Gas Fees
Small amounts of cryptocurrency paid to blockchain validators to process transactions. Scammers exploit gas mechanics to create confusing traps.
Also known as: transaction fee, network fee, gas
Last reviewed: 10 June 2026
Gas fees are the computational cost of executing transactions or smart-contract functions on a blockchain. On Ethereum, gas is paid in ETH; other chains use their native token. Fees fluctuate with network demand and the complexity of the operation.
From a scam perspective, gas fees are weaponised in several ways: fake wallets charge an upfront "gas fee" to unlock funds that do not actually exist; advance-fee fraud schemes tell victims they must send gas to "activate" a wallet before withdrawing non-existent winnings; and some honeypot tokens quietly consume users' gas on every failed sell attempt, draining ETH from victims incrementally.
Legitimate protocols never require a separate advance payment to "unlock" or "activate" funds. If a platform asks you to send cryptocurrency before you can withdraw earnings, that is a classic advance-fee scam regardless of what it calls the payment.
Sources
- FTC — What To Know About Cryptocurrency Scams — Federal Trade Commission
- CFTC — Digital Assets — Commodity Futures Trading Commission
- Investor.gov — Crypto Assets — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
- FINRA — Crypto Assets: Learn More — Financial Industry Regulatory Authority