Binance shows a high-risk address alert when its system flags the address as "potentially linked to scams or malicious activities." The correct handling order: first verify the address yourself, then rule out environmental risks, and finally contact support to unblock if you confirm it is safe.
First, Understand: Why Is It Flagged as High Risk?
Binance's anti-fraud system judges whether an address is suspicious from multiple angles:
Bad record on the address itself: The address has been reported by other users, flagged as a scam wallet by security organizations, or appears on public malicious address blacklists. Binance says it has algorithmically identified about 15 million poisoned addresses and works with security partners to maintain blacklists.
Abnormal address type: The destination address of your withdrawal is a "custodial wallet" controlled by a scam platform, not a personal wallet where you hold the private key. Binance emphasizes that a personal wallet address truly belongs to you only when you hold the private key.
Your withdrawal behavior matches scam victim patterns: The system detects that your operation pattern (such as multiple attempts in a short time, unusual transaction amounts) resembles that of known scam victims.
You have previously transferred to a known scam address: Even if you suffered no actual loss, the system will list you as a high-risk target who may be scammed again.
How to Unblock: The Correct Order
After seeing the alert, follow these steps without skipping any.
Step 1: Verify the Destination Address Yourself
This is the most important step and the real reason behind over 90% of alerts – the address you copied and pasted might itself be problematic.
What to do: Carefully check the full address string, not just the first and last few characters. Address poisoning attacks exploit the habit of only checking the beginning and end, inserting fake addresses into your transaction history.
Look for "address poisoning": Check your transaction history. Have you received 0-value or very small transfers from unknown addresses? If so, your address may have been "poisoned." CZ suggests that wallets filter these spam transactions directly, but you should also get into the habit of copying addresses from trusted sources.
Extra check: Use Binance's "Address Book" or "Whitelist" feature to only withdraw to saved, trusted addresses. If it is your first time withdrawing to this address, send a tiny test amount first.
Completion criteria: You confirm that the address is real and held by you or a trusted recipient. If you find any issue with the address, stop immediately.
Step 2: Check Device and Browser Environment
Binance has publicly warned about malware that can alter your pasted withdrawal address in real time – you copy the correct address, but when pasted into the withdrawal field, it is silently swapped with a scammer's address.
What to do:
Make sure your Binance App is downloaded from an official app store.
Check if your browser has unauthorized plugins or extensions.
Before submitting, double-check the address shown in the withdrawal field at least twice.
Completion criteria: Confirm your device is clean and the address has not been tampered with.
Step 3: Complete the Anti-Fraud Questionnaire and Contact Support
If the first two steps check out, this is a "false positive" – the address itself is safe, it just triggered a system rule. Now you can contact support to unlock.
What to do: On the withdrawal page, complete the anti-fraud questionnaire as prompted, truthfully filling in the purpose of the transfer, source of funds, etc. Then contact Binance support, explain the situation and request to lift the withdrawal restriction. The support team will evaluate your case and provide further assistance if needed.
Completion criteria: Restriction lifted, you can withdraw normally.
Risk Notice: Binance will not permanently freeze your funds because of a high-risk alert; withdrawal restrictions are usually temporary, lasting no more than 24 hours. However, if you repeatedly transfer to flagged addresses, the system may take stricter measures, including extending the cooling-off period. If you are facing an ACH deposit holding period on Binance.US, that is a fixed 7-day lock and unrelated to high-risk address alerts.
After Completing the Operation
Verification: After a successful withdrawal, check the on-chain transaction status to confirm the funds have reached the destination address.
Next step: If you use this address often, add it to Binance's address book/whitelist so you can select it directly for future withdrawals and bypass risk checks. At the same time, review your device's plugins and apps, removing unnecessary third-party tools to prevent malware from altering addresses.
