Before sending money, check the business, the person contacting you and the particular offer. They are separate questions. A real company can be impersonated, and a genuine app can be used to buy crypto that is then sent to a scammer.
This checklist helps you identify gaps before making a payment. It does not certify an investment or guarantee that you will avoid losses. If important details remain unclear, pause rather than paying to find out.
Key takeaways
Verify the business, contact and offer through information found independently.
A registration, app listing or successful small withdrawal is not a safety guarantee.
Do not send money solely to test whether a suspicious opportunity is genuine.
1. Check how the offer reached you
Was the contact expected? Consider whether it came from a social media ad, messaging group, recruiter or online relationship. Record what you were promised and what you are being asked to do.
Pay attention if the same person chooses the platform, explains its rules and gives you the only support contact. That leaves no independent check. A recommendation from a friend also needs verification: they may have been misled themselves.
2. Find the official website yourself
Do not take the website supplied in an unsolicited message as the official source. Look for established information about the organisation and cross-check the address. Read the hostname, not just the name in the page design.
Logos, contact pages and HTTPS do not establish the operator's honesty. Save a verified bookmark for account access. If you cannot distinguish the official site from an imitation, ask the organisation through another independently established channel before continuing.
3. Check the app publisher and download source
Start from the verified provider's website and use its official app-store links. Compare the publisher with the provider's published information. Question instructions to install a separate file or a browser extension supplied by a stranger.
Read requested permissions and consider whether they make sense. Ratings, downloads and an app-store presence can provide context, but they cannot independently certify the operator or an investment offer. Do not import wallet secrets into an app while its identity is uncertain.
4. Establish the legal identity
Find the legal entity behind the service, its contact information and the terms governing use. Check whether those details match relevant official records. For an Australian business, an ABN or ACN identifies an entity; it does not verify every website using that number.
Scammers can copy a real entity's information. Contact the actual organisation using details obtained independently to ask whether it operates the website or recognises the person and offer.
ASIC warns that company registration is not an endorsement of a business or a guarantee of quality. See its guidance on fake ASIC endorsements.
5. Verify applicable regulatory claims
Check the type of service being offered before interpreting a registration or licence. Company registration, anti-money-laundering registration and an Australian financial services licence serve different purposes.
Where a financial product or financial advice requires authorisation, use the relevant ASIC records to verify the claimed holder and scope. Not every crypto asset or service has the same regulatory treatment. Moneysmart explains these distinctions in Check before you invest.
For relevant virtual asset services, follow AUSTRAC's official register guidance to check registration information. Match the legal name and identifiers rather than relying on a screenshot supplied by the promoter.
Do not treat a register entry as a promise of investment returns or protection from loss. Confirm the current requirements for the actual service; seek qualified advice if the claimed status is difficult to interpret.
6. Search for independent warnings
Search the exact business name, domain and contact details. Check relevant official warnings, including the Moneysmart Investor Alert List and Scamwatch alerts.
An absence of warnings is not clearance. A new scam may not yet be listed, and an impersonator can operate under a different domain. Reviews can reveal concerns, but avoid relying solely on anonymous praise or comments selected by the platform.
7. Explain how the offer works
Write down what you are buying, who holds the assets, how returns are supposed to arise and what could cause losses. If you cannot explain it without repeating the promoter's slogans, you have not yet resolved the key questions.
Be cautious about guaranteed returns, secret methods and urgency. A complicated technical explanation does not establish a real source of income. Ask whether you understand the risks as clearly as the advertised reward.
8. Read withdrawal and fee terms without paying to test them
Review fees, withdrawal conditions and the support process before using a service. Unexpected demands to send additional crypto to release a balance deserve independent checking.
A small withdrawal does not prove legitimacy. It may be used to build confidence before a larger deposit. Do not fund a suspicious service simply to see whether it pays out. The staged pattern is explained in Crypto Investment Scams.
A fictional checklist in practice
This scenario is invented and does not describe a CoinByte customer.
Amira receives a link to an investment app from a messaging-group administrator. The app shows a company certificate and claims guaranteed monthly returns.
Amira checks the named company's independently found website. Its published app is different, and its support team does not recognise the offer. The certificate was not enough to connect the group administrator with the real business.
Amira does not make a test deposit. The mismatched identity and guaranteed-return claim already justify stopping.
If CoinByte is part of the process
Verify CoinByte through its Official Website and Support Center. Then separately verify any external wallet, adviser or platform to which someone wants you to send crypto.
CoinByte's involvement in a purchase does not authenticate an external recipient. If you already transferred funds or exposed account information, contact support independently and follow the post-scam action guide.
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