Holiday Crypto Scams to Watch For This Season (and How to Report One)

The crypto scams that hit hardest around the holidays aren't new tricks. They're the same few cons, timed to a season when people are shopping, reconnecting with old contacts, and expecting messages from companies and delivery services. If someone you haven't met in person asks you to send crypto, buy crypto, or move money to a platform they recommend, stop. That one rule blocks most of what follows.

The scale is hard to ignore. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) says cryptocurrency was involved in 181,565 complaints in 2025, with reported losses of about $11.37 billion. That's a 22% jump in losses from 2024. People 60 and older reported about $4.35 billion of those crypto losses.

Why scammers love crypto payments

The FTC lays out the core problem: crypto payments usually don't come with the dispute rights you get with a credit or debit card, and once sent, a payment generally can't be reversed unless the recipient sends it back. Crypto also isn't insured the way FDIC-covered bank deposits are.

Add holiday pressure, such as a gift deadline, a "limited-time" bonus, or a supposed family emergency, and scammers have both urgency and a payment rail with no undo button.

The long-con investment scam ("pig butchering")

This is the costliest crypto fraud by far. The IC3's 2025 report attributes about $7.23 billion in losses to cryptocurrency investment fraud alone. The scam is widely called "pig butchering" because the victim is "fattened up" with trust before being cleaned out.

How it usually unfolds

1. A low-stakes opener. A wrong-number text, a dating-app match, or a friendly message on social media. Around the holidays, it might be a seasonal greeting from someone claiming to be an old acquaintance.
2. Weeks of friendship. The contact chats daily, shares photos and life details, and never asks for anything at first.
3. The tip. They mention how well they've done trading crypto and offer to show you how, often on a specific app or website they send you.
4. Fake gains. The platform shows your balance growing. Small early withdrawals may even work, to build trust.
5. The trap. When you try to pull out real money, you're told to pay a "tax," "fee" or "unlock deposit" first. The money never comes back.

The FTC's advice here is blunt: never mix online dating and investment advice. A person you know only through a screen who wants to coach you on crypto is the scam, no matter how long you've been talking.

Fake giveaways and "double your crypto" offers

The FTC describes this one plainly: scammers pose as celebrities or well-known companies and promise to multiply any crypto you send. The pitch often comes as a QR code, a livestream clip, or a reply on social media from an account that looks official.

Holiday versions dress it up as a year-end promotion, a charity match, or an exchange "thank you" event. The mechanics never change. You send coins to an address, and nothing comes back.

Red flags

• Any offer that requires you to send crypto first to receive more.
• A countdown timer, "first 1,000 participants" language, or a QR code in a video.
• Verified-looking accounts with brand-new handles or slight misspellings.
• Comments full of people claiming it worked for them. Those are often bots.

Real exchanges don't run promotions that ask you to send them crypto. If Kraken, Coinbase or anyone else ran a real bonus, you'd find it by logging in to the official app yourself, not by scanning a code in a stranger's post.

Impersonation: fake companies, fake agents, fake family

The FTC lists impersonation as one of the main crypto scam types. Scammers pose as banks, tech companies, government agencies, police or utilities. They claim there's fraud on your account or a legal problem, then tell you to protect your money by moving it into crypto, sometimes through a crypto ATM.

Crypto ATMs show up again and again in these cases. The IC3 recorded 13,460 complaints involving crypto kiosks in 2025, with about $389 million in losses, a 58% rise from the year before. People 60 and older filed nearly half of those complaints.

Holiday twists to expect

• Delivery problems. A text about a missed package with a link to a fake carrier page. The FBI's holiday-scam guidance warns against clicking links in unexpected messages and says to call companies using a number you look up yourself.
• Account lockouts. A message saying your exchange or bank account was frozen, with a number to call. The "support agent" walks you through sending funds to a "safe" wallet.
• A relative in trouble. A call or message from a grandchild or friend who needs bail or travel money right now, paid in crypto or gift cards.

Shopping scams with a crypto angle

The FBI's holiday-scam guidance focuses on non-delivery fraud (you pay and never get the item) and non-payment fraud (you ship and never get paid). Crypto makes both worse because there's no chargeback.

• Be suspicious of sellers who offer a bigger discount for paying in crypto, or who will only take crypto.
• The FBI recommends paying with a credit card and checking statements, and avoiding wire transfers and prepaid gift cards for online purchases.
• Check that a store's web address is the real one before entering anything.

If you want to give crypto as a present, buy it on a platform you already use and know. Our guide on the safest crypto exchanges covers what to look for.

Recovery scams: the second hit

People who've already lost money get targeted again by "recovery" services that promise to trace and return stolen crypto for an upfront fee. The FBI warns specifically about scammers impersonating the IC3 itself. It received more than 100 such reports between December 2023 and February 2025.

The IC3 says it does not contact people directly by phone, email or social media, does not charge fees to recover funds, and doesn't refer victims to companies that do. Anyone who reaches out promising to recover your crypto, especially for a fee, should be treated as a scammer.

What to do if you've been scammed

Speed matters, and so does documentation. Here's the order to work in:

1. Stop sending money. Don't pay any fee, tax or "unlock" charge, no matter what the platform or contact says.
2. Save everything. The IC3 asks for wallet addresses, the amount and type of crypto, transaction hashes (IDs), dates and times, how you met the scammer, and any websites, usernames or phone numbers they used.
3. Tell your exchange. Contact the exchange you sent from through its official app or website. The FTC lists this as a reporting step. If the receiving address belongs to another exchange, that platform may be able to act too.
4. Report to the FBI. File at ic3.gov. The FBI encourages reports even when you didn't lose money. If you're 60 or older and want help filing, call the National Elder Fraud Hotline at 833-372-8311.
5. Report to the FTC. File at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FTC also points to the CFTC and SEC for investment-related fraud.
6. Lock down your accounts. Change passwords, turn on app-based two-factor authentication, and revoke any remote-access software a "support agent" had you install.

A quick holiday checklist

• Never send crypto to someone you've only met online or by phone.
• Never scan a QR code from a giveaway, ad or unsolicited message to send crypto.
• Contact your exchange only through its official app or a URL you type yourself.
• Treat any demand to pay in crypto, gift cards or by wire as a scam.
• Talk to older relatives about crypto ATM scams before the holidays, not after.
• Turn on withdrawal address allowlisting and two-factor authentication on your exchange account. Our exchange safety guide explains why these matter.