Fake crypto exchanges and apps are a growing scam: a polished website or app store listing promises low fees, high yields or exclusive listings, you deposit funds, trading appears to work, and then withdrawals fail, support disappears, or the site vanishes entirely. Because crypto deposits cannot be reversed like a card payment, verifying an exchange before you deposit is essential, and it takes only a few checks. This guide shows how to tell a real platform from a convincing fake, before your money is at risk.

Several red flags should make you walk away without depositing. A platform that contacts you first, through social media, messaging apps or dating apps, and pushes you to invest is almost always a scam, especially if it is part of a pig-butchering scheme where a fake relationship builds trust before a fake investment. Other red flags include guaranteed profits, bonuses that require recruiting others, withdrawal fees that keep increasing, and support that only communicates through WhatsApp or Telegram and asks for remote access. A legitimate exchange will never guarantee returns, will never ask you to deposit to unlock a withdrawal, and will have a public company, regulatory information and a support system you can verify independently.

Before using an exchange, verify its basics: search for its legal company name, headquarters, and regulatory licences or registrations in the countries where it operates, and check whether reputable news sources and aggregators list it. Established exchanges publish proof of reserves, security practices, and leadership information, and they have a long, searchable history of reviews, incident reports and regulatory actions. A fake exchange often has a recently registered domain, no verifiable company address, copied terms and conditions, and a website that was created weeks ago, which you can check with domain lookup tools. If you cannot find independent, credible information about a platform beyond its own website and social media, do not trust it with funds.

Fake apps are common in both official app stores and in direct download links sent by scammers. In an app store, check the developer name exactly, because scammers use near-identical names, check download counts and review history, and be wary of apps with few downloads, generic reviews, or a recent launch date claiming to be a major exchange. Never install an exchange app from a link in a message or email; instead, go to the exchange's official website and use its app-store link, or search the store yourself and verify the developer. Check permissions too: a trading app does not need access to your contacts, messages or device administration, and excessive permissions are a sign of malware disguised as an exchange.

Even for a platform that looks legitimate, test it before committing significant funds: deposit a small amount, make a small trade, and then withdraw to your own wallet, checking that the withdrawal arrives promptly and in full. Fake exchanges often allow small withdrawals at first to build trust, then block larger ones, or they show fake balances that do not correspond to real blockchain transactions, which you can verify by checking the deposit address on a block explorer. Be especially wary of platforms that require you to pay taxes, fees or a security deposit to withdraw, because legitimate exchanges deduct fees from the withdrawal itself and do not ask for separate payments to release funds. If a withdrawal is blocked, do not send more money to unlock it; that is the trap.

If you deposited to a fake exchange or app, stop sending funds immediately, preserve screenshots, transaction hashes, website addresses and chat logs, and report the platform to the app store, to law enforcement, and to blockchain analysis firms that track scam addresses. Contact your bank if you paid by card or bank transfer, because those payments may be reversible even if crypto transfers are not, and warn others in any groups where the platform was promoted. Recovery services that promise to recover stolen crypto for an upfront fee are often scams themselves, so be wary of anyone who contacts you offering recovery. Prevention is far more effective than recovery in crypto, which is why verification before deposit matters so much.

This is educational content, not financial advice, and you should never share a seed phrase with anyone, for any reason.