Why P2P attracts fraud
On P2P two strangers meet and one of them has to move first. The exchange holds the crypto in escrow, freezing it for the duration of the trade, but the money travels outside the exchange — directly between bank accounts. It only knows what you tell it.
That is the whole mechanic of the fraud: make you confirm money that never arrived, or arrange for money that did arrive to be taken back. Here are the schemes you will meet most often.
1. The triangle — the most dangerous one
This scheme is dangerous not because you lose money, but because it makes you a link in someone else's crime.
It works like this. The scammer finds a victim, usually through a classified ad or by posing as a bank employee. In parallel they open a trade with you on the exchange and receive your bank details. Then they tell the victim to send money to those details, supposedly for goods or to "rescue" an account.
You see exactly the right amount arrive and release the crypto. The scammer takes it and disappears. A day or two later the victim realises they were defrauded and files a police report. Investigators see the money went to your account — and come to you. The crypto is long gone, and you are the one explaining where the funds came from.
Warning signs: the sender's name does not match your counterparty on the exchange; the payment reference says something unrelated — "for a phone", "loan", "for treatment"; money arrives in parts from different cards; the counterparty rushes you to release quickly.
Protection: accept payment only from the person whose name is on the exchange account. If it does not match, open a dispute and do not release the crypto, even though the money is sitting in your account. A balance does not make the trade legitimate.
2. Fake support
In the trade chat "exchange support" writes to you: there is a problem, please move to Telegram for verification, or send the SMS code, or confirm the trade via this link.
Real support never writes first in a trade chat, never moves you to a messenger, and never asks for codes, passwords or two-factor codes. Any link from the chat leading to a "confirmation form" is phishing: you enter your login on a clone of the site and lose your account along with its balance.
Protection: every question is resolved inside the exchange, through its official support section. Do not open links from the chat at all. Never share SMS or authenticator codes with anyone, including "staff" of any platform.
3. Payment reversal
The money really does arrive, you release the crypto — and hours or days later the payment is reversed and the amount is taken back.
There are several ways to reverse a transfer: a claim of an erroneous payment, a card chargeback, or a bank recall on an instant transfer. In some countries a fast payment can be recalled within a day with a simple request.
Warning signs: payment by card from another bank instead of the usual transfer; the sender asks for details not listed in your offer's payment methods; the transfer arrives marked as "refundable" or "erroneous".
Protection: only work with the payment methods listed in your own offer. Split large amounts across several trades. And remember that on some exchanges a dispute can be opened after the trade closes — keep your bank statement.
4. The forged receipt
The simplest and most common scheme. The buyer sends a screenshot of a successful transfer into the chat — bank logo, timestamp, amount. The screenshot was made in an image editor or a receipt-generator app. There is no money in your account.
A more elaborate version is "payment processing": the counterparty shows a receipt marked "in progress", explains that the bank takes up to a day, and asks you to release now.
Protection: trust your own bank account, not pictures in a chat. Check in your banking app or statement that the funds are credited and available. "Processing" is not an arrival.
5. The short payment
Instead of 50,000 you receive 5,000, followed by an apology: "my mistake, I will top it up, release it meanwhile". Or the full amount arrives in several payments and one of them is reversed later.
Protection: release crypto only when the entire amount has arrived. No partial releases on trust.
6. Overpayment and the refund request
The buyer sends more than needed and asks you to return the difference to a different account. Either it is a way to launder money from a stolen card through you, or the overpayment was a forged receipt and you will be refunding your own real money.
Protection: never refund anything yourself. Open a dispute and return the excess only through exchange support, by the same route the money came in.
7. Taking the trade off the platform
The counterparty suggests dealing directly: "the exchange charges a fee, let's do it on Telegram, the rate will be better". The moment you leave the platform you lose escrow, arbitration and any evidence. No exchange will help with a trade it never saw.
A variant: the counterparty claims they already sent the crypto "straight to your wallet, check it" and links to a fake blockchain explorer showing a transaction that does not exist.
Protection: the trade exists only inside the exchange. No negotiating rates or methods in an outside messenger.
8. Pressure and urgency
The scammer manufactures urgency: the timer is running out, "I need to hurry", "I will cancel and report you". The goal is always the same — to make you release before verifying. Haste almost always means that checking would expose the fraud.
Protection: the trade timer exists to protect you, not your counterparty. If it expires without payment, simply open a dispute — that is the normal procedure.
9. Fake offers with a perfect rate
The rate is noticeably better than the market, the limits are large, and the merchant registered yesterday. The purpose of such an offer is to pull you into a private chat where any of the schemes above begins. A genuine merchant with a good rate does not sit around without trades.
Protection: look at completed trade counts and completion rate, not just the price. Our scanner shows both next to every offer — a merchant with thousands of trades and a 99% completion rate is an order of magnitude safer than a newcomer with an attractive price.
10. Money mule recruitment
An offer to "just receive transfers on your card for a percentage". That is money mule work: your account is used to launder proceeds of fraud. It ends with frozen accounts and, in several countries, criminal charges — regardless of whether you knew.
The rules that close almost everything
- Check the sender's name. It must match your counterparty on the exchange. This single rule closes the triangle, the most dangerous scheme.
- Trust the bank, not the chat. Money counts as received when you see it in your banking app, not in a screenshot.
- Never leave the exchange. Not to Telegram, not to WhatsApp, not via a link.
- Never share codes. No SMS codes, no authenticator codes, no passwords — to anyone.
- Do not rush. Opening a dispute is nothing to fear; it is a standard procedure and it works in your favour.
- Weigh reputation. Thousands of trades and a high completion rate matter more than the best rate.
- Split large amounts. Several smaller trades are safer than one big one.
If it already happened
Open a dispute on the exchange immediately — while the trade is open the crypto stays frozen in escrow, and that is your main leverage. Gather evidence: the bank statement, the trade chat, the sender's details. If the money came from an unrelated person, contact your bank and report the suspicious incoming payment — that puts your position on record before any investigator gets in touch.
If you lost access to your account after following a link, change the password at once and revoke active sessions; if you still control your email, have support block withdrawals.
And above all: no favourable rate is worth skipping a check. A couple of percent on the price is nothing next to an amount that gets taken in full.