Coinbase, crypto scam texts: How to spot them and what to do

Text scams are everywhere these days — and they’re constantly evolving and changing. The latest evolution appears to be a scam centered on fake texts about Coinbase, the crypto platform.

A local news report spotted the scam in Nevada, while others have reported issues on Reddit. The good news, however, is that the Coinbase scam seems to follow a similar playbook to past text scams. You know, all those DMV, Indeed, or E-ZPass ticket scams that have littered phones for some time.

Here’s a fake Coinbase scam text I recently received, for instance.

How to spot a Coinbase scam text and what to do if you get one

There are a few things to note about the text that make it clearly a scam: 1) I am not a Coinbase customer and 2) it is from a random, +63 phone number. That +63 country code is for the Philippines and became a hallmark of the super-prevalent E-ZPass scams. The text also creates a sense of urgency — fix this non-existent withdrawal issue — that scams typically employ. Scammers want to make you act before you have the time to think it over. It’s important to note that Coinbase writes on its website: “If you receive a text message reporting that you’ve received cryptocurrency that you did not authorize, it is likely a phishing attempt. Coinbase does not send out texts to verify transactions.” So if Coinbase will not text you about a transaction, then any such text is, by default, a scam.

If you do get the text: Do not click any links, do not call the phone number, and do not respond. You can simply delete the text and report it as junk.

If you’re still worried, you can contact Coinbase directly instead of using the phone number from the fraudsters. But, in short, you can typically just delete the scam text and move along.

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