Fraud and scams

The forms of fraud with digital assets, clearly explained.

Terms

This category brings together the forms of fraud that occur most often with digital assets: crypto fraud as the umbrella term, investment fraud as the term police and regulators use, and alongside those pig butchering, boiler room, investing scam, romance scam, fake crypto platform and recovery scam. Each term describes one mechanism, from first contact to the moment the money moves out of reach.

The terms below describe how different forms of deception are put together. Whether a concrete situation falls under such a form is something that has to emerge case by case. We describe the forms; the assessment of a specific case follows from investigation.

These terms become relevant as soon as you want to place what happened in your own situation. Once you know how a method is built up, you see faster which items matter: the transaction hashes, the wallet addresses, the conversations and the screenshots. That record determines whether an investigation into the flow of funds can still produce anything. The explanations below are reference material, not an assessment of your case.

Crypto fraudAn umbrella term for deception involving digital assets.Investment fraudDeception with the promise of returns that does not hold up.Pig butcheringA long-running scam that builds trust before a loss follows.Boiler roomHigh-pressure sales of investments by phone or online.Investing scamA scheme presented as a chance to invest.Romance scamA scam built on a supposed romantic relationship.Fake crypto platformA platform that looks real but is set up to mislead.Recovery scamA scam aimed at people who already suffered a loss.

What the forms of fraud and scams have in common

The schemes in this category look different from the outside and work in much the same way underneath. First contact is made somewhere you did not expect it, on a dating app, in a group chat, through a call about an account. Then trust is built slowly, often over weeks, with small confirmations that everything is real: a withdrawal that goes through, a screenshot of a profit, a document with a logo on it. Only after that does the amount that matters get asked for.

The second thing these forms of fraud and scams share is the exit. At some point the story stops working and a reason appears why the money cannot come out: a tax, a fee, a compliance check, a technical problem. That moment is the most useful one in a file, because it is usually the point at which the funds are moved on. Reconstructing what happened around it tells you far more than the weeks of conversation that came before.

What follows from that is unglamorous but practical. Keep the record of the first contact as well as the transfers, because the sequence is what makes a report readable. Do not pay anything to release funds, whatever it is called. And have the route recorded by Paucitas while there is still a chance that a balance is somewhere it can be reached, because that window is short and it does not reopen.

External sourceThe UK national fraud reporting service has a page for people who have just been defrauded, setting out the first steps in order: stop further payments, secure the evidence and report. The order it recommends matches what actually helps a case, because acting on the money comes before understanding the scheme. See Report Fraud: I have been a victim of fraud.

Frequently asked questions about fraud and scams

The questions below are the ones that come up most often around fraud with digital assets. The terms above explain the individual forms; these answers show how they connect.

What is the difference between fraud and a scam with crypto?

A scam relies on deception: someone is talked into a transfer with a false story. Fraud is broader and also covers forgery and misuse of data. The terms above describe the separate forms, so a concrete situation is easier to place.

What can I do if I think I have been scammed?

First record the facts: amounts, wallets, messages and timestamps. Paucitas maps the transactions in a traceable way and delivers the report that can support a police report. That report is not legal advice, but it does make clear what happened to the assets.

Is a transaction investigation worthwhile for every kind of scam?

Not always. Whether a trail can be followed depends on the form and on what was recorded. Each case shows whether an investigation yields anything; the explanations above help you gauge what your situation resembles.

Short answers to specific questions

One short page per question, with the answer in the first two sentences.

Background reading from the blog

Longer pieces on the same subject, with cases and practical steps.

See also the overview of topics and pillars and the overview of questions.

Your own situation

If you are reading this, you probably have a question about your own situation. That is exactly what Paucitas does.

The first step is contact by phone. We prefer to schedule that call through WhatsApp, so you do not have to wait. In the call we look together at what can factually be established in your case and what Paucitas can examine for you.

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