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What is an impersonation scam?
An impersonation scam is fraud in which someone pretends to be a person or organization you would believe, such as a government agency, your bank, a company's support team or a celebrity, to get you to send crypto or reveal account details.
What it means for you
The FTC says no real business or government will demand that you pay with crypto, and no support agent needs your seed phrase. If a message claims to come from one, end the contact and reach the organization through a website address you type yourself or a phone number from a statement you already have.
How it works
The FTC describes scammers who contact people by text, email or social media posing as government agencies or businesses, claiming a legal problem, a debt or frozen accounts, then demanding payment in crypto or walking the person to a crypto ATM. Others pose as love interests who offer investment advice. bitcoin.org notes impostors open social media accounts copying real people, and ethereum.org describes fake support agents who privately message people asking for help in public channels. Impersonation is one form of social engineering; the pretext changes, but the request, a payment that cannot be reversed, stays the same.
Sources: FTC: What to know about cryptocurrency and scams, bitcoin.org: Avoid scams (impersonation), ethereum.org: Security and scam prevention (support scams) · checked 4 October 2026
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Educational content, not financial advice. Written by hand and checked against the source named above. Something wrong? Tell us and we reply within two business days.