How to spot a fake exchange site

A convincing copy of an exchange costs almost nothing to build. The deposit address is swapped for the attacker's and everything else looks right.

Tells

• The domain. Read it character by character. Lookalike letters and extra hyphens are the whole trick.
• How you arrived. Search ads and forum links are where clones live. Bookmark the real site and use the bookmark.
• Pressure. Countdowns and claims that only a few minutes remain exist to stop you checking.
• Rates that are too good. A rate far better than everywhere else is bait, not a bargain.
• Asking for a seed phrase. Instant and total disqualification. No exchange ever needs it.

A habit worth forming

Send a small test transaction the first time you use any service, and confirm the payout arrives before you send the rest. It costs one network fee to find out whether a site is real.