then emptying victims’ linked wallets. In 2025, global losses due to crypto ATM skimming exceeded USD 50 million. Recovering assets in these cases demands...
How to Trace and Recover Crypto Drained by Automated Bots OverviewAutomated bot attacks have emerged as one of the stealthiest and most efficient methods for draining cryptocurrency from users’ wallets and DeFi protocols. In 2025 alone, such attacks have accounted for over USD 450 million in losses, carried out...
As cryptocurrency adoption grows, so do scams targeting users’ backups. Fraudsters advertise “premium recovery services” or “next-generation backup apps,” convincing victims to upload or share encrypted wallet backups. In reality, these services harvest private keys or seed phrases and immediately drain the restored wallets. By mid-2025, complaints of fake...
How to Recover Money Lost to High‐Yield Investment Scams OverviewHigh‐yield investment scams promise extraordinary returns—often 5–10 percent monthly or more—by claiming to deploy funds in exclusive hedge-fund strategies, algorithmic trading, real-estate ventures or private equity. In reality, payouts to early investors come from subsequent investors’ capital, and once inflows...
Dark web thefts of cryptocurrency occur when private keys, seed phrases or wallet credentials are bought and sold on underground marketplaces. Once in possession of these credentials, attackers import compromised wallets and drain all assets, often within seconds. Recovering funds in these cases demands an integrated approach spanning dark...
Vanity-address scams exploit users’ desire for custom, recognizable cryptocurrency addresses—such as “0xDEAD…BEEF” or “1LOVE…BTC”—by offering “address-generation” services. Scammers lure victims to pay fees (in crypto or fiat) for bespoke address creation, then pocket those fees or, worse, collect private keys on compromised sites and drain any funds sent to...