Legitimate crypto businesses sometimes confirm that you control a self-hosted address before they send coins there. That idea is not the scam. The scam is the timing and the invoice.
On crooked desks the deposit window is frictionless. Only when you request a withdrawal does support discover that your address needs “binding”, “synchronisation”, “AML activation” or an “insurance deposit”. Pay in USDT or bitcoin, they say, and your own balance will unlock. Consumer and market regulators describe the same advance-fee pattern for years: fees and taxes invented solely to extract a second transfer. Paying rarely frees the first pile; it funds the next excuse.
A clean ownership check does not require you to top up the platform. It can be a small challenge transaction you initiate, a signed message, or ordinary identity checks completed before funds move. Anything that says “send more money so we can return your money” fails that test on contact.
How to check: refuse withdrawal fees paid to a stranger’s wallet; screenshot the demand; stop depositing; and treat every new “final” charge as confirmation you should leave, not as progress.
Report through Get help. Follow-up “specialists” who offer to finish the binding for a retainer are covered under Fake recovery.
This article is for general information only. It is not legal or financial advice. Details change. If you have lost money, contact your bank or card issuer and use the routes on the help pages.