Can the Police Call You About Your Crypto Wallet?

Short answer: no. A real police officer will never ask for your crypto recovery phrase, passwords or security codes. If a caller who says they are the police asks for any of these, it is a scam, even if the number looks genuine.

How the scam works

The phone rings and the caller says they are a police officer or detective. The story is usually the same: a suspect has been arrested, and they were carrying your passport, driving licence, bank details or other personal documents. Sometimes the caller says your crypto account has been linked to a crime, or that your wallet is at risk.

Then the questions turn to your money. Do you own cryptocurrency? Which platform do you use? Is it on a hardware wallet? Once they know, they push you to "secure" your funds. That might mean reading out your recovery phrase, sharing a security code, typing your phrase into a website they send you, or moving your crypto to a "safe" wallet that they control.

In some versions, a second person calls later, pretending to be from your crypto platform or wallet company, to make the story feel official. They may send you to a fake webpage that looks just like the real app.

What police are warning about

In October 2026, Greater Manchester Police warned of a rise in calls from fraudsters pretending to be officers. The calls appeared to come from real police phone numbers, and the callers tried to get people's crypto account details, recovery phrases and security codes. In July 2026, New Zealand Police said scammers posing as detectives had taken millions of dollars from crypto holders using the same "we arrested someone with your documents" story. In North Wales, one person lost £2.1 million in Bitcoin after a fake senior officer sent them to a convincing fake website, where they typed in their seed phrase.

Warning signs

1. A police officer calls you out of the blue about your crypto. Police do not cold-call people to protect their wallets.
2. They ask for your recovery phrase, seed phrase, password or a security code. No police force, bank or crypto company will ever ask for these.
3. They tell you to move your money or crypto to keep it safe. This is the oldest trick in the book.
4. They send you a link to "check" or "secure" your wallet.
5. They say a suspect was caught with your documents, to scare you into acting fast.
6. They ask you to keep it secret or not to hang up.

What to do if you get a call like this

1. Hang up. It is fine to end the call, even if the caller says you are in trouble. A real officer will understand.
2. Call your local police yourself, on a number you look up on their official website. Do not call back the number that called you, and do not use a number the caller gives you.
3. Never share your recovery phrase. The only place it should ever be typed is into your own wallet, when you set it up or recover it yourself.
4. Don't click links sent by the caller, by text or by email.

If you already shared your phrase or moved your crypto

1. Act immediately. Create a brand new wallet with a new recovery phrase and move anything that is left into it. Treat the old wallet as gone.
2. Contact your crypto platform through its official app or website and tell them what happened. They may be able to freeze funds or flag the scammers' addresses.
3. Report it to the police, using your country's official fraud reporting service. Keep call logs, screenshots, wallet addresses and transaction IDs.
4. Beware of "recovery" offers. People who contact you promising to get your crypto back for a fee are often the same scammers coming back for more.

The rule is simple: your recovery phrase is for you alone. Not the police, not your bank, not your crypto platform, and not anyone on the phone.

Sources: The Manc: Police issue urgent warning following a rise in scam calls across Greater Manchester · 1News: Scammers posing as police stealing millions from Kiwi crypto holders · Wrexham.com: North Wales Police warning after £2.1 million Bitcoin theft