Scams are not new. What changes is the script, and each new script arrives with the confidence of something official. Six patterns cover almost everything.
1. The fake support agent
You posted a question publicly. Within minutes a "support" account with a blue tick replies and offers to help, and then — helpfully, gently — asks for your recovery phrase "so we can restore your account". No real support asks for this, anywhere, ever.
2. The seed phrase page
A link in a direct message, a fake airdrop, a "wallet migration" tool. It looks like a real site and asks for your phrase "to verify". The phrase is the wallet. Whoever has it has your money.
3. The guaranteed-return pitch
Fixed weekly returns, no risk, guaranteed. This is the one that costs people the most money, because it sounds reasonable and there is no obvious moment where it is obviously a lie. A guaranteed return is a promise no legitimate deposit can make, because the market it depends on does not promise anything. We are direct about that in what the risk disclosure actually says.
4. The celebrity endorsement
A known name, an old photograph, a fabricated interview. If an deposit needed a famous person to be safe, it would be safe without the money.
5. The time pressure
"The window closes tonight", "only twelve slots left", "the price is about to double". Urgency exists to stop you checking. Real opportunities do not need it.
6. The unauthorised withdrawal
An alert saying your funds are being withdrawn, with a link to "cancel it". The link is the attack. The alert is fiction.
One question catches nearly all of it: can you reach the company through a channel you found yourself? Not a link they gave you. Type the address in yourself. If you cannot, stop.
What to do if you have been caught
- Move every remaining balance to a new address with a new key, now.
- Change the password on your email first, then everywhere else.
- Save every message, screenshot and address — a report is useless without them.
- Tell someone. These schemes are built to work because the victim is embarrassed, and that delay is what the operator is counting on.
More on protecting the device itself in the security checklist, and on the difference between a risk and a lie in how plan terms are written.