AML clearance fee alert

An AML clearance fee is a common fake-exchange or fake-support demand. It uses compliance language to make an extra crypto payment sound official.

The platform or support contact claims the account is under review and needs a separate payment before withdrawals are released.

• The user sees a balance on a platform or receives a message about frozen funds.
• Support says an AML, KYC, tax, compliance or legal fee must be paid to a wallet address.
• After payment, the balance remains locked and a new fee appears.

CryptoRescue labels this as a risk-pattern alert. The page is designed to help a reader pause, preserve evidence and avoid additional payments. It is not a finding that every similar message is from the same actor, and it is not a promise that funds can be recovered.

• The fee cannot be deducted from the displayed balance.
• Payment must be made in crypto to an external wallet.
• Support uses urgent legal threats or claims law enforcement is waiting.
• The platform has weak public identity or was introduced by a private contact.

One signal may be explainable. Several signals together should slow the user down. The strongest red flags are requests for seed phrases, private keys, remote access, additional crypto payments, secrecy or pressure to move the conversation away from official support.

• Do not send the clearance payment.
• Save the fee demand, wallet address and platform screenshots.
• Check the official service profile or warning checker.
• Report the domain and payment address if funds were already sent.

The first goal is to prevent more loss. If a wallet secret was exposed, treat the wallet as compromised. If only a payment request was received, do not send the payment while you collect and verify evidence. If a transaction already happened, preserve the hash and explorer URL before chats or dashboards disappear.

• AML or compliance message text.
• Requested payment address and amount.
• Dashboard screenshots and account ID.
• Deposit transaction hashes and chat history.

Keep the original evidence and the follow-up evidence separate. Many crypto cases have two stages: the first scam and then a fake recovery, tax, legal or support scam. Mixing the timelines makes reports harder to read.

Use the warning checker when you have a platform name, domain, social handle, payment request or recovery pitch. Use the transaction lookup router when you have a wallet address or transaction hash. Use the evidence kit when you already paid, connected a wallet, signed an approval or shared documents. The order matters: first preserve the evidence, then check official sources, then decide whether the page is ready for a report or needs more evidence check.

If a known exchange, wallet or service name appears in the story, open the related service profile or research review before trusting a private support route. If the case includes a coin or network, open the coin profile and explorer context so the report says exactly which chain, token and transaction are involved.

Write the timeline in plain language: who contacted you, which site or app was used, what payment or signature was requested, what you sent, what changed after the payment, and which evidence proves each step. Avoid guessing about the attacker identity unless there is a source that supports it. It is safer to say "this account requested an AML fee" than to say "this company stole funds" without independent evidence.

That discipline protects the reader and the site. It also makes the case easier to escalate because the important details are not buried under emotion, screenshots without context or unsupported accusations.

• Do not pay a second compliance fee.
• Do not upload more identity documents to an unverified platform.
• Do not let support move you to remote access.

Do not let urgency make the evidence worse. A clean record of URLs, contacts, wallet addresses, transaction hashes and timestamps is more useful than a rushed payment made to test whether the contact is telling the truth.

Compliance language can sound authoritative, but real AML review does not normally require a user to send crypto to a random address to unlock a fake dashboard balance.

Crypto payments can be difficult or impossible to reverse once confirmed. That makes prevention, early verification and evidence preservation more important than hopeful follow-up payments to strangers.

This alert is based on regulator and consumer guidance about crypto payment scams and fake investment platforms.