Crypto Scammers Are Now Pretending to Be EU Regulators
Aug 9, 2026
Fraudsters are impersonating EU regulators like AMF and ESMA to trick crypto users who got displaced by the MiCA licensing deadline. Here's what's happening and how to stay safe.
Something sneaky is going on in Europe right now. Since the EU's MiCA rules kicked in and cut off unlicensed crypto platforms on July 1, a bunch of people got told to move their funds to approved providers. Scammers saw an opening.
According to regulators like France's AMF, the Dutch AFM, and ESMA itself, fraudsters are now pretending to be staff from these very regulators or from licensed exchanges. They reach out to people who got stuck with unauthorized platforms and tell them to "transfer" their crypto to a new account. Except that account belongs to the scammer, not a real exchange.
Why This Is Working So Well
The timing is the trick here. Thousands of users legit got told to move their assets fast, so a random message asking them to do exactly that doesn't look weird at all. If someone contacts you out of nowhere asking you to move funds, stop and check directly with the official source first. ESMA's register of licensed providers is public, so there's no excuse to guess.