Is This Crypto Exchange or Trading Platform Legitimate?
Fake exchanges are built to survive a quick look: real-looking charts, an app in the store, a support desk that answers. Ten minutes of checking against official sources tells you far more than an hour spent on the platform itself.
Last reviewed: August 2026
Check the official registers first
Go to the regulator's own website by typing the address yourself. Never use a link, QR code or screenshot supplied by the platform or the person recommending it — cloned register entries are a standard part of the fraud.
- United Kingdom: the FCA Financial Services Register, the FCA list of registered cryptoasset firms, and the FCA warning list
- Australia: ASIC Connect professional registers and the Moneysmart investor alert list
- Philippines: the BSP list of registered virtual asset service providers and SEC advisories
- Company registers: Companies House (UK), ASIC (AU), SEC (PH) — check the company actually exists and how old it is
Beware clone firms
A clone copies a genuine authorised firm's name, registration number and address, then substitutes its own phone number, email and website. Always compare the contact details on the register with the ones you were given. If they differ by even one character, treat it as a clone and stop.
Test the platform itself
- Domain age: a 'established 2013' exchange whose domain was registered three months ago is not real
- Withdrawals: attempt a full withdrawal early. Any condition to deposit first is fatal
- Deposit destination: money going to a personal name, an unrelated company or a random wallet is a red flag
- Support: real firms have a registered office and a published complaints procedure
- Documents: certificates, licences and 'audit reports' sent as images are trivially faked
- Pressure: deadlines, bonuses and 'the window closes tonight' are sales tactics, not markets
How you were introduced matters most
Almost no genuine exchange acquires customers through a wrong-number WhatsApp message, a dating app match, a Telegram group or a stranger on social media offering to manage your trading. If that is how the platform reached you, the register check is almost a formality — the introduction itself is the warning.
If the platform fails the check
Do not confront them and do not pay another peso, pound or dollar. Screenshot the dashboard, the trade history, the chats and the withdrawal refusal. Then contact the bank or card issuer that funded your deposits today, and report to your national regulator and police cybercrime unit.
Send us the same evidence and we will tell you free of charge whether there is a realistic recovery route and who it runs against.
And if a firm approaches you offering to recover the money
Assume it is the next stage of the scam until proven otherwise. Verify any adviser or solicitor on the official professional register yourself, insist on written terms, and never pay an upfront fee to someone who contacted you first.
Common questions
How do I check if a crypto platform is registered?
Search the official registers directly, never a link the platform sends you. In the UK that is the FCA register and its cryptoasset firm list plus the FCA warning list; in Australia, ASIC Connect and Moneysmart's investor alert list; in the Philippines, the BSP list of registered virtual asset service providers and the SEC advisories page.
The platform shows my balance growing. Doesn't that prove it is real?
No. A dashboard is just a web page. Fake platforms display whatever numbers keep you depositing, and they routinely allow one small withdrawal early to establish trust. The only meaningful test is whether you can withdraw everything, without paying anything first.
They asked me to install software so they could help me trade. Is that a problem?
Yes — that is a serious red flag. Remote-access tools give a stranger control of your device and your banking. Uninstall it, change your passwords from a different device, and tell your bank.
I already deposited. What now?
Stop paying, screenshot everything before the account is closed, and report to your bank or card issuer today. Deadlines for chargebacks and payment recalls are short, and the regulated party that funded the deposit is usually where recovery is realistically possible.
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