The phishing tricks aimed specifically at crypto users
Lookalike domains, fake support, malicious approvals and clipboard swaps. The specific techniques, and what defeats each one.
General phishing advice is about not giving away passwords. Crypto phishing is often about getting you to authorise something yourself, which no password rule covers.
Lookalike domains and paid search
A domain one character off the real one, promoted through search ads so it appears above the genuine site. The page is a pixel-perfect copy whose only job is to capture a seed phrase or a signature.
Defeated by reaching sites from your own bookmark or by typing the domain. Never from an ad, a message or an email link.
Fake support in public channels
You post a problem; someone with the right-looking name and avatar messages you privately within minutes. Real support does not do this.
Defeated by one rule: anyone who contacts you first about your account is not support.
Malicious signature requests
A site asks you to sign something that looks like a login but is actually an approval granting access to your tokens. The wallet shows a confirmation and you click through it.
Defeated by reading what you are signing, and by treating any unexpected signature request on a site you did not seek out as hostile.
Clipboard hijacking
Malware watches for a copied crypto address and replaces it with the attacker's. You paste, it looks like an address, you send.
Defeated by comparing the first and last five characters of the pasted address against the source, every time. It takes three seconds and it is the only check that catches this.
Address poisoning
The attacker sends you dust from an address whose first and last characters match one you have used, so it sits in your history looking familiar.
Defeated by never copying a destination from your own transaction history. Always take it fresh from the recipient or the receive page.