Audio By Carbonatix
If you’ve spent any time with cryptocurrencies or NFTs, you’re probably familiar with just how many scams exist in the space.
According to The Motley Fool, crypto scammers have collected $472 million from Americans in the first quarter of 2025 alone. That’s up from $336 million in the same period last year.
Given just how much money can be at stake when it comes to cryptocurrency, it should come as no surprise that the methods employed by these scammers can get pretty complicated. Numerous celebrities have had their accounts hacked in order to promote cryptocurrency scams. And on a smaller scale, individuals with crypto holdings have reported some bizarre tactics being used to try to remove their funds from them.
For example, TikTok user Steve (@tripiville) recently revealed that he nearly fell victim to a cryptocurrency scam. Now, he’s telling viewers how they can avoid similar scams.
How Did This Man Nearly Fall Victim To A Crypto Scam?
In his video, Steve recounts a “really good scam that almost got me.”
According to Steve, he received a call from a number marked as spam. Though, he says he decided to pick it up anyway. After he did, he says he was greeted with a recording saying, “‘This is Coinbase. And there’s been fraud on your account.’”
“‘If you are’—and it said my name—‘press 1,’ which I did,” Steve recalls. “And it said, ‘A representative will be calling you back shortly.’”
About 10 minutes later, Steve says he received a call from the state of California that he says was not marked as spam. According to Steve, the caller spoke with a perfect American accent. He says they told him there was an alert on his account.
The caller then alleged that someone had tried to change his email and phone number through online chat. Apparently, in order to bolster their credibility, the caller then confirmed that they had access to Steve’s full name, email address, and home address.
Steve notes he was skeptical but still decided to play along. The caller then said that Steve was given a security code. The caller also said Steve would be receiving some unique security links via email, which he eventually did. At this point, Steve notes he already changed his Coinbase password via the website.
It Gets More Suspicious
When the email arrived, Steve says it appeared to be from Coinbase. And so, he clicked on the link provided. When there, the site asked him to deny certain logins, which he did. It then asked him to estimate the balance of his Coinbase account.
“Immediately I’m skeptical. ‘Why do you need to know that?’” Steve states. “And I asked [the caller], and he said, ‘That’s just to verify you are who you are.’ … It had ranges, so I said, ‘OK, well, what’s the harm in that?’ I mean, maybe it’s just to understand if I actually have money in a Coinbase account worth hacking into.”
After clicking the correct range, he was asked by the caller if he had any third-party wallets attached to his account. Steve says he refused to answer. In response, the caller insisted that the “hacker” likely had access to those, too. The caller recommended that Steve should remove his third-party wallets using the provided webpage.
The Final Red Flag
“The next screen that popped up. It said ‘Third Party Wallets.’ And I think it even had the MetaMask logo. But I didn’t tell him what wallet I was using, or if I was using one at all. But it did, at that point, prompt me to put in the 12-word passkey for my third-party wallet, which, of course, I understood was, you know, not something you should be doing.”
Steve told the caller that he didn’t have the passkey available to him at that time. In response, Steve says the caller responded that he needed to do it now. When Steve asked if he could call again later, he says the caller hung up.
“So, just be on the alert,” Steve advises. “It was a really good scam. And if I wasn’t cautious going into it, I’m sure I could have been duped very easily.”
How To Avoid Becoming The Victim Of A Crypto Scam
Steve made some correct moves, such as not revealing his 12-word seed phrase or stating whether he had any third-party wallets. However, most of the other steps he took during this process were incorrect. And they exposed him to potentially losing his cryptocurrency and other personal information.
First, he should have never answered the scam call, nor should he have interacted with it by pressing the No. 1 when prompted. A call from a known scam number is unlikely to be useful to you. It can also mark your phone as one to be targeted in the future, as you have shown that you are likely to interact with scam calls.
What Else Went Wrong?
Second, after getting a call from someone claiming to be Coinbase, he made no attempt to independently verify the caller. The easiest way to do this is not by asking them questions, but by simply hanging up and reaching out via the official channels on Coinbase’s website. If there truly is an issue, a verified Coinbase representative will then be able to explain it to you and help you solve it.
Third, he not only offered to receive an email from the scammer, but he also clicked the links within. Everything from email addresses to the links themselves can be spoofed or given deceptive URLs in order to trick someone into clicking them. And once they do, they can expose themselves to all sorts of phishing attempts. Much like the call verification example, in general, the best method is to simply go through channels you know to be valid, such as the official Coinbase website, instead of clicking links from strangers.
Finally, when shown a website asking him to verify information and the amount of cryptocurrency he had, he happily did so—again exposing himself to potential phishing attempts while further marking him as a target for scams.
The Verdict
While he may think he’s out of the water now, the fact that he went this far in the process—and identified how much cryptocurrency he owned—could draw the attention of future scammers, especially if his cryptocurrency balance was significant.
In short, it’s good that Steve managed to avoid getting scammed this time. But he should definitely be more careful with his information in the future.
BroBible reached out to Steve via TikTok direct message and comment and to Coinbase via email.
Content shared from brobible.com.