[DigitalToday reporter Yoonseo Lee] As cryptocurrency scam tactics become more sophisticated in 2026, preventing investor losses has emerged as a key task for the market.

Blockchain media outlet The Crypto Basic reported on June 3 (local time) that the scale of cryptocurrency scams in 2025 was $14 billion, sharply up from $9.9 billion in 2024.

A surge in impersonation crimes is behind the expanding damage. According to figures compiled by analytics firm Chainalysis, impersonation crimes rose 1,400 percent from a year earlier. Pig butchering scams and fake investment platforms were singled out as leading causes of global cryptocurrency fraud.

Phishing is cited as the most common tactic. Scammers create sites that resemble exchanges, wallets and decentralised applications to steal passwords, recovery phrases and private keys. More recently, a fake Uniswap site shown at the top of Google ads was mistaken for the real service, leading to losses of more than $400,000.

Fake token launches are also recurring. Scammers raise money by touting innovative technology or exclusive opportunities, then disappear, leaving investors with worthless tokens.

Social media impersonation remains a problem. Scammers pose as founders or influencers to demand wallet information or induce transfers to specific addresses. In 2025, the X (formerly Twitter) account of Ai6z founder Shaw (쇼) was hacked and used to promote a fake ELIZA token.

Deepfake scams using artificial intelligence are also surging. They exploit trust by creating videos that appear to show well-known people backing a project or asking for transfers. Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (로런스 웡) also issued a warning himself, saying deepfake videos of him promoting fake cryptocurrency tokens are spreading on social media.

In the Web3 sector, wallet-draining losses are also rising quickly. When users connect their wallets to a malicious application and approve permissions, scammers can siphon off assets without further approval steps. As a result, the act of users directly approving wallet access permissions has been cited as one of the main routes for cryptocurrency losses.

Fake customer support, romance scams, Ponzi-style high-return platforms, malware, and airdrop and giveaway scams were also classified as major risk groups. Fake support scams approach users who complain of technical issues and claim their accounts are at risk, demanding information entry or asset transfers. Romance scams build relationships over a long period before steering victims to transfer money to fake investment platforms. Ponzi-style platforms promise abnormally high returns, pay existing participants with new funds and then collapse.

Malware losses were also significant. Fraudulent software, browser extensions and mobile apps record keystrokes or steal wallet information, and replace copied wallet addresses. In 2025, more than $300 million was leaked in a malware attack linked to Zoom.

Giveaway scams also recur. They lure victims by claiming that sending cryptocurrency to a specific address will yield a larger amount in return. In February, shortly after the launch of a Shiba Inu ecosystem token, a fake SOU non-fungible token airdrop site appeared and siphoned off assets from users who connected their wallets.

Warning signs are relatively clear. They include unrealistic promises such as guaranteed profits or risk-free investments, pressure to make immediate decisions, and a lack of transparency that makes it hard to verify the team, roadmap and technical information. Requests for recovery phrases in particular should be treated as a clear danger sign. Legitimate companies, wallet providers and customer support teams do not ask users for seed phrases.

Recovery is possible but the success rate is not high. That is because blockchain transactions are difficult to reverse after confirmation. Still, as cooperation increases between investigative authorities and on-chain analytics firms, funds are being recovered in some major cases. The U.S. Justice Department said it recovered $225 million stolen from more than 400 Americans in 2025 with support from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service.

That makes the speed of response important. Victims should secure wallet addresses, transaction IDs, screenshots, chat records and related site addresses, and submit them immediately to investigative authorities, exchanges and security platforms. Reporting scam sites and social media accounts to block their infrastructure is also a way to reduce further 피해.

Security measures alone cannot stop every scam. Hardware wallets are a strong protective tool, but losses are hard to prevent if users approve malicious transactions or expose recovery phrases.

The cases show that cryptocurrency fraud is expanding with technological advances into tactics that also target human psychology. With security tools having limits, managing wallet permissions and a rapid reporting system remain key responses to reduce losses.