What are the red flags of this scam?

An unexpected call from someone claiming to be an AFP officer, ACSC analyst, or 'National Cybercrime Unit' member about your cryptocurrency • The caller provides a ReportCyber reference number — the criminals filed the report themselves using your stolen personal details • They say your Coinbase, Binance, CoinSpot, or hardware wallet is linked to a money-laundering or data breach investigation • You are told to move your crypto to a 'secure AFP evidence wallet' or to share your seed phrase so investigators can 'protect' the funds • The caller sounds professional and may use a spoofed phone number showing AFP Canberra area code (02)

What should I do if this happened to me?

Hang up immediately — the AFP does not cold-call members of the public about cryptocurrency • If you want to verify, call ReportCyber directly on 1300CYBER1 (1300 292 371) — do not call back any number the caller provided • Never share your wallet seed phrase or crypto private keys with anyone, including people who claim to be police • Never send cryptocurrency to a 'police evidence wallet' — law enforcement does not operate this way • If funds have already been transferred, contact your crypto exchange immediately to report the transaction, and contact police via triple zero (000) or 1800 333 000 (Crime Stoppers) • Report to Scamwatch at https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam or ReportCyber at https://www.cyber.gov.au/report.

CRITICAL government impersonation Last reported: 28 Sept 2026 Share

"AFP officer" calls with a real ReportCyber case number and demands your crypto seed phrase

Q: Is this a scam?

Yes. This is a documented scam pattern. Criminals use stolen personal data to file a fake ReportCyber report in your name, then call you impersonating AFP officers, citing the real reference number. They claim your cryptocurrency is linked to a crime and instruct you to transfer coins or share your wallet seed phrase as "evidence". The AFP never cold-calls about crypto.

Criminals use stolen personal data to file a fake ReportCyber report in your name, then call you impersonating AFP officers, citing the real reference number. They claim your cryptocurrency is linked to a crime and instruct you to transfer coins or share your wallet seed phrase as "evidence". The AFP never cold-calls about crypto.

Also known as: fake AFP officer crypto scam, ReportCyber impersonation scam, AFP cryptocurrency seed phrase scam, police impersonation crypto theft, fake cybercrime report scam Australia

Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes

1 Call your bank or card's fraud line right now. Use the number on the back of your card — not any number from the message or caller. Ask them to stop or reverse the payment and freeze the account.
2 If you paid by gift card, wire, or an app (Zelle, Venmo, Cash App): contact that company immediately and report it as fraud. Acting fast sometimes recovers the money.
3 Report to the FBI at ic3.gov and the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The sooner, the better.

What to do right now

1 Hang up immediately — the AFP does not cold-call members of the public about cryptocurrency
2 If you want to verify, call ReportCyber directly on 1300CYBER1 (1300 292 371) — do not call back any number the caller provided
3 Never share your wallet seed phrase or crypto private keys with anyone, including people who claim to be police
4 Never send cryptocurrency to a 'police evidence wallet' — law enforcement does not operate this way
5 If funds have already been transferred, contact your crypto exchange immediately to report the transaction, and contact police via triple zero (000) or 1800 333 000 (Crime Stoppers)
6 Report to Scamwatch at https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam or ReportCyber at https://www.cyber.gov.au/report.

Red flags

⚠ An unexpected call from someone claiming to be an AFP officer, ACSC analyst, or 'National Cybercrime Unit' member about your cryptocurrency
⚠ The caller provides a ReportCyber reference number — the criminals filed the report themselves using your stolen personal details
⚠ They say your Coinbase, Binance, CoinSpot, or hardware wallet is linked to a money-laundering or data breach investigation
⚠ You are told to move your crypto to a 'secure AFP evidence wallet' or to share your seed phrase so investigators can 'protect' the funds
⚠ The caller sounds professional and may use a spoofed phone number showing AFP Canberra area code (02)

Known variants

Binance/exchange SMS spoofing — message appears in genuine app thread, fake support number transfers assets to scammer "trust wallet" (no AFP call; pure exchange impersonation). AFP reference AFP-068.

Last seen: 9/26/2026

Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes

What to do right now

Red flags

Known variants

Sources