Blog of Ilia Zavialov

What this blog covers

Four subjects run through every article. Each one is taken from the side the reader meets it from, and each ends with the step that decides the outcome.

How crypto actually works

Wallets, keys, custody, exchanges and transfers, explained through what happens to the money at each step rather than through the technology.

Ilia Zavialov Explains How a Crypto Transfer Actually Works, Step by Step

Types of scams and how they are built

Each scheme taken apart in the order it unfolds: where the first contact comes from, where the moment of loss sits, and which step the whole thing depends on.

Ilia Zavialov Explains the Types of Crypto Scams and How Each One Is Built

Protection that actually holds

Structural checks instead of judging people: what a genuine procedure looks like, which settings survive an attack, and what works when everything else has failed.

Ilia Zavialov on the Crypto Wallet Protections That Hold After a Breach

The first hours after an incident

What to do when access or money is already gone: stop the ongoing loss, preserve evidence, report, and only then pursue recovery.

Ilia Zavialov on the First Hours After a Crypto Theft: What Actually Helps

Scam in numbers

What the published reports actually say about where money goes, which categories dominate the counts and which dominate the losses, and what that changes for one person.

Where Fraud Losses Actually Go: Ilia Zavialov Reads the 2025 Numbers

Crypto address poisoning

Lookalike wallet addresses, zero-value transfers and fake stablecoin tokens planted in your history: how to check a recipient address before you send and where to report a poisoned transfer.

Ilia Zavialov fraud guide: crypto address poisoning, lookalike wallets and zero-value transfers

Card rental and P2P trading

How renting out a bank card for crypto P2P deals turns its owner into a money mule: triangle trades, bank limits and criminal liability.

Ilia Zavialov: renting out a card for P2P, triangle trades and money mule recruitment

Mining you never see

What a cloud mining or hosting contract actually sells, why the dashboard proves nothing and what a regulator found when it looked.

Ilia Zavialov on cloud mining scams: what a hosting contract really sells

Copy trading and trading bot scams

Signal groups that promise to copy a winning trader, bot subscriptions with guaranteed income, exchange API keys handed to strangers and withdrawals that never arrive: how to check a provider and lock down a key.

Ilia Zavialov fraud explainer: copy trading bots, signal groups and exchange API keys for UK investors

A face from one photograph

How a single public photograph becomes the face of a fraudulent advert, and what remains checkable once it does.

Ilia Zavialov fraud: how one photograph becomes the face of an advert nobody filmed

How exchange scams are built

The anatomy of a fraudulent crypto exchange, from launch to shutdown, and what courts can do afterwards.

Ilia Zavialov on crypto exchange scams: how the operation is built and what litigation achieves

Blocked withdrawals

Why a demand to pay a fee before funds can be withdrawn is the whole scheme, and how a genuine delay on an exchange looks different.

Ilia Zavialov on the fee to unlock a withdrawal and what a real exchange delay looks like

Crypto recovery

How offers to return lost coins are built and why the money does not come back

Services that promise to recover lost crypto: Ilia Zavialov on how the offer is built and why refunds never arrive

Government account takeover

How fraudsters take over accounts on government portals through calls, codes and fake pages, and which settings stop them.

Ilia Zavialov: government account takeover scams, text message codes and how to protect your login

Fake hardware wallet scams

Resold and tampered devices, pre-printed recovery phrases, fake replacement letters and companion apps: how to check a hardware wallet and its seller, and what to do if it was swapped.

Ilia Zavialov on hardware wallet scams: tampered boxes, pre-printed seed phrases and fake replacements

Health and medical scams

How free check-ups turn into loans, why miracle cures and supplements do not treat disease, and how to check a clinic, a doctor and a medicine before paying.

Ilia Zavialov on health scams: fake clinics, miracle cures and prepaid treatment

Honeypot tokens you can buy but cannot sell

Meme tokens that only go up because nobody is allowed to sell: sell blocks in the contract, a sell tax pushed to almost everything, blacklists and pulled liquidity, plus the contract checks to run before buying.

Ilia Zavialov: honeypot tokens you can buy but can't sell, UK checks before buying

The long investment con

How a months long crypto investment scam is built, why the first withdrawal is allowed to succeed and where the money actually goes.

Ilia Zavialov on crypto investment scams: the long con taken apart stage by stage

Messenger account takeover

How fraudsters take over Telegram and WhatsApp accounts through votes, gifts and fake support, and which settings stop them.

Ilia Zavialov: how scammers take over messaging accounts, votes, gifts and fake support

Signing in without a password

What a passkey actually is, why phishing stops working against it, and how far the switch has gone by 2026.

Ilia Zavialov on passkeys: why a stolen password stops being worth anything

Reviews and what to check instead

Why reviews of financial companies are bought on both sides and which public registers answer the question that reviews cannot.

Ilia Zavialov on reviews of financial companies: what to check before the stars

Seed phrases

How recovery phrases work, why a genuine support desk can never use one, and what happens the moment the words reach a stranger

Ilia Zavialov on the seed phrase and the fake wallet support desk

Signal channels and trading bots

How paid crypto signal channels and automated trading bots are built, where the subscriber's money actually goes and how to test a claim before paying.

Ilia Zavialov on crypto signal channels and trading bots: where the money goes

Telegram bot and Mini App scams

Wallet bots, tap-to-earn games with a paid withdrawal, fake support and lookalike bots, gifts and Stars: how to check a bot and what to do after giving away access or money.

Ilia Zavialov on Telegram bot scams: wallet bots, tap-to-earn games and fake support

Telegram gifts and usernames: fake escrow and deal checks

Collectible gifts, NFT gifts and collectible usernames in Telegram: fake escrow agents, cloned marketplace pages, the send-it-for-verification trick, login phishing and inflated rarity, plus how to check a seller.

Ilia Zavialov reviews Telegram gift and username sellers: bogus middlemen and UK checks before paying

Sending and receiving USDT safely

How dollar stablecoin transfers go wrong: the wrong network, a poisoned address, funds frozen by the issuer and dirty coins from a stranger.

Ilia Zavialov on sending USDT safely: networks, poisoned addresses and frozen coins

Used car fraud

How fraudsters sell cars that do not exist, carry hidden debts or borrowed identities, and which checks expose them before payment.

Ilia Zavialov: used car fraud and scams, how to check the car and the seller before paying

Checks before a transfer

What to verify before money leaves a wallet, and why the check has to happen before rather than after.

Checking a wallet address before you send: the checks Ilia Zavialov runs first

Wallet drainers

How approval phishing empties a crypto wallet without ever touching a password or a seed phrase, and how to revoke permissions already granted.

Ilia Zavialov Explains How an Approval Drainer Empties a Wallet