Scammers Exploit MiCA Deadline to Target Crypto Holders
Scammers are impersonating financial regulators and licensed exchanges, preying on cryptocurrency holders who are still in the process of moving assets five weeks after the European Union’s licensing deadline under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).
Several regulatory bodies, including France’s Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), have identified this pattern and alerted the Financial Times.
Fraudsters are reportedly contacting customers of firms that failed to secure authorization. They then pose as officials from a regulator or an exchange, directing victims to websites or accounts controlled by the criminals. Regulators emphasize that they never initiate contact with consumers to instruct them to send funds to a specific account.
The transitional period under MiCA concluded on July 1. As of an August 4 update, ESMA’s register listed 322 authorized crypto-asset service providers across 26 member states. Any provider not included on this list has lost the right to serve clients within the EU.
In a public statement issued on June 23, ESMA directed unauthorized providers to “immediately stop onboarding new EU clients” and to limit services to “actions necessary to sell or transfer crypto-assets, reallocate assets, or close positions.” Custodial services were permitted only for the period strictly required to complete an orderly exit.
The same statement advised clients to consult the register and, if their provider was unauthorized, to transfer their holdings “to an authorized CASP, where one is identified, or to a self-hosted wallet.”
Regulators have pointed out that this overlap—the legitimate instruction for users to move funds within a specific timeframe—is precisely what fraudsters are exploiting.
Authorizations saw a significant surge leading up to the deadline. In June, 76 firms were added to the register, marking the busiest month since the regime’s inception, with an additional 31 firms authorized in July. Erald Ghoos, OKX’s European CEO, had previously predicted that 80% of crypto companies would not survive the MiCA compliance requirements and would be forced to exit the bloc.
Chainalysis reported a 1,400% year-over-year increase in impersonation scams in 2025, with the average payment rising from $782 to $2,764. The firm estimated total crypto scam and fraud losses for the year to be close to $17 billion.
CryptoPotato previously reported on a case where £2.1 million in Bitcoin was stolen from a cold wallet after an individual posed as a senior UK police officer and directed the victim to a website that captured their seed phrase. The FBI has also issued a warning about a fake token on the Tron network, disguised with an “FBI message” subject line, designed to steal wallet access.
ESMA has stated that national competent authorities are actively engaging with the affected firms and are now in a position to take coordinated action against unauthorized providers, given that the transitional period has ended.
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