Fake Crypto Exchange: How to Spot Scams and Avoid Losing Your Crypto

When you hear about a new crypto exchange offering insane rewards or free tokens, pause. A fake crypto exchange, a fraudulent platform designed to steal your funds by pretending to be legitimate. Also known as a sham exchange, it often looks real—clean design, fake reviews, even fake customer support—but it has no real infrastructure, no security, and no intention of letting you withdraw your money. These aren’t just bad businesses—they’re digital theft operations, and they’re getting smarter every day.

Fake crypto exchanges don’t just appear out of nowhere. They piggyback on trust. You’ll see them listed on fake CoinMarketCap pages, promoted by influencers with stolen footage, or pushed through Telegram groups promising 10x returns overnight. They often copy the names of real platforms like Binance or Kraken, just with a slight spelling change—like BTB.io instead of Binance, or INRTOKEN instead of KuCoin. They even fake trading volume and user counts. One platform called VALIMARKET isn’t even an exchange—it’s just a dead token with a misleading name. Another, DPEX.io, claims to be a powerful decentralized exchange but has $15 in daily volume. That’s not a platform—it’s a ghost town with a website.

And it’s not just exchanges. fake airdrop, a scam that tricks you into connecting your wallet to steal your crypto. Also known as phishing airdrop, it’s one of the most common ways people lose everything in seconds. Projects like TacoCat Token or ZeroHybrid Network are sometimes used as bait—people think they’re getting free tokens, but the moment they click "claim," their wallet is drained. The same goes for PSWAP, PNDR, or PLGR airdrops—many are dead projects with fake websites pretending to be active. These scams rely on one thing: your hope. They know you want something for free. They don’t care if you’re new or experienced. If you skip the basics, you’re a target.

Real exchanges have transparency. They show audits, team members, regulatory licenses, and real user feedback. They don’t hide behind anonymous Twitter accounts or vague whitepapers. If you can’t find a single verified review on Reddit, Trustpilot, or even a decent YouTube video from someone who actually used it, walk away. If the site asks you to connect your wallet before you even sign up, that’s a red flag. If the URL looks weird—like crypto-exchange[.]xyz instead of cryptoexchange[.]com—that’s not a typo, that’s a trap.

And don’t get fooled by fake security claims. Some sites say they’re "multi-sig" or "cold storage"—but if they’re not on any official list from CoinGecko or CoinMarketCap, and they don’t have a public GitHub or a real support email, it’s all smoke. The Lazarus Group doesn’t need to hack you—they just wait for you to hand over your keys. That’s how they stole over $2 billion. You don’t need to be a hacker to get scammed. You just need to be careless.

Below, you’ll find real reviews of platforms that are either outright scams or dangerously untrustworthy. You’ll see how names like BTB.io, DPEX.io, and INRTOKEN Exchange are nothing more than digital traps. You’ll also learn how to tell the difference between a real airdrop and a wallet-draining lie. These aren’t theoretical warnings. These are cases where real people lost everything. Don’t be the next one.