Beware the AI Crypto Scam: Here's How to Invest Safely in the Age of AI

Key Points
New research from The Motley Fool details the growing problem of crypto investment scams.
The latest dubious crypto investments feature hot new AI projects such as OpenClaw.
Investors should especially be aware of crypto investment offers that start on social media, or ask to send cryptocurrency to unknown accounts.
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According to the latest research from The Motley Fool, crypto scams are now at an all-time high. Through the first three quarters of 2025, there were more than 100,000 crypto investment scams targeting unsuspecting investors. Total losses are now measured in the billions, with the average person losing $10,000 in these crypto investment ripoffs.
As might be imagined, artificial intelligence (AI) has only intensified the number and sophistication of these swindles. In search of outsize payouts and huge gains, investors are far too willing to fork over their hard-earned cryptocurrency, hand over their encryption keys, or open their blockchain wallets to hackers.
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As the buzz over AI grows, so will the number of potential ways to lose your money in a crypto racket. But there are plenty of steps that investors can take to protect themselves.
The AI crypto scam du jour
The latest buzz involves OpenClaw, which has become the viral AI sensation of 2026. It has been called "the next ChatGPT" by no less than Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang, who is now advising every company to adopt an OpenClaw strategy.
So it's perhaps no surprise that crypto investment scams involving OpenClaw have proliferated, all of them trading on the buzz and speculation around AI agents and the future promise of artificial intelligence. The latest one involves OpenClaw developers, who were told to hook up their crypto wallets to the OpenClaw website in exchange for free CLAW tokens.
You can guess what happened next. The OpenClaw website turned out to be a fake, and there were no CLAW tokens. As soon as the crypto wallets were added, they were quickly drained.
And that's hardly the only case of scammers trading on OpenClaw's name recognition to trick investors. They spoofed the social media accounts of Peter Steinberger, the founder of OpenClaw, in order to request money from investors. And they also launched a fraudulent token, CLAWD, that turned out to be nothing more than a classic pump-and-dump scheme. In a matter of days, the valuation of CLAWD fell from $16 million to near zero, wiping out investors.
Tips for investors
So what -- if anything -- can be done to avoid becoming unsuspecting victims in the next crypto investment con job?
For one, investors can exercise a bit of common sense. As The Motley Fool warned in its research report, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Expecting to make a big payday from an AI crypto token for doing almost nothing certainly fits into that category.
Second, investors should be wary of any investment that requires payment in cryptocurrency. Once you send crypto to someone's blockchain wallet address, it's gone forever. Tracking down that money is difficult at best, and recovering it is almost impossible.
Third, investors need to be aware of the increasing sophistication of social engineering schemes using AI. In one high-profile case in 2024, AI-generated deepfake videos of top company executives managed to persuade unsuspecting employees to wire $25 million to overseas bank accounts.
Using AI, it's possible to make just about any payment request look legitimate, perhaps even coming from someone you know or recognize. It's no wonder, then, that scammers have chosen social media as the primary way to contact potential victims. More than a third (38%) of crypto investment scams now originate on social media.
Is there a safe way to invest in AI crypto?
Unfortunately, as The Motley Fool points out in its breakdown of crypto investment scams, crooks are constantly modifying their tactics. And that includes the embrace of AI -- both as a potential investment hook and as a powerful tool to lure in investors (such as by using AI-generated deepfakes).
This is not to say, however, that you shouldn't try to get in early on fast-moving AI crypto investment opportunities. However, if you are hearing about an AI crypto token for the first time via social media, you might want to think twice. And if you are being pressured to send cryptocurrency to an unknown account as soon as possible, you probably should hear alarm bells.
As for me, I'm sticking to AI cryptos available to buy and trade on established cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN). This gives me confidence that some initial vetting has already been done.
Also, I'm focusing on AI cryptos with a minimum market cap of $500 million. That's about the market cap of Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (CRYPTO: FET), which ranks among the top 100 cryptocurrencies in the world. Anything smaller, and it might just be a pump-and-dump coin heading to zero.
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Dominic Basulto has positions in Fetch. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Fetch and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.