Scam Encyclopedia
12 ARTICLESEvery type of crypto scam, explained. Learn the playbook before they play you.
Ponzi Schemes: Old Trick, New Blockchain, Same Ending
The oldest fraud in finance found its best disguise in cryptocurrency. Over $10 billion stolen. The structure never changes.
Pump and Dump: How Insiders Cash Out on Your FOMO
Insiders buy cheap, hype it to you, you buy at the top, they sell. You hold the bag. Thousands of times a month.
Phishing: One Click and Your Wallet Is Gone
The attacker doesn't hack the code. They hack you. $494 million stolen in 2024 alone.
Pig Butchering: The Long Con That Starts With a Text
They pretend to love you. Then they take everything. $5.8 billion stolen in 2024. The scammers are often trafficking victims themselves.
Fake Airdrops: Free Money That Drains Your Wallet
Free tokens appear in your wallet. They look valuable. The moment you interact with them, everything you own is gone.
Influencer Scams: The $100K Tweet That Costs You Everything
They get paid six figures to promote it. You get paid in losses. Only 15% disclose the payment.
Polymarket's Dirty Secret: How Whales Rig the 'Truth Machine'
The world's biggest prediction market lets anonymous whales vote on what really happened. They've been voting for profit, not truth. Seven times and counting.
Goliath Ventures: The In-N-Out Employee Who Stole $328 Million
From flipping burgers to flipping Lambos. Christopher Delgado promised 8% monthly crypto returns. Only $1.5 million ever touched a blockchain.
Operation Atlantic: When the Secret Service Started Hunting Scammers in Real Time
The US Secret Service, UK National Crime Agency, and Canadian authorities launched a live operation to find victims before they lose everything. The first time anyone tried to outrun a crypto scam instead of writing a press release about one.
The Prince Group: The $15 Billion Pig Butchering Factory Built on Human Trafficking
Chen Zhi ran forced-labor scam compounds across Cambodia. The DOJ's largest-ever forfeiture action. 146 sanctions targets. Billions in stolen Bitcoin. The man got deported to China instead of a US courtroom.
He Raised $22 Million to Mine Crypto, Then Spent 13% of It on Mining
Mining Automatic promised 380 investors guaranteed monthly returns from crypto mining. Only 13% of the money ever touched a mining rig. The mining made $1.1 million. The company paid out $1.8 million. The gap is the whole scam: the returns were just new investors' money.
They Scammed Crypto Fraud Victims a Second Time. The DOJ Took $25M Back
The DOJ filed five forfeiture cases in July 2026 covering more than 670 victim transactions, romance scams, and a particularly cruel variant: fraudsters posing as recovery experts who steal from people a second time after their crypto is already gone.