European regulators warn that fraudsters are exploiting the MiCA transition, impersonating officials to steal assets. More than 1,700 platforms shut down, leaving millions vulnerable.
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The European Union's crypto regulation clean-up created an opening for scammers.
When the Markets in Crypto-Assets rules took full effect on July 1, more than 1,700 unlicensed platforms had to stop serving EU customers. Only 323 companies held valid MiCA authorization at that point. The gap – up to 10 million users told to move their digital assets – gave fraudsters a target.
The mechanism is simple. Scammers copy the language of real migration notices, impersonate regulators, and push users to fake platforms before victims realize the difference.
Social engineering scams were already a problem. WhiteBIT, a crypto exchange, found that nearly 41% of crypto incidents last year involved malicious actors deceiving victims through fake investment offers or impersonation. European regulators say they have seen a further increase since the July 1 deadline.
A spokesperson for France's Autorité des marchés financiers said scammers were posing as AMF employees, convincing victims to pay upfront administrative fees to recover stolen funds. The European Securities and Markets Authority confirmed it was aware of criminals misusing its identity, name, and logo, including through falsified documents, to convince users their funds were at risk.
The Netherlands' Authority for the Financial Markets warned that the migration of unregulated exchanges itself was the attack surface.
"Fraudulent actors may indeed see an opportunity to scam retail investors who are in the process of looking for an alternative licensed provider," the AFM told CoinDesk.
It urged investors to verify any provider on the official ESMA register before transferring assets, and warned that unsolicited approaches requesting fund transfers should be treated with suspicion.
Austria's Financial Market Authority issued a similar warning, telling retail crypto users that hundreds of platforms lost legal status on July 1 and urging them to verify providers against official databases before moving assets or transferring to self-hosted wallets to avoid migration traps entirely.
The scam pattern is familiar. The U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority told CoinDesk via email that it has 4,465 reports on record of fake FCA impersonations in the first half of 2025 alone, with 480 victims tricked into handing over money. One common method: fraudsters claimed the FCA had recovered funds from a crypto wallet opened illegally in the victim's name. The FCA said screen-sharing software was increasingly used to help set up fake crypto accounts on victims' behalf.
Genuine exchanges are contacting customers about withdrawals, transfers, and account restrictions. That makes it easier for fraudsters to mimic official communications and create a sense of urgency.
The AFM and AMF repeated that they never ask people to transfer funds or contact customers via private messages. The AMF publishes warnings on its website. The AFM directs investors to its own register alongside ESMA's.
For investors facing the migration, regulators offered one consistent instruction: verify the specific legal entity holding MiCA authorization, not just a parent brand, before moving any assets. MiCA's investor protections apply only when users are served by a regulated EU operation. A firm's broader group brand holding a license elsewhere does not cover all subsidiaries.
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