Someone's about to send me crypto. What do I do?
You need to give whoever's paying you three pieces of information. Miss one, and the money can get lost with no one to complain to.
1. THE NETWORK ← this is where the money gets lost
2. THE TOKEN
3. YOUR ADDRESSThe message that works
Send me USDC on the Polygon network to this address:
0x834fC75B56580B544b449705b4d0cf583949bB10
The messages that get your money lost
| What you write | Why it fails |
|---|---|
| "Send me 100 dollars" | USDC? USDT? On which network? |
| "Send me USDC to 0x834f…" | That same address exists on more than ten networks |
| "Send it to my Binance" | Every exchange gives you a different address for each network |
The address doesn't tell you which network it's on
0x834fC75B…bB10 is your address on Ethereum, Polygon, Base, Arbitrum, and a dozen other networks. They're all the exact same string of characters.
If they send it on Ethereum and you're looking at Polygon, you won't see anything — even though the address is correct. The funds are there; they're just on another network.
Which network should I ask for?
| If whoever's paying uses… | Ask for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Binance, OKX, Bybit | USDT or USDC on Polygon, Base, or Arbitrum | Withdrawal costs them cents |
| Coinbase | USDC on Base or Solana | Withdrawal is free or nearly so |
| Their own wallet on Solana | USDC on Solana | It's already there, no bridging needed |
| They don't know / don't understand any of this | USDC on Polygon | Everyone accepts it and the fee is minimal |
Avoid Ethereum mainnet for small amounts: the fee can eat the payment. More detail in Which network should I use?.
Before you share your address: copy it, don't type it
- Open your wallet
- Select the network you agreed on (in MetaMask it's at the top left)
- Tap Receive → Copy
- Paste it into the chat
- Check the first 4 and last 4 characters against what your wallet shows
Clipboard malware
There's malware that swaps the address you copied for the attacker's address at the moment you paste it. Checking the last 4 characters after pasting takes two seconds and is the only practical defense.
When they tell you "I already sent it"
Don't trust a screenshot: those get faked in thirty seconds. Verify it yourself:
- Ask them for the transaction hash (starts with
0x…, or is a long string of characters) - Paste it into that network's explorer:
| Network | Explorer |
|---|---|
| Polygon | polygonscan.com |
| Base | basescan.org |
| Arbitrum | arbiscan.io |
| Ethereum | etherscan.io |
| Solana | solscan.io |
| Bitcoin | mempool.space |
- If it says Success and the destination address is yours, it arrived. If your wallet doesn't show it, you're looking at the wrong network.
If they sent it to the wrong network
Breathe. It's not always lost:
| Situation | Recoverable? |
|---|---|
| It's an EVM network and you control the seed phrase | Yes. Add that network to your wallet and the funds show up. You lost nothing. |
| It landed in your exchange account, on a network that exchange doesn't support | Sometimes. Contact support quickly; they usually charge a fee to recover it. |
| From one blockchain to a different one (BTC to an Ethereum address) | No. Gone. |
The lesson
Most "I lost my crypto" cases aren't theft: they're funds sitting perfectly fine on a network the person isn't looking at. Before you panic, check the network selector.
The same thing, in reverse
To send crypto yourself, the rule changes, and there's a step you should never skip. It's in Sending crypto.
If you came looking for something else:How do I send it? · I want to cash it out to local currency · Start from the beginning