The popular robo-advisor Betterment is urging its customers to ignore a fraudulent cryptocurrency promotion that surfaced Friday. The message, which appeared as a notification and via email, was sent through an unauthorized third-party system and bears all the hallmarks of a classic “wallet-draining” phishing scam.
The Anatomy of the Betterment Crypto Scam
The fraudulent message claimed to be celebrating Betterment’s “best-performing year” and offered a limited-time opportunity to “triple” Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) deposits. Users were instructed to send up to $10,000 in cryptocurrency to specific wallet addresses with the promise that the funds would be returned three-fold within a few hours.
Screenshots of the notification quickly circulated on Reddit and X (formerly Twitter). Financial security experts noted that the scam utilized classic social engineering tactics: artificial time pressure, guaranteed high returns, and requests for direct wallet transfers. Betterment quickly moved to clarify the situation, confirming that the alert was sent without their consent via a third-party marketing tool.
“Please note that this is not a real offer and should be disregarded,” the company stated in an official post on X. While Betterment is primarily known for managing diversified ETF portfolios and retirement accounts, it does offer crypto exposure through integrated services, which likely made the scam appear more credible to unsuspecting users.
A Look at Crypto Phishing Trends in 2026
This incident comes at a time when crypto-related cybercrime is showing a significant downward trend. According to the latest data from Scam Sniffer, crypto phishing losses linked to wallet drainers plummeted by 83% in 2025. Total losses fell to approximately $83.85 million, a sharp contrast to the nearly $494 million stolen the previous year.
The number of victims also saw a substantial decline, dropping 68% to roughly 106,000 individuals. Experts attribute this decrease to a combination of cooling market activity and improved user education regarding “onchain” security. However, the Betterment incident serves as a reminder that even when overall numbers are down, bad actors still capitalize on market rallies.
Phishing losses often track the volatility of the crypto market. In the third quarter of last year, losses peaked at $31 million, coinciding with a strong rally for Ethereum. As long as digital assets remain a high-interest investment, users are encouraged to verify any “too good to be true” offers directly through official company websites or customer support channels rather than clicking on push notifications or email links.Betterment crypto promotion scam
