Crypto fraud is now the costliest category of cybercrime reported to US law enforcement. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center logged over $11.366 billion in crypto-related losses in 2025, and crypto investment fraud alone accounted for $7.2 billion. Fake trading platforms drive a large share of those losses, which is why crypto crime investigations have become a priority for regulators, law enforcement, and private firms.
This article lists documented cases, explains how each operated, and shows how to spot the next one. It separates confirmed fraud from allegations still before the courts.
How we classified each platform
- Confirmed: a court judgment or criminal conviction.
- Regulator finding: a regulator’s published report or warning. These findings may not have been tested in court.
- Alleged: charges or a complaint have been filed, but no final ruling exists. These platforms are presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
We don’t list platforms based on complaints, forum posts, or review-site rumors.
Documented fake and fraudulent crypto exchanges
1. Debiex: a fake trading platform (Confirmed)
A US federal court in Arizona entered a default judgment against Debiex, a purported digital asset platform, finding it liable for fraud and for misappropriating over $2 million in customer funds. The CFTC’s complaint described how it worked: the websites only mimicked a live trading platform, and the “trading accounts” were a ruse with no real trading. Operators posing as successful female traders built rapport with victims through repeated messaging before directing them to the site.
2. Morocoin, Berge, and Cirkor: purported trading platforms (Alleged)
In December 2025, the SEC charged three purported crypto trading platforms, Morocoin Tech Corp., Berge Blockchain Technology Co., Ltd., and Cirkor Inc., along with several investment clubs. According to the complaint:
- The clubs ran on WhatsApp and recruited people through social media ads, then supposedly offered AI-generated investment tips.
- Victims were steered to open and fund accounts on the platforms, which allegedly claimed false government licenses.
- The SEC alleges no trading took place, and the “Security Token Offerings” and their issuers did not exist.
The SEC puts the alleged losses at $14 million. These are allegations only.
3. JPEX: an unlicensed exchange (Alleged)
JPEX collapsed in September 2023 after Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission warned that it was unlicensed and had made misleading claims. The SFC said no JPEX group entity held or had applied for a licence. By late 2025, police had charged 16 people, including alleged core syndicate members and influencers, and reported more than 2,700 victims with losses above $206 million. Further money laundering charges brought the total number of people charged to 26.
The criminal cases are ongoing. The SFC’s licensing findings are on the record, but guilt has not been adjudicated.
4. Thodex: a collapsed exchange (Confirmed, defendants dispute)
Faruk Fatih Özer, who founded Thodex in 2017 and fled to Albania after it collapsed, was sentenced by an Istanbul court to 11,196 years in prison. The court found him and his two siblings guilty of aggravated fraud, leading a criminal organisation, and money laundering.
Loss figures are contested. The indictment estimated about 356 million lira ($13 million), while Turkish media reported up to $2 billion and Chainalysis put the crypto lost at $2.6 billion. Özer denies the charges and says the exchange simply went bankrupt.
Thodex was a real, operating exchange that collapsed, rather than a cloned website. It illustrates exit-scam risk at a legitimate-looking exchange.
5. FTX: customer-fund fraud at a major exchange (Confirmed)
A jury convicted founder Sam Bankman-Fried on seven fraud and conspiracy counts, and the judge sentenced him to 25 years for stealing $8 billion from FTX customers. Prosecutors said he diverted customer money to his sister hedge fund, Alameda Research, to fund speculative investments, political donations, and real estate. He has said he will appeal.
FTX was not a fake website. The fraud was the misuse of customer deposits. It shows that a famous brand and heavy marketing do not prove a platform is safe.
6. QuadrigaCX: a Ponzi-style exchange (Regulator finding)
The Ontario Securities Commission concluded that Quadriga’s downfall resulted from fraud by co-founder and CEO Gerald Cotten, who covered shortfalls with other clients’ deposits, so the platform in effect operated like a Ponzi scheme. The OSC attributed most of a $169 million asset shortfall to his conduct.
The OSC stated that these findings are not findings of fact by a hearing panel and have not been tested before a tribunal or court. Cotten’s death and the company’s bankruptcy meant no enforcement action followed.
7. Unnamed “exchanges” in US pig-butchering seizures (Alleged)
Some fake exchanges are known only through forfeiture cases. In one DOJ case, scammers told victims they were investing with trusted firms and cryptocurrency exchanges, but the purported firms were non-existent trading platforms. In 2025, prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture action targeting over $225 million in crypto traced to fraudulent investment platforms, linked to at least 400 suspected victims. Forfeiture complaints contain allegations, not final findings.
Why this list isn’t longer
We included only platforms with verifiable regulator or court evidence. Many sites appear on warning lists for weeks, then vanish and reappear under new domains. Before adding any name, check these registers directly:
- The SEC and CFTC fraud advisories
- The UK FCA warning list
- Hong Kong SFC’s suspicious platform list
- The Ontario Securities Commission
- Your own country’s securities regulator
How fake crypto exchanges operate
Most follow the same script:
- Contact: a stranger reaches out via a dating app, social media, or WhatsApp.
- Trust-building: weeks of friendly chat and fake trading “tips.”
- Platform: you’re sent to a slick site showing live charts and rising balances.
- Escalation: small early withdrawals may succeed, which encourages bigger deposits.
- Lockout: large withdrawals are blocked for “taxes” or “verification fees.”
A joint SEC and CFTC alert describes the last step as an advance fee fraud, where victims are asked to pay costs such as purported taxes to withdraw fake profits.
How to identify a fake crypto trading website
- Guaranteed or very high returns. Regulators say all investments carry risk and that a “guaranteed” return should be questioned.
- No verifiable licence. Look up the firm on your regulator’s official register. Don’t trust a licence number displayed on the site itself.
- Fees to withdraw your own money. Legitimate exchanges deduct fees from your balance. They don’t demand new deposits first.
- Contact started by a stranger, especially moving you from a dating app or social media to WhatsApp or Telegram.
- Unknown platform, not in major app stores or reputable exchange rankings, often with a recently registered domain.
- Pressure to deposit quickly, or to deposit more to “unlock” gains.
- Unverifiable team and address. Fake names and stock photos are common.
- Spelling and grammar errors in site copy or support chats.
What a crypto investigator does after a scam
A professional crypto investigator works from the evidence you preserve. The work usually includes:
- Identifying the platform’s domains, hosting, and operators
- Mapping the wallets that received your funds
- Following transfers across chains and exchanges
- Producing a report that banks, regulators, and police can act on
A thorough crypto crime investigation doesn’t guarantee recovery, but it gives authorities something concrete to work with. Early action matters, because funds often move within hours.
What to do if you deposited money into a fake exchange
- Stop sending money. Don’t pay “release” fees. Each payment usually triggers another demand.
- Preserve evidence. Save transaction IDs, wallet addresses, screenshots, chat logs, emails, and the site URL.
- Contact your bank or card issuer immediately if you paid by transfer or card. Some wire reversals succeed when reported quickly.
- Report the fraud to your local police, your national fraud agency, and your financial regulator. In the US, report to the FBI’s IC3 and the FTC. The Massachusetts US Attorney’s Office, for example, asks cryptocurrency scam victims to come forward.
- Notify the exchange where you bought the crypto, so it can flag the receiving addresses.
- Get the funds traced. Blockchain analysis can follow stolen assets across wallets. US authorities have used this approach to seize $61 million in Tether linked to pig-butchering scams, and Tether has said it froze significant scam-linked assets. Recovery is never guaranteed, and speed matters.
- Beware of recovery scams. Anyone who contacts you offering to retrieve your funds for an upfront fee is likely running a second scam.
FAQs
What is a fake crypto exchange?
It’s a website or app that imitates a real trading platform. Either no trades happen at all (as in the Debiex judgment), or the operator misuses customer deposits.
How can I check whether an exchange is legitimate?
Search for it on your national regulator’s register, and cross-check regulator warning lists. Confirm the domain independently rather than clicking links sent to you.
Is every unlicensed exchange a scam?
No. Unlicensed doesn’t automatically mean fraudulent, but it means you have no regulatory protection. It was also the core issue in the JPEX case.
Can I get my money back?
Sometimes. Recovery depends on speed, whether funds reached a regulated exchange, and whether authorities can freeze them. Treat any promise of guaranteed recovery as a warning sign.
Why do scammers let early withdrawals go through?
Small successful withdrawals build trust and encourage larger deposits.
Should I report even if the amount is small?
Yes. Reports help authorities link victims to the same network and support seizures.
Need help after a crypto scam?
If you’ve lost money to a fake exchange, act early. Fintech Legals can help through:
- Crypto Investigation to identify the platform and the people behind it
- Fraud Investigations to build an evidence file for banks, regulators, and law enforcement
- Crypto Assets Tracing to follow stolen funds across wallets and exchanges
Contact Fintech Legals today for a confidential case review.
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