Technical support scammers set up fake customer support phone lines and impersonate companies—including Coinbase—or regulatory bodies. They manipulate people into providing personal information that will be used for fraudulent purposes.
To help protect your information:
Never give support staff remote access to your computer. This effectively gives a scammer full access to your computer, online financial accounts, and digital life.
Never give out your 2-step verification codes or passwords.
Never accept calls asking for your confidential personal information. Scammers can spoof legitimate phone numbers when conducting outbound calls.
Only contact Coinbase through the phone number or email listed on our Contact us page.
Never send cryptocurrency to external addresses on behalf of alleged support agents. Coinbase staff will never ask you to send cryptocurrency to external addresses.
Coinbase customer service agents will never:
Ask for your password or 2-step verification code
Ask you to install software on your device
Remotely access your device to take action on your account
Access or move funds held in your account
If you’re asked for any of the above, disconnect the call and email security@coinbase.com immediately.
Note: If you’re disconnected from a customer service call, the agent will call you back within five minutes at the same phone number. Before continuing the conversation, the agent will re-verify your identity with a security question.
Pro tip: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Extortion scams
Scammers will often use information sourced from data breaches at other websites to trick you into thinking that they have more information about you than they actually do. For example, they might show you an old password that you may have used to affirm that their scam is legitimate.
If you are victim of an extortion scam, please immediately take these actions:
Report the email as spam to your email provider.
Run a precautionary malware scan on your computer using a reputable tool like Malwarebytes.
If you recognize any passwords included in the extortion email as one you currently use, change it immediately across all websites.
Contact your local authorities and file a police report. Have the authorities contact Coinbase directly. Coinbase is committed to full cooperation in all law-enforcement investigations.
While these messages can be alarming, they are almost always fraudulent. For steps you can take to make your account more secure, please see this help page.