Methodology

Why should I trust this score?

Every risk score on this site is produced by rules we publish here — not by an opinion and not by anyone paying us. This page explains exactly which signals we use, how much each one moves the number, and just as importantly, what we do not check.

Where the score comes from

Signals are applied in order of strength. A regulator warning or a documented court case outranks community reports, and community reports outrank pattern matching. The strongest available signal sets the score, so a handful of reports can never outweigh an official record — or hide one.

Official regulator warning lists

Score 82–95

We match your search against imported warning and enforcement lists published by government and regulatory bodies, including the California DFPI Crypto Scam Tracker, the SEC (PAUSE list and investor alerts), the CFTC RED List, FINRA, the UK FCA warning list, and ASIC/Moneysmart in Australia. One agency listing gives 82. Each additional agency listing the same name adds 6 points, capped at 95 — because two regulators independently naming the same operation is a much stronger signal than one.

Documented public enforcement cases

Score 85–98

If your search matches a case in our casebook of publicly documented crypto fraud (DOJ, SEC, CFTC and FTC filings), the score is set by the case status: a conviction scores 98, filed criminal charges 92, a regulatory action 88, and an otherwise documented matter 85. Unresolved matters are labelled as allegations, and we link to the original public record so you can read it yourself.

Community scam reports

Score up to 95

Reports submitted by people who were targeted, reviewed by a moderator before publication. When there is no regulator or enforcement match, the score is the average risk of the matching reports, plus up to 10 points for volume (2 points per report). More independent people reporting the same name means more confidence.

Lookalike names and domains

Score 75

Scammers register near-copies of well-known exchange and wallet brands. We compare your search against a list of real brand names using character-distance matching, so a one or two letter change, an added word, or a swapped ending is caught. A lookalike match with nothing else known scores 75 — high enough to stop you, not a claim the site is proven fraudulent.

Scam language and manipulation patterns

Score 0–100, message only

When you paste a message into the free checker, we run it against 22 rules covering the scripts scammers actually use: guaranteed daily returns, a withdrawal fee or 'tax' before you can cash out, an unsolicited contact who moves you to WhatsApp or Telegram, urgency and secrecy, coaching, and account-recovery offers. Each high-severity pattern adds 28 points, each medium pattern adds 11, capped at 100. This scan runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

Reported wallets, numbers and accounts

Feeds the report score

Wallet addresses, phone numbers, Telegram handles and social accounts named in community reports are tracked as entities, so a wallet reused across several scams shows a rising report count and reported-loss total. This is community-reported data, not blockchain analysis — see the limits below.

What the bands mean

0–30 · Lower risk

Nothing known against it in our sources. That is not a clean bill of health — most scams are new and unreported at first.

31–70 · Caution

Some concerning signals, or reports with mixed severity. Verify independently before sending money.

71–100 · High risk

A regulator warning, a documented case, or a strong pattern of reports. Do not send money.

What we do not check

Being honest about the gaps is part of the methodology. A low score means we found nothing, not that something is safe.

Domain registration age and WHOIS records. We do not query registrars, so a brand-new domain does not by itself raise the score.
Company registration checks. We do not query company registries or licence databases, beyond what a regulator has already published in a warning list.
On-chain blockchain analysis. We do not trace transactions, balances or fund flows. Wallet data here comes only from what people reported.
Withdrawal-complaint volume from exchanges or app stores. We only see withdrawal problems when someone tells us in a report or pastes the message.
Independent verification of user reports. Moderators check reports for spam, abuse and obvious falsehood — they cannot confirm every claim.

Our independence rules

We never ask for your seed phrase, private keys or passwords.
We don't recover cryptocurrency and we never charge recovery fees.
We don't accept payment from companies to change, remove or improve their risk rating.
A risk score is an informational signal, not a legal finding. Unresolved matters are described as allegations.

Corrections and removals

If you believe a listing or score about your business is wrong, email Support@wascryptoscammed.com with the name, the URL of the page and what is inaccurate. Where a score comes from a regulator list or court record, we link to the primary source and cannot remove that agency's published warning — you would need to take that up with the agency itself.