What can scammers do with your wallet address?

If a scam company has your crypto wallet address, what can they actually do with it? I’ve been messing with a scam caller who says they’ve recovered some funds for me and need a wallet address to send the crypto. I’ve been stringing them along just to waste their time, but I’m at a point where I need to give them an address, and I’m worried I might be missing something.

Update: The email they used to message me no longer works because the domain doesn’t exist anymore. I’ll have to wait for them to call again, but the calls are less frequent now; seems like they’re getting tired of me. I found a few online forums where people have been scammed by the same fake company. Apparently, they help set up an atomic wallet, send crypto that looks real but can’t be moved, and convince people to add 10% of the value to verify the account. At that point, they take over the wallet and steal the funds. Thanks for the tips, everyone. I’ve set up a new wallet to waste more of their time.

You should definitely avoid giving them your exchange wallet address. If the exchange sees it’s connected to a scam, they could freeze your account. Just make a new non-custodial wallet and give them that. It’s quick and easy.

@JackSkip
Good advice. Thanks for the help!

If all they have is your wallet address, they can’t do much. Wallet addresses are public, but scammers tend to go after wallets with large amounts of crypto using social engineering tricks.

Cary said:
If all they have is your wallet address, they can’t do much. Wallet addresses are public, but scammers tend to go after wallets with large amounts of crypto using social engineering tricks.

This is probably just the start of their scam. Next, they’ll say they couldn’t send the funds to that address, so you need to make a new wallet and they’ll send you a link to a fake site.

Cary said:
If all they have is your wallet address, they can’t do much. Wallet addresses are public, but scammers tend to go after wallets with large amounts of crypto using social engineering tricks.

Thanks for responding!

Cary said:
If all they have is your wallet address, they can’t do much. Wallet addresses are public, but scammers tend to go after wallets with large amounts of crypto using social engineering tricks.

Actually, depending on the platform, they could try an address poisoning attack with just your wallet address. It’s still a type of social engineering.

Thanks for wasting their time and helping other people avoid scams!

Your wallet address is public and can only be used for deposits. The private key is what controls it. As long as they don’t have your key or you don’t interact with their contract, they can’t access your funds.

@Lake
That’s what I thought too. I plan to give them my exchange wallet address, not my hardware wallet. Even though my wallet address is public, the info linking it to me isn’t, so I was just worried if they could do anything with both.

@Cory
I’m not an expert, but wouldn’t giving them your exchange address make it easy for them to find your hardware wallet?

Patton said:
@Cory
I’m not an expert, but wouldn’t giving them your exchange address make it easy for them to find your hardware wallet?

My exchange wallet is only connected to another exchange and my bank account. My hardware wallet is from years ago, and it’s all pre-KYC.

Just ask them how to make a new wallet or make one yourself and give them that. You could even mess with them by giving only the last four digits or typing it out one by one.

Nova said:
Just ask them how to make a new wallet or make one yourself and give them that. You could even mess with them by giving only the last four digits or typing it out one by one.

I’ve probably frustrated them as much as I can without getting to the next part of their scam. My goal is for them to give up before I tell them I know it’s a scam. I was even thinking of giving them a wallet address from a different scam to keep them busy.

If it’s a centralized exchange (CEX), then it’s tied to your identity but not publicly. As long as you’re not using your real info with the scammers, you’re probably okay. But they might know it’s an exchange address depending on how sharp they are. Safer option is to create a throwaway wallet and never use it again after messing with the scammers. Don’t even keep the seed phrase. You can also find random wallets with big balances online and tell the scammers those are yours.

Do scammers eventually give up?

Just create an empty wallet. But if I had to guess, they’ll send you fake coins via a contract that looks like you’re getting crypto but comes with hidden terms that give them control over your wallet.

Just download a new wallet app like Trust Wallet, and make a new wallet. Takes 5 minutes.

They might send you a crypto-stealing NFT.

An exchange wallet isn’t technically yours; the exchange holds your crypto for you. If they think what you’re receiving is a scam, it might not even show up. Scammers usually target personal wallets by sending dust tokens, which look legit but are actually worthless. Once you interact with them (like trying to send or sell), the scammer drains your real funds. Just ignore tokens you didn’t ask for.