Nobody likes to lose money, and when you buy crypto, that can be pretty easy. Hopefully you know not to lose money by buying high and selling low, but you can also lose money through some very tricky scams. These are some scams I’ve seen recently that you should watch out for.
Let Me Help! Scams
I’ve seen this one a lot lately. The other day I bought some SANTA. There was a bug on CoinMarketCap where this token was listed at $76 each, when in reality, it was worth a very small fraction of a cent. There was a Twitter thread about it, and the scammers came out in droves. “I can help you!” they said, then proceeded to share a google document that looked pretty official, but asked for your twelve word seed phrase. It would be transmitted securely, they said.
It seems this particular scam is growing in popularity, or maybe it’s just me. Today I sent a tweet to WagyusSwap asking if they were going to get WalletConnect functionality, and within minutes, I got 15 replies from people trying to “help” me by taking my crypto off my hands. No thanks.
Trustwallet employees will never ask for your seed phrase. Don’t fall for this.
Double Your Money! Scams
Another scam that seems easy to fall for are scams where you send your money to a specific address and in return, you’ll get money back. Almost always, several people will make posts how it works! Who wouldn’t want to send a little bit of money to an address and get double their money in return? Usually, there are minimum amounts you have to send. It can be easy to fall for this because there are legitimate airdrops in crypto. If you have to send other people money, it’s likely to be a scam.
Connect Your Wallet Scams
If you want to trade some of the newer tokens, you’ll need to use a swap site like PancakeSwap or Uniswap. These are legitimate web sites that you can connect your wallet to so you can make trades. There are some other sites where that’s not so much the case. Be wary of connecting your wallet to unknown swap sites or other web sites. Recently, a few of these scam sites have been sending people airdrops.
Protect Your Wallet
It’s good to avoid scams, but you also want to take steps to protect your wallet. Don’t keep your seed phrase as a screenshot on your computer. It might be easier there, but writing it down on old-fashioned paper and keeping it in a safe place is at better option. Other ways to keep your money safe are common sense, like not clicking on unknown links. For maximum safety, use a hardware wallet. And if you have a lot of money in crypto, it’s probably not a good idea to talk about it.
As more people enter the cryptosphere and more people put their money into crypto, the opportunities for hackers increase. Don’t become their next victim!
