The same as when you put money in a bank, you're giving them money, no one's stealing anything.
Until they don't give it back. That's the important part.
Until they don't give it back. That's the important part.
Got your credit card stolen and someone makes fraudulent purchases? Go to the bank and let them know, and they can do a chargeback and perform an investigation for you.
Someone hacks your bank account and takes out all the money? Go to the bank and they will perform an investigation and follow well laid out procedures to try their best to recover the money, as well as work with the police to identify the hacker. Of course there is no guarantee they can recover your money but, they are experts are figuring stuff like this out and have many fail-safes in place to prevent a hacking attempt to happen in the first place.
But with crypto exchanges, not only are some of the basic securities measures not foolproof, more absurd stuff can happen. Several big exchanges had to file for bankruptcy due to getting their coins hacked away. And if you wants a totally nuts crypto exchange story, look up Quadriga.
I'd say the last point about crypto is a feature, not a bug. A lot of proponents absolutely cheer on the fact that no individual, business, or government can come along and sweep up coins/tokens and hand them back through force if appropriate cautions are taken. This is unfortunately the other side of that. The idea of people using exchanges as a value store and not as a pass-through or escrow service has always confused me for that reason.