Fake Crypto Exchange: How to Spot Scams and Avoid Losses

When you hear fake crypto exchange, a fraudulent platform pretending to be a legitimate place to buy, sell, or trade cryptocurrencies. Also known as sham exchange, it looks real—same logos, fake reviews, even cloned websites—but it’s built to steal your money, not help you trade. These aren’t just sketchy websites. They’re organized scams that target beginners, use social media ads, and vanish overnight with your crypto.

How do they pull it off? They copy real exchanges like Binance or Bybit, then promise insane returns: "Earn 20% weekly!" or "Deposit $100, get $500 back!" You deposit, you see your balance go up… then you can’t withdraw. Or worse, the site suddenly goes dark. The crypto scam, a deliberate deception to steal funds under false pretenses doesn’t rely on complex tech—it relies on trust. And people trust what looks familiar. That’s why some fake exchanges even fake customer support chats and fake Twitter accounts with verified checkmarks bought from shady sellers.

Real exchanges have audits, transparent teams, and public records. Fake ones? No company registration. No physical address. No way to contact anyone. If you see a platform with no KYC, no history, and no third-party security reports, walk away. Even if it’s on Reddit or Telegram, don’t trust a link someone DMs you. The crypto fraud, illegal activity involving deception in cryptocurrency transactions industry is booming because it’s easy to set up and hard to trace. Look at Dexko and SORA GROK—both were flagged as scams because they pretended to be tools or tokens with real utility, but had zero code, zero team, and zero future.

And here’s the thing: even some "legit" exchanges like HitBTC have trust issues. That’s why knowing the difference matters. A decentralized exchange, a platform where users trade directly without a central authority controlling funds isn’t automatically safe. Some DeFi platforms are just fake exchanges with a DeFi label. They use smart contracts to look technical, but the code is unverified, the liquidity is fake, and the devs are anonymous. You’re not just risking money—you’re risking your private keys.

What you’ll find below are real case studies of fake crypto exchanges, breakdowns of how they fool people, and the exact signs to look for before you ever deposit a dime. Some posts cover how DPRK hackers use bridges to launder funds—others show you why a token like DEEPSEEKAI or PumaPay (PMA) isn’t a scam because it’s bad tech, but because it’s a complete ghost project. You’ll learn how to check if an exchange is real, how to spot cloned websites, and why no legitimate platform will ever ask you to send crypto to a wallet they control.