Crypto scam: what you can do

How this scam usually starts

Someone reaches you on a chat app, a dating app, or social media and gradually builds trust before mentioning a trading opportunity. They walk you through opening an account on an exchange or wallet app that looks legitimate.

You may be shown screenshots of gains, or allowed a small early profit to prove the platform “works”. Once you send a larger amount, the pattern changes.

The operator often disappears from the chat, or the account you were messaging goes quiet, right around the time your withdrawal gets stuck.

The blocked withdrawal and the excuses

When you try to withdraw, the platform gives a reason: a network fee, a tax, a minimum balance, or an account verification step. Each one asks for a further payment in crypto or by bank transfer.

A genuine exchange charges a small, fixed network fee, shown before you confirm the transaction, never a separate upfront payment to unlock funds. If you are asked to pay again to release money that is already showing in your account, treat that as a second attempt to take more from you.

Stop sending anything further once this pattern appears, even if a support chat insists you are one step away.

What wallet tracing can and cannot show

Most crypto transactions are recorded permanently on a public ledger, so a blockchain trace can often show which wallet received your funds and where they moved afterward. This can help identify an exchange that may be able to freeze an account linked to the receiving wallet.

Tracing does not by itself return your money, and it works best when done quickly, before funds are moved through many wallets or converted again. It is one part of a wider civil claim to trace and freeze funds, not a solution on its own.

Be cautious of anyone offering to trace or recover your crypto for an upfront fee with no verifiable track record. That offer is often a second scam targeting people who already lost money.

Save this before you do anything else

Write down or screenshot the wallet address you sent crypto to, the transaction hash, the exchange name if one was used, and every message with the person who contacted you. These details matter more than you might think right now.

Also save the app or website used, any screenshots of your account balance, and the dates of each transfer. This becomes the evidence a police report, an exchange, or a lawyer will ask for.

What to do next

Report to the police, including the Commercial Crime Investigation Department, and describe the wallet addresses and platform involved. If any part of the payment went through a Malaysian bank account, call the National Scam Response Centre on 997. A bank recall may still be possible for that portion.

A lawyer is worth speaking to once you know roughly how much was lost and whether the receiving wallet or exchange has been identified. You can read more about this under whether legal action is worth it. A first conversation costs you nothing but a short message describing what happened.