2025 Crypto Scams: What’s New, What Works, and How To Respond

Crypto scams didn’t slow down in 2025—they professionalized. From “pig‑butchering” romance‑investment schemes to malware‑based “drainers,” today’s fraudsters operate like startups: scripts, playbooks, tooling, and offshore teams. If you hold digital assets or run a crypto‑adjacent business in New Jersey or New York, understanding the current threat landscape helps you spot red flags early and respond decisively when something goes wrong.

The big picture: losses and new playbooks —Chainalysis’ mid‑year 2025 update reported more than $2.17B stolen from crypto services by June and a sharp rise in personal‑wallet compromises. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture action to seize $225M in tether linked to “pig‑butchering” networks, after multi‑agency blockchain tracing connected the funds to organized scam groups. At the same time, the FBI’s Operation Level Up has proactively contacted thousands of Americans mid‑scam, saving hundreds of millions in would‑be losses.

What’s Hot Right Now: Five Scam Patterns We’re Seeing

1. Exchange‑impersonation “support” calls —IC3 warns about unsolicited calls or messages claiming your account is compromised, pushing you to click a link, share a code, or screen‑share. Hang up and contact the platform through official channels.
2. Pig‑butchering 2.0 —DOJ’s $225M filing underscores how romance‑style grooming funnels victims into fake trading portals. The FBI’s updated PSA (Aug. 2025) details tell‑tale red flags and due diligence steps.
3. “Drainer‑as‑a‑Service” — Turnkey wallet‑draining kits rent cheaply on underground markets and are delivered via fake airdrops, malicious ads, and spoofed dApp approvals.
4. Approval‑phishing and malicious smart contracts — Rather than stealing seed phrases, attackers trick you into granting token approvals or signing transactions that give them spending rights.
5. Recovery‑scam “law firms” —IC3 cautions about impostors posing as attorneys or task forces, demanding upfront fees or personal data to “recover” funds.

What To Do if You Think You’re Being Scammed (or Just Were)

1. Stop transacting. Don’t send “taxes,” “gas,” or “release” fees to unlock funds—this is a common ploy.
2. Preserve evidence immediately: screenshots, wallet addresses, TXIDs, contract addresses, website URLs, emails/handles, and timestamps.
3. Notify the platforms fast. Use official channels only—see the FBI’s advice on exchange‑impersonation scams.
4. Consider law‑enforcement reporting. File with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) atic3.gov. Early reporting helps with trend‑linking and seizure actions; see Operation Level Up.
5. Engage qualified counsel and, where helpful, independent blockchain investigators. Coordinated legal and forensic work preserves options: preservation letters, emergency relief (TROs), subpoenas, platform negotiations, and—when supported by facts—civil litigation to judgment and enforcement.

Business Owners: Contract and Compliance Traps To Avoid

If you accept BTC/ETH/stablecoins or integrate with exchanges, your risk is not limited to price volatility. Review your Terms, refund/chargeback analogs, error‑resolution policies, vendor diligence, audit wrappers, and incident‑response playbooks.

For context on large‑scale incidents, see reporting on the Bybit breach attributed to DPRK and Chainalysis’>mid‑year overview.

Why Drainers Are Winning—and How Individuals Can Fight Back

Drainers succeed by weaponizing wallet permissions and trust in familiar brands. Kits are marketed openly; affiliates buy ads targeting crypto keywords and wallet names, leading to pixel‑perfect site clones. Once you sign a malicious approval, the attacker doesn’t need your seed—they already have spending rights.

Defenses that work:

• Cold‑signing hygiene: read spender address and function before you sign; reject approvals you don’t recognize.
• Prefer per‑transaction or limited approvals; periodically revoke stale allowances.
• Bookmark exchanges and dApps; avoid links from ads, DMs, or search results.
• Segment funds: keep only small balances in hot wallets; move savings to safer custody.

Enforcement, Seizures, and Realistic Recovery

Can you get funds back? Sometimes. DOJ’s filing to seize $225M tied to pig‑butchering networks shows that coordinated tracing and platform cooperation can unfreeze or recover assets at scale. Outcomes vary by facts, timing, and jurisdictions. IC3’s alerts also warn about fake “recovery” outfits that target prior victims.

A Note for Founders and Professionals

Design for breach‑ready operations: vendor SOWs that define response timelines; legal wrappers for audits; contracts that preserve leverage; and logging that supports subpoenas and platform escalation.

How CryptoLawyerNow Can Help

We combine fast triage with litigation capability and platform engagement, coordinating with independent investigators where useful. For consumers, that means a clear plan—preserve, notify, trace, and, when warranted, sue. For businesses, it means enforceable agreements, defensible compliance, and incident playbooks that work under pressure.

Free, confidential consult — (201) 431-6199 • info@wenstrandlaw.com