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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.
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
Social engineering
Social engineering is manipulating a person, rather than breaking software, to get them to hand over information, access or money. In crypto it usually means talking someone into revealing a seed phrase, approving a transaction or sending funds, often by posing as someone they would believe.
What it means for you. No genuine support team needs your seed phrase, private key or remote access to your computer, so any request for them is the attack itself. When a message pushes urgency, contact the company yourself using an address or number you already had, not the link or number in the message. Crypto sent this way usually cannot be recovered.
Sources: CISA: Avoiding social engineering and phishing attacks, ethereum.org: Security and scam prevention · checked 4 October 2026