DeFi Market Journal has published a plain-English guide to the crypto scams that show up around Black Friday, from tampered hardware wallets and crypto-only shops to fake delivery texts and Giving Tuesday charity pages, with five checks to use before paying.
-- BELEN, N.M. — DeFi Market Journal has published a new guide, "Black Friday Crypto Scams 2026: Which Deals Are Fake?", for shoppers who plan to buy crypto, a hardware wallet or anything else online this holiday season. The DeFi Market Journal guide covers seven scams that are dressed up as deals and gives five checks to run before paying.
The main rule in the DeFi Market Journal guide comes from the Federal Trade Commission's November 2025 holiday shopping alert, which says a seller who will only take a gift card, wire transfer, payment app or cryptocurrency is probably running a scam. DeFi Market Journal notes that a card payment can be disputed, while a crypto payment usually cannot be reversed.
DeFi Market Journal cites the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report, in which Americans reported $503 million lost to non-payment and non-delivery scams across 56,478 complaints, meaning they paid for something that never arrived. DeFi Market Journal reports that about $76 million of those losses involved crypto.
Hardware wallet tampering case
This year the DeFi Market Journal guide opens with hardware wallets, the small devices that keep crypto keys offline. DeFi Market Journal reports that in October 2026, Ledger confirmed that a device sold through CryptoBilis, one of its official resellers in Southeast Asia, contained an unauthorized hardware implant that read the owner's recovery words during setup. The DeFi Market Journal guide notes that Trezor removed the same reseller and later reported a suspected case involving one of its own devices. DeFi Market Journal repeats both makers' advice to buy only from their own stores or from resellers on their official lists.
The seven scams
The DeFi Market Journal guide explains how each scam works and what gives it away:
Hardware wallet "deals" from sellers that are not on the maker's reseller list.
"Black Friday airdrops" that ask shoppers to connect a wallet and approve a request.
Shops that only accept crypto, gift cards or wires at checkout.
Fake "order on hold" delivery texts. DeFi Market Journal cites the FTC, which says fake delivery problems were the most reported text scam of 2024.
Deepfake celebrity giveaway ads that promise to send back double.
"Cyber Monday bonus" trading apps that demand a fee before any withdrawal.
Giving Tuesday charity pages that only want crypto. DeFi Market Journal notes that Giving Tuesday falls on Dec. 1 this year, and that the FBI counted $7.9 million lost to charity fraud in 2025, $3.2 million of it involving crypto.
Five checks before paying
DeFi Market Journal tells shoppers to check the seller against the brand's official list, check that a credit card option exists, type web addresses rather than tapping links in texts or ads, refuse any bonus that wants a wallet connection or crypto sent first, and look up charities on the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search before giving.
"Buy it from the maker, or from a name on the maker's list, and pay with a card," said Robert Stone, editor of DeFi Market Journal, who first bought bitcoin in 2011. "Saving $30 on it isn't worth a year of wondering what's inside."
The DeFi Market Journal guide also lists the steps to take after a payment goes wrong: call the card company or bank to dispute the charge, contact the exchange used for any crypto payment, report the loss at https://www.ic3.gov and https://reportfraud.ftc.gov, and ignore "recovery experts" who promise to get crypto back for a fee.
The full DeFi Market Journal guide, with a comparison table, a Spanish FAQ and a short video, is available at https://defimarketjournal.com/markets/black-friday-crypto-scams.html. DeFi Market Journal's detailed look at the Ledger implant case is at https://defimarketjournal.com/markets/ledger-spy-implant-check.html.
About DeFi Market Journal
DeFi Market Journal is an independent site based in Belen, New Mexico, that publishes plain-English crypto news and scam-awareness guides. Readers can get its crypto scam checklist at https://defimarketjournal.com/newsletter/.
Contact Info:
Name: Robert Stone
Email: Send Email
Organization: DeFi Market Journal
Address: 400 N Main St PO Box 114, Belen, NM 87002-8801, United States
Website: https://defimarketjournal.com
Source: PressCable
Release ID: 89209505
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