Scam Prevention Tutorials
Recovery is a long shot. Prevention is a decision. These 20 tutorials take the playbooks that cost people the most money and turn each one into a test you can run yourself — before you deposit, before you sign, before you send.
Four things every tutorial here has in common
Prevention beats recovery
No agency, court or tool can reverse a blockchain transfer. Stopping one is worth more than any recovery service you will ever be offered.
Fraud has a script
Every scheme in this library repeats the same stages in the same order. Once you can name the stage you are in, the next move is predictable.
Checkable, not reassuring
Each tutorial gives you a test you can run yourself — a video call, a small withdrawal, a domain lookup — rather than asking you to trust a judgement.
Written from documented cases
The patterns on this page are drawn from published victim disclosures and consumer-protection filings, not from marketing material.
Counts are of the tutorials and tests published on this site, and are verifiable by reading them.
All 20 playbooks, in the order they happen to people
Start with the situation you are in right now. If you are unsure whether anything has happened yet, start with number one and work down — the early tutorials are the ones that prevent a loss rather than respond to one.
Seed Phrase Safety: The 7 Rules That Make Wallet Draining Impossible
Your seed phrase is the whole wallet. These seven rules make it unstealable.
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How to Verify a Wallet Address Before You Send — The 60-Second Protocol
The 60-second check that catches clipboard hijackers and poisoned addresses.
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Fake Investment Platform Red Flags: 12 Signals That Predict a Collapse
Small early payouts are the trap, not the proof. Here is how it works.
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Romance Scam Prevention: How to Test the Person Before the Money Talk
The romance is real to you and a job to them. Four tests that reveal it.
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WhatsApp and Telegram Crypto Scams: How to Shut Them Down in Two Messages
Most "trading groups" are one operator with many accounts. Two messages expose it.
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Phishing and Wallet Drainers: How One Click Empties a Wallet
A drainer never needs your seed phrase — it only needs one signature.
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How to Check if a Website Is a Scam: A 5-Minute Forensic Routine
Five minutes of checking, using tools you already have, before you type a card number.
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Safe Crypto Withdrawal Checklist: Getting Your Money Out Without Losing It
If a platform has already decided to keep your money, this is the sequence that matters.
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What to Do in the First Hour After Being Scammed — The Emergency Order
Not a comfort guide. An ordered checklist for the hour after you realise.
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Recovery Scam Prevention: How to Avoid the Second Fraud
The seven questions that expose a recovery fraud before you send a deposit.
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Fake Trading App Prevention: Nine Checks Before You Fund an App
The small successful withdrawal is bait, not proof — and it is manufactured for you.
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The Crypto Investment Scam Playbook: All Seven Stages, Decoded
Name the stage you are in and the next move becomes predictable.
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Social Media Crypto Scam Prevention: Ads, DMs, Groups and Giveaways
Paid reach is the most expensive thing fraud has ever had access to.
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Crypto Job Scam Prevention: Fake Recruiters, Tasks and Payroll
A job offer is the most trusted delivery mechanism fraud has ever used.
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Wallet Approval Scam Prevention: The Permission You Never Meant to Grant
One signature, standing permission, and a contract that waits.
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How to Get an Exchange to Freeze Stolen Funds: The Request That Works
The freeze window is real, short, and opened by writing the right document.
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Crypto Scam Evidence Checklist: Everything to Preserve, In Order
What a complaint needs before an analyst can act on it.
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How to Avoid a Second Scam: The Repeat-Victim Playbook
Repeat fraud is designed for people who now know the first fraud.
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Crypto Safety Audit Checklist: Twenty Minutes, Every Quarter
The quarterly audit that closes the doors you forgot were open.
Read tutorialPrevention against recovery: what actually works
This table is the reason this library exists. Notice which column the industry sells and which column has a verified track record.
| Approach | Cost to you | Works before the loss? | Works after the loss? | Verified return rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Running the checks in these tutorials | Free | Yes | Partly — preserves evidence | Prevents the loss |
| Card issuer dispute, filed same day | Free | No | Yes, with short deadlines | Highest of any route |
| Bank transfer recall, within hours | Free | No | Sometimes | Occasionally |
| Exchange compliance freeze request | Free | No | Only while funds remain on-chain | Case-dependent |
| Official complaints (IC3, FTC) | Free | No | Creates the record | Not a recovery route by itself |
| Upfront-fee "recovery service" | A fee, often 10–30% | No | No | Zero verified returns |
| Paying a "release fee" on a platform | A second loss | No | No | This is the fraud itself |
Return-rate column reflects outcomes described in published victim disclosures and consumer-protection material. Individual outcomes vary and nothing here is a guarantee.
Turn the details into documents you can file.
The Report Builder produces a formal complaint, a cover email to your bank or exchange, a police statement, an IC3 narrative and a demand letter — from one form, free, in your browser.
Disclaimer: these tutorials are general information, not legal, financial or recovery advice, and they are not a substitute for advice from a licensed professional in your jurisdiction. Individual outcomes vary and are never guaranteed. We never ask for seed phrases, private keys, remote access or upfront fees.