David Schwartz, the former chief technology officer of Ripple, published a public warning on May 14 about a sharp increase in scam efforts targeting the XRP Ledger ecosystem. The XRP Ledger Foundation followed with a similar alert, urging users to steer clear of airdrops, giveaways, and fake customer support offers on X. The warnings come as transaction volume on the XRPL grew 65% over the past year, giving scammers more real developments to imitate.
What the warnings say
Schwartz and the foundation both pointed to a surge in fraudulent activity that exploits the XRP community's size and visibility. The foundation's advisory explicitly told users to avoid any unsolicited offers of airdrops or giveaways, and to be wary of accounts posing as official support teams on social media. Ripple has issued similar warnings in the past about fake XRP giveaways and deepfake promotions, but the current wave appears larger and more coordinated.
Common patterns in the scams
Scammers are using impersonation accounts that mimic developers, executives, and influencers within the XRPL space. Fake NFT rewards and airdrop campaigns tied to real projects — including Flare and Firelight — are circulating. Private messages from automated bots urge users to connect their wallets or approve malicious transactions. The foundation said these tactics have become more effective because scammers can piggyback on legitimate developments, such as tokenization deals and institutional moves.
Why scams are increasing now
XRPL activity has accelerated sharply. Monthly transactions rose from 43 million to 71 million over the past 12 months, according to data from Evernorth. That growth is driven by projects like Bitstamp, Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin, the tokenization platform Justoken, and Braza Bank in Brazil. High-profile institutional activity — JPMorgan, Ripple, and Mastercard completed the first cross-border redemption of a tokenized US Treasury asset on the XRPL, settling in under five seconds. Guggenheim issued short-term corporate debt on the XRPL backed by US Treasuries, rated Prime-1 by Moody's, generating over $280 million in volume. Each of these real-world moves gives scammers more material to fabricate.
Past warnings and ongoing risks
Panos Mekras, co-founder of Anodos Finance, raised concerns last year about fraudulent projects using XRPL's visibility to market vague token offerings. The new warnings underline that the problem has not receded. Schwartz's message and the foundation's advisory both stress that users should treat any unsolicited offer as suspect, especially those promising free tokens or requiring wallet access. The scale of scams has increased directly with the growth of the XRP online community and the broader recognition of XRPL-based projects, leaving individual users as the first line of defense.
The foundation's warning remains in place: avoid airdrops, giveaways, and fake customer support. For now, the best protection is skepticism.
