How Not to Hand Over Your Crypto-Assets to Scammers Through Phishing

A Fictional Story Based on Real Life

Peter was a crypto enthusiast. He enjoyed reading articles, watching market prices, and dreamed of earning enough money to live a more comfortable life. One day, he received an email. The sender’s name vaguely resembled a well-known exchange, and the message warned him that he needed to update his account details in order to continue trading.

Peter, who knew little about phishing techniques, took the bait. On a seemingly official website—strikingly similar to the real one—he entered his credentials. A few hours later, he was horrified to discover that his crypto wallet had been emptied.

The Phishing Scam in 5 Steps

1. Phishing attacks come in many forms, but they usually have one main goal: to obtain specific information from the victim.
2. In crypto-related phishing, scammers often impersonate companies offering crypto services—such as exchanges, trading platforms, or hardware wallet providers.
3. The scammer sends out emails to potential victims, often urging them to log in to their accounts or update their profiles using links provided in the message.
4. These fraudulent links then collect login credentials or private keys to the victim’s crypto wallets. The scammer uses this information to transfer the assets to their own addresses.
5. If the scammer succeeds in gaining access to login credentials or private keys and manages to transfer the assets, the chances of recovering the crypto-assets are very low.

Explanation of the Scam

Although phishing is not exclusive to the crypto world, this illegal activity is increasingly becoming one of the most common types of crypto-related fraud. In phishing schemes, a scammer impersonates a company or public figure and uses fake links and deceptive messages to obtain certain types of sensitive information from the victim.

The first type of targeted information is login credentials for a crypto trading platform or exchange. This is similar to traditional phishing in the banking world, where attackers try to gain access to online banking accounts. Once they succeed, they can transfer funds to their own accounts or wallets—essentially draining the victim’s account.

The second type of information is more specific to crypto-assets. In this version of phishing, the scammer tries to obtain a seed phrase or private key (usually in the form of 12 or 24 words)—which serves as the “password” to a person’s crypto assets. The scammer may pretend to be a wallet provider or manufacturer and try to get the seed under the pretext of an update or service improvement.

Scammers, of course, use many other tactics to extract sensitive information. If the victim falls for these tricks, it is almost certain they will permanently lose their crypto-assets.

NBS Advice

That’s why it is essential to carefully and securely store your passwords and crypto keys—ideally offline—and never share them or send them to anyone. It’s equally important not to click on suspicious web links, especially those received via email from unknown senders or unverified addresses.

You can protect yourself from phishing attacks—it only takes a bit more caution. The following warning signs may help identify such fraud:

• Impersonating a well-known person, celebrity, or company.
• The email is not sent from an official company account.
• Attempts to obtain login credentials for crypto exchanges or wallets.
• Emails often contain grammar mistakes or strange sentence structures.

If you believe you have fallen victim to such a scam, contact the Slovak Police (Polícia SR).

Last updated on 25 Mar 2025