Bitget exchange, in collaboration with blockchain security firms SlowMist and Elliptic, has exposed the terrifying anatomy of the most advanced crypto scams in recent times.
These findings come amid rising security incidents, ranging from high-profile attacks to government involvement in crypto laundering attacks.
AI Deepfakes, Social Tactics Behind 2025 Crypto Scam Rise: Bitget Report
The report cites AI deepfakes, weaponized psychology, and social engineering. It lays bare how bad actors use synthetic videos, virtual identities, and fake crypto meetings to deceive users and dismantle trust in the Web3 ecosystem.
A key finding in the report is that in 2025, scams will go beyond stealing user keys to hijack victims’ realities. From celebrity deepfakes to Trojan job offers and fake Zoom meetings, the latest scams blend high-tech deception with low-tech manipulation.
Bitget’s report categorizes the most dangerous threats under three pillars: deepfake impersonation, social engineering scams, and advanced Ponzi schemes. The most insidious are deepfakes.
AI Deepfakes Blur the Line Between Real and Fake
In early 2025, Hong Kong police arrested 31 individuals in a deepfake scam syndicate. Perpetrators stole $34 million by impersonating crypto executives during fake investment calls. This was just one of 87 similar operations dismantled across Asia in Q1 alone.
“…attackers using AI synthesis tools to fabricate audio and video likenesses of well-known project founders, exchange executives, or community KOLs in order to mislead users. These fabricated materials are often highly realistic,” read an excerpt in the report shared with BeInCrypto.
With tools like Synthesia, ElevenLabs, and HeyGen, attackers fabricate dynamic likenesses of public figures. Named victims include Elon Musk and Singapore’s Prime Minister. Bad actors create convincing videos to promote fraudulent platforms.
These videos are often distributed on social channels like Telegram, X (Twitter), and YouTube Shorts. Based on the report, they turn off comments to maintain a façade of legitimacy.
One case involved deepfake clips of Singapore Minister Lee Hsien Loong endorsing a “government-backed crypto initiative.” The campaign reportedly ensnared thousands before it was flagged.
Zoom, but Make It a Scam
Another disturbing tactic involves impersonating Zoom. Victims receive fake meeting invites from “crypto executives,” prompting them to download Trojan-laced software.
During the meeting, scammers use deepfake avatars and fabricated credentials to trick users into sharing wallet access or approving malicious transactions.
“The people luring you to download fake Zoom for meetings are extremely persuasive, making you feel it’s unlikely to be fake. A key point is that the participants you see during the meeting are actually displayed using deepfake videos… Don’t doubt it, in the AI era, video and voice forgery can be extremely realistic…,” SlowMist founder Cos shared on X.
Once inside the system, attackers can access browser data, cloud storage, or private keys, exposing users to total account compromise. These multi-layered attacks represent a new “identity hijack” category combining technical infiltration and social trust manipulation.
Social Engineering to Exploit Human Vulnerability
Bitget’s report stresses that modern scams rely as much on psychology as code. One notable trend is the rise of “AI arbitrage bot” scams, where scammers promise effortless gains using ChatGPT-branded smart contracts.
Bad actors trick users into deploying malicious code via fake Remix IDE pages, and their funds are instantly rerouted to scammer wallets.
What’s worse? These schemes are often small-scale, targeting victims for $50–$200 at a time. While the losses are minor enough to deter pursuit, they are frequent enough to generate large cumulative profits for attackers.
Ponzi Schemes Behind Promised Yields
Beyond AI-generated scams, Bitget also warns that traditional Ponzi and pyramid schemes have not disappeared, but have mutated. Specifically, these scams have undergone a “digital evolution,” leveraging on-chain tools, rapid viral marketing, and the illusion of legitimacy through smart contracts.
Instead of opaque offshore bank accounts, modern-day fraudsters attract victims through Telegram groups, Twitter hype, and tokens with built-in referral mechanics.
Smart contracts give these scams a thin veneer of decentralization and transparency. Meanwhile, carefully obfuscated tokenomics mimic legitimate yield structures until the inevitable collapse.
A potent mix of social engineering and digital virality is fueling this transformation. Influencers and anonymous promoters often seed these scams through memes, testimonials, or even AI-generated videos posing as reputable figures.
Projects disguised as “community-driven” DAOs or staking protocols rope users in with unsustainable returns, creating a frenzy of buy-ins that mask the exit liquidity strategy.
As regulation struggles to catch up, the speed and scale at which these digital Ponzi schemes propagate make them harder to track.
A Call for Skepticism and Collective Defense
Against this backdrop, Bitget has launched a dedicated Anti-Scam Hub, integrating real-time behavioral analytics to flag suspicious activity.
It has partnered with Elliptic and SlowMist to trace illicit fund flows and dismantle phishing infrastructures across multiple chains.
The report urges users to verify all asset-related instructions across multiple channels, noting that visual and auditory credibility is no longer enough. It also encourages projects to adopt on-chain signature broadcasts and maintain a single verified communication channel.
With scams advancing, so must user and ecosystem defenses. The crypto industry now faces a dual challenge: safeguarding assets and rebuilding user trust in a digital world where anyone can be anyone.
This report is timely, only hours after President Santiago Peña’s tweet claimed Paraguay adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. However, his X (Twitter) account was compromised, with red flags ranging from a Bitcoin wallet address to suspicious language, raising scam concerns.
Paraguay President’s X account was hacked.
The hacker claimed Bitcoin is now legal tender,
Paraguay holds a $5M BTC reserve, and there’s a crypto bond program.
It was all fake but the markets blinked.
Hacker: BTC is legal tender in Paraguay
CT:
Paraguay: That’s not… pic.twitter.com/wcYxXNiE4j
— Justin Wu π (@hackapreneur) June 10, 2025
Similarly, recent reports also indicated that North Korean IT workers used fraudulent identities to bypass KYC checks. BeInCrypto reported that they funnel crypto earnings back to the regime for its weapons program.
These incidents highlight the growing threat of bad actors in crypto, echoing the need for extra caution.
The post New Bitget Report Shows Harrowing Details of DeepFake and Zoom Crypto Scams appeared first on BeInCrypto.