Nowadays there are many crypto scams in this interesting new world of blockchain technology.
Being as it is many people take advantage of the fact that not many people are well educated. Those people are called scammers, they have been around for a long time and they become more aggressive every time there is a new technology breakout. So the fact that there are so many scams now, points out that we are on the right side of history because simply saying blockchain is the future one way or another.
Some of the scams that I have run across are:
Someone shared the wallet phrase to a crypto wallet - this scam is very popular and the key point to it is the way you present why are you giving the secret key phrase to a wallet with the crypto in it. Some say that their partner cheated on them and they want revenge, some, on the other hand, say that they don't know what those words mean. But the hack in itself is always the same... You enter the secret phrase, you get the wallet that has a lot of crypto in it based on the ERC-20 blockchain (most likely) and then you get greedy as everyone in that position would probably get. You try to send that crypto to your accounts, but it says there is not enough Ethereum to cover gas fees for example. This is the key phase of the scam, the make it or break it time. If you decide to send the Ethereum to the wallet to cover the gas fees - YOU HAVE BEEN SCAMMED. If you decided to not do anything and u delete the wallet, your funds are safe! I have run across this scam multiple times and the way they spread is through telegram groups most often. The list of the scam tokens on the ERC-20 blockchain can be found here
Creating and running your bots - most often on the BINANCE network. The idea behind that is simple. You come across a video showing a detailed approach on how to create your trading bot on the BNB network. The way they share the video is becoming more and more innovative, they send you free NFTs with unlockable content or they comment on the posts of the most popular crypto sites and pages. Being as it is, you always need to fund the so-called trading bot you just created, and that is where the scammer takes the money from you. Please don’t fund those robots, that don’t work.
The copy-paste malware. This malware is extremely easy to make and it can sit on your PC for months without being detected if coded the right way. The idea behind it is very simple it has a database of the email addresses of the scammers’ wallet and once you copy and paste some address, instead of pasting the address you wanted - you paste the address of a wallet belonging to the scammer. The way you can defend against it is fairly easy, you just need to run the antivirus software more often if you are using your PC for crypto and triple check the address you are sending the crypto to.
Some of the best guidelines I can give to you personally are a few rules I use myself:
If something is too good to be true - it probably isn’t true
Don’t invest more than you are willing to lose
If some coin is skyrocketing don’t invest in it because you are scared of missing the gains (FOMO - fear of missing out). It can go bad quickly
Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) is a great way to start a crypto journey
Always check multiple times for the links you have entered and the address you want to send crypto to
Run antivirus software multiple times daily
Use cold wallets if you have life savings in crypto
Always lock your browser wallet once you are done using them
I sincerely hope that this article finds even 1 person and saves them their investment. Crypto space is fun and it would be a shame if the first feeling you get is the pain of being scammed.
