Crypto Scams are Booming: Attorney General Bonta Clocks Crypto Conmen

Americans lost over $20 billion to internet-based scams last year - keep yourself and your loved ones safe with these resources

SAN FRANCISCO - In response to the prolific volume of cryptocurrency-facilitated scams occurring across the U.S., California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced information to protect Californians from falling prey to scammers and new resources to get your hard-earned money back if you are a victim. Cryptocurrency scams use the same psychological playbooks and social engineering themes as traditional gift card or cash fraud, but they leverage the mechanics of digital assets to maximize speed and bypass physical safeguards. In 2025, Americans lost $20.9 billion to internet-based scams, with $11.4 billon of that loss specifically resulting from cryptocurrency scams.

"These are the same age-old scams we've always fought, but with the rise of widespread access to cryptocurrency, predators have found an insidious new means to take your money. These fraudsters aren't just targeting elders - we're seeing a sharp rise in reports of Gen Z being preyed upon on platforms like Twitch, TikTok, and Instagram," said Attorney General Bonta. "Cryptocurrency fraud has rapidly become the nation's costliest cybercrime, with syndicates now weaponizing generative AI, deepfakes, and malicious smart contracts to drain digital wallets in minutes. I strongly urge all Californians to protect themselves and their loved ones: stay informed, guard yourself with knowledge, never use a Cryptocurrency ATM, and report it if you have been scammed."

While traditional mechanisms for scams like gift cards often restrict fraud to lower dollar amounts and require physical purchase or resale, cryptocurrency allows fraudsters to remotely extract massive, life-altering sums of money in minutes. By avoiding face-to-face contact with real humans who might flag suspicious behavior, scammers utilize the speed and pseudonymity of decentralized digital wallets or Bitcoin ATMs to ensure funds cannot be reversed or easily traced.

COMMON CRYPTOCURRENCY SCAMS

Sextortion: A scammer threatens to share private, sexually-explicit images, videos, or information of a victim unless they provide money, crypto, additional explicit content, or sexual favors. Often times, the scammer does not share the photos, they are only after your money.

AI-Driven Super-Scams: Fraudsters now deploy generative AI, voice clones, and deepfake videos to impersonate loved ones or public figures.

The "Liquidity Mining" Illusion: Beyond standard fake trading apps, scammers trick victims into connecting their decentralized wallets to fraudulent "yield farming" or gaming platforms. Victims see fake passive income accumulate on a falsified dashboard before a malicious smart contract completely drains their real wallet.

Recovery Fraud: Once a victim realizes they have been defrauded, they are frequently targeted a second time by the same network posing as fake "blockchain recovery experts" or law enforcement promising to hack back the stolen funds for an upfront fee.

The "Rug Pull" Scam: In a rug pull scheme, victims are lured into online investment groups or streaming communities and convinced to invest in low-priced stocks or deal in volatile cryptocurrencies. The scammers advertise, hype, and recommend buying the stocks or cryptocurrencies, increasing their prices, and then sell when the price is high, while the victims lose their money.

The Confidence Scam: Confidence scams are fraudulent schemes where criminals lure victims into providing their contact information, later building deep relationships of trust by acting as friendly mentors or personal trading advisors. Once trust is established, scammers guide victims toward professional-looking, cloned investment platforms and encourage them to make a small initial investment, using manipulated data and small successful withdrawals to simulate massive, legitimate profits. Convinced the platform is safe, victims eventually invest significantly larger sums of money. However, when they attempt to withdraw their funds, the scammers demand fraudulent upfront fees - such as fabricated taxes or commissions - and ultimately vanish with all the victim's money regardless of whether the fees are paid.

PROTECT YOURSELF AND LOVED ONES

Never use Crypto ATMS

Identify Red Flags

While browsing, gaming, streaming, scrolling, or interacting online, a good rule of thumb is to pause and take nine seconds before clicking, engaging, or sending money to anyone. In that pause, look for these warning signs:

• Guarantees of large returns in exchange for money or cryptocurrency: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Remember, there are no guarantees of large returns with crypto assets.
• Token names that are similar to well-known cryptocurrencies: Scammers will use names for their tokens that are incredibly similar to cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, in hopes that you will either assume their tokens are the real thing or that they are associated with the real cryptocurrencies. Look at the name carefully, and do a little research (especially on government agency websites like the ones listed in our "Tips to Stay Safe") to see if the crypto asset is legitimate.
• Requiring payments in cryptocurrency: No legitimate companies or government agencies will force you to pay in cryptocurrencies or other crypto assets.
• Requiring large upfront payments: Requirements that you pay a significant amount of money to participate in a particular money-making venture is a signal that you are being invited to a scam.
• Unsolicited phone calls or emails: Never give your account information to someone who calls or emails you unsolicited, even if they claim they are from a legitimate company. Instead, hang up the phone or close the email, go to the company's website, and use the phone number or email on the website to contact the company.
• Celebrity endorsements: Not all celebrity endorsements mean that the underlying crypto asset is a scam, but it's important to remember that celebrities get paid a lot of money to promote these assets.

Verify Before You Invest

• Check coinmarketcap.com: This website lists all the top coin exchanges. If the one you are planning on investing in is not there, it is likely a scam.
• Verify credentials: Use FINRA's BrokerCheck to confirm if a professional is registered. But be wary, scammers may often impersonate people, firms, and their credentials.
• Go directly to the source: If an alert claims to be from a company, your bank, or your boss, do not click the provided link. Navigate directly to their official website, look up their verified phone number, or open their official app to verify the claim.
• Search for reviews: Search the name of the company or salesperson alongside words like "scam" or "complaint."
• Check email addresses: Verify that you are communicating with a real email associated with a real advisor's company. Remember that scammers may register email addresses that are slightly different or may change one letter from a legitimate domain.
• Look for spelling errors: Given that many scams sometimes originate overseas, ads and other communications may have spelling mistakes.
• Consult with a trusted advisor: Before investing, consult a trusted legal professional or financial advisor who can advise you if the investment is proper.
• Follow warnings from current advisors: If your bank or investment/financial advisor cautions you about your new investment, take time to further investigate the new "investment opportunity" and do not simply dismiss their concerns.
• Trust your instincts and think twice before investing: If an investment seems fishy or too good to be true, it probably is.

Beware of "Deepfakes" and AI

Spot the fake: If a video seems slightly off or the audio doesn't perfectly match the lip movements, it may be a deepfake.

• Reverse search: If you see a video of a famous figure, search for the original footage online. Fraudsters often repurpose old interviews.
• Beware of financial advice: Famous figures do not usually provide financial advice online or advertise dealing in obscure cryptocurrency trading platforms.

Protect Your Identity and Network

Your Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch and WhatsApp profiles are gold mines for scammers looking to build a relationship with you.

• Lock down your profile: Change your settings to keep your friends list, photos, and posts private. This prevents scammers from seeing who you know.
• Verify friends: If a friend suddenly messages you about a "great investment opportunity," contact them outside of Facebook via phone call or text to ensure their account hasn't been hacked.
• Never share credentials: Do not provide login info, Social Security numbers, or financial details to anyone you met online.
• Do not provide strangers access to your devices: Do not allow anyone you do not know well to access your computer or mobile phone remotely to help you with your existing investment account or open a new account. Often times, scammers will pose as a representative of the company you have an account with and ask for a password or answers to the security questions and - within seconds - empty everything in your account.

If you have fallen victim to these types of scams, you can report it to the California Department of Justice at oag.ca.gov/report.

WHAT DOJ IS DOING TO FIGHT CRYPTOCURRENCY FRAUD

The California Department of Justice investigated and is acting as an advisor in a case where the defendant was appointed administrator of his deceased family member's estate and ordered to distribute the estate's cryptocurrency equally between the decedent's elderly parents. It is alleged that the defendant had only transferred 25% of the assets to the parents. He allegedly laundered Bitcoin and Ethereum into his personal bank accounts, stealing assets valued at over $4 million at the time of the theft and worth $50 million today.

Senate Bill (SB) 1208 was recently signed into law and sponsored by Attorney General Bonta. It combats the rapidly expanding problem of cryptocurrency scams by giving California law enforcement and prosecutors a new tool to return stolen digital assets to the victims of cryptocurrency fraud. Because cryptocurrency fraud investigations involve tracing assets through multiple transfers and comingled accounts, victims are often unable to trace the laundered assets themselves, and law enforcement who do seize assets in transit cannot always prosecute bad actors because they are outside the jurisdiction of American law enforcement.

SB 1208 allows law enforcement who seize digital assets under a search warrant to seek distribution of those funds to criminal fraud victims when the assets are proceeds of, or used to facilitate, the underlying crime. This gives law enforcement a mechanism to return stolen cryptocurrency even when it has been commingled with other funds, as is common in multi-victim fraud schemes and organized money laundering investigations in California. Under the new law, law enforcement can petition the court to return to victims the cryptocurrency seized during a criminal investigation where a conviction is impossible because the perpetrators are outside U.S. jurisdiction. It also establishes a consistent procedure for claimants of the seized property to have an opportunity to establish the legitimacy of their claim. Any digital assets not distributed to victims will be ultimately deposited in the State Restitution Fund, administered by the California Victim Compensation Board, and used exclusively to provide victim services.

Attorney General Bonta remains committed to helping Californians better understand cryptocurrency and the risks associated with investments, including the launch of a webpage with resources on red flags, how to file a complaint, and precautionary measures.

Further, while these scams are often carried out by international actors who are difficult to prosecute and arrest, the California Department of Justice is mitigating these scammers' effectiveness by shutting down fake websites used to entice victims with fictitious investment returns. In recent years, the California Department of Justice shut down over 100 fraudulent websites that scammed innocent victims out of at least $8.3 million and includes six fake Federal Bureau of Investigation websites.