Coinbase scams: “security” wants you to move your crypto
A call or text from “Coinbase support” or “security” saying your account is compromised and you must move your crypto to a new wallet or seed phrase is a scam.
Coinbase says its staff never ask you to send crypto to outside addresses, never give or ask for a seed phrase, never ask for your password or two-step code, and never ask you to install software or let them into your device. Scammers fake real phone numbers. Crypto sent is almost never coming back.
What it looks like
An example written by HARD, not a real message. Real ones change wording often.
Text from Coinbase (a spoofed sender name)
Coinbase: A withdrawal of 0.42 BTC was requested from a new device in Lagos. If this wasn’t you, call Coinbase Security at +1 (650) 555-0172 immediately to secure your funds.
Check the one you got
Paste what you were sent. HARD checks it in this browser with the same rules as the Is this legit? check in its apps. Nothing you paste leaves this page.
How to tell it’s fake
“Coinbase staff will never ask you to send cryptocurrency to external addresses.”
Coinbase
- Move it to be safe.
- A new wallet, a vault, a seed phrase they give you. Coinbase says it will never call or text to give you one.
- A code or password.
- Coinbase support never asks for your password or two-step code.
- Software or screen sharing.
- Coinbase support never asks you to install software or remotely access your device.
- Caller ID looks right.
- Coinbase says scammers spoof real numbers.
If you clicked, called or paid
- Lock your account first.
- In the app: Account and settings, then Security, then Lock account. Or at accounts.coinbase.com/security. Coinbase’s advice: lock first, ask later.
- Contact Coinbase on its own number.
- US and Canada +1 (888) 908-7930, UK +44 808 168 4635, as Coinbase lists them.
- Change your password and two-step settings.
- From a device the scammer never touched.
- Report it.
- To [email protected], and in the US to ReportFraud.ftc.gov, the CFTC, the SEC and the FBI at ic3.gov. Ignore anyone who offers to recover it for a fee: that is another scam.
If it was your parents, read Look after your parents, and if a card number or password has gone, Breaches explains what each kind of leaked data lets criminals do.
The official way to check
- Open the Coinbase app yourself.
- Real security alerts and withdrawals show there.
- If a call drops, wait for the callback.
- Coinbase says a real agent calls back within five minutes on the same number and re-verifies you.
Someone on the phone asking for money right now? Guides has the two-step answer. More scams by name are on Is this a scam?, and new ones reach the Situation Room.
Questions
Does Coinbase call you?
Coinbase may return a call you started, but says its staff never ask you to move crypto, share a seed phrase or code, or install software. Treat an unexpected call as a scam and lock your account in the app.
Can I get crypto back after a Coinbase scam?
The FTC says crypto payments typically aren’t reversible. Lock your account, contact Coinbase on its listed number, and report it.
Where do I report a Coinbase impersonation scam?
Email [email protected], then ReportFraud.ftc.gov and ic3.gov in the US.
Sources
Sources checked on 7 Nov 2026.
- Coinbase: Technical support and impersonation scams, read 7 November 2026 in a browser (the page blocks automated readers): what staff never ask for, spoofed numbers, the five-minute callback, [email protected], lock first.
- Coinbase: Lock or unlock your compromised account, read 7 November 2026: how to lock the account; official US, Canada and UK numbers.
- FTC: What to know about cryptocurrency and scams, May 2022: scammers impersonate well-known companies and ask you to move crypto for “safe keeping”; crypto payments typically aren’t reversible; where to report.
- FBI IC3: “Phantom Hacker” scams target senior citizens (I-091223-PSA), 29 September 2023: a fake tech support contact, then a fake bank, then a fake government agency, each moving your money to a “safe” account.