Last month we covered some of the common ways scammers attempt to steal your cryptocurrency (crypto). If you want to learn all of their deceitful strategies, go back and take a read. Otherwise, here’s a quick recap before we explore a few more of their manipulative tricks and the best ways to protect your crypto and other blockchain-based investments.
Now let’s explore a few more scams.
Everyone loves free right? What about free money or crypto? The problem is, nothing in life is ever free. These scams will offer you free coins, or match and multiply your crypto, promising to deposit coins into your wallet. They’ll position it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to miss but only if you transfer funds quickly. These strategies prey on FOMO – fear of missing out, and often get unsuspecting victims to act quickly and emotionally, without thinking things carefully through first.
Sometimes scammers will use social media as a platform for a giveaway, applying clever messaging to look just like a real account. When you click on the giveaway you go to a fake site asking for verification to get bitcoin, but you’ll have to make a payment first to prove your crypto account is legit. Not only will you lose the payment, you could have also clicked on a malicious link that just stole your personal information and your crypto assets.
Wi-Fi has definitely improved our access to the internet and made smart phones the handy devices they are. That being said, scammers have a plethora of ways they can obtain people’s information who have accessed the Internet on public Wi-Fi networks.
From setting up fake Wi-Fi hotspots of their own that mimic a legitimate public Wi-Fi network, to deploying malware on an unencrypted network, scammers have multiple tricks up their sleeves to tap into your personal online information, including your passwords, private keys, and account details.
It’s ugly, it’s personal and although not the most common scam, it can be devasting. Thieves will play on your insecurities or on your indiscretions. They send an email claiming to have evidence of visits to adult websites. Or claiming they have embarrassing photos, videos, or information about you.
They will threaten to expose you publicly or to your loved ones if you don’t pay them in crypto immediately. Never fall for this and report any blackmail attempts to the authorities.
No matter how these criminals try to trick you, their end game is all the same: they want your information or your hard-earned cryptocurrency and other digital assets. This definitive aim leaves a trail of warnings.
Take the time to pause and look for some of these signs before clicking, entering information, or paying anyone.
Watch out for:
No one in the financial world can promise guaranteed quick and large returns, especially in the volatile and unregulated crypto market.
When it sounds too good to be true it definitely is!
Promotion is one thing, and we know good marketing works. However, if you’re getting hit everywhere you look at online ads, offline promotion, or via influencers on your social media channels, it could be a fraudster at work. If you are feeling surrounded by amazing crypto deals, this may be a trap and warrants a little research.
Whitepapers are a legitimate sign of a cryptocurrency ICO (initial coin offering), and every real company has one. It explains how the crypto was designed and how it will work.
So, if you can’t find a whitepaper or if doesn’t make sense, beware.
Authentic crypto investment companies and NFT projects share who’s on the team, if not down right brag about their major players.
If you can’t find information online about an investment manager who’s contacted you, whether on their business website, LinkedIn or other social media platforms, this might be a good time to question the legitimacy of the company or project.
Why does it have to be a crypto payment? Why now? No real company is going to demand you pay crypto in advance, and especially not on their urgent timelines.
If you are feeling unreasonable pressure to give in to their ominous demands: stop, drop and roll…away from that company now!
Know that real businesses, employers, and government agencies will never:
Whether it’s a celebrity you follow or your online love interest you’ve been chatting with for weeks, your crypto is not their concern. Don’t mix business with pleasure.
Protect yourself, use common sense and trust your gut. Crypto thieves can be convincing and manipulative.
It’s important to consider these simple steps:
Keep Your Wallet Safe: You would never hand over your physical wallet or a credit card to someone you don’t know or trust, so treat your digital wallet the same.
If anyone asks you for your private keys to get in on an investment opportunity, it’s a scam.
Watch Your Wallet App: Test out your wallet app with a small deposit first to ensure its the real deal. Any time you are updating the app watch out for suspicious behavior.
If you pick up on anything strange, terminate the update and uninstall the app immediately.
Cold Calls Aren’t Worth the Risk: Never invest with a complete stranger. A call out of nowhere offering you a great opportunity is too good to be true.
Keep your personal information and money in a galaxy far far away.
Put in the Research: Just because something is one click away doesn’t mean you should make that click. If you don’t understand how a crypto investment is working, stop and do the research.
Most companies are not scams. They will have whitepapers, teams, and reviews you can find online to verify their legitimacy. You can also look up the company on a recent credible/fake cryptocurrency list to ensure it’s a safe player in the digital space.
Use a VPN: Play it safe and rely on a legitimate virtual private network when you are doing digital transactions, especially in public.
A VPN will encrypt data being transmitted, preventing thieves from accessing your personal information and cryptocurrency.
Sometimes even the most cautious and savvy of us can still fall for a scam. Just thinking about losing your digital identity or savings is enough to tie your stomach into knots.
It’s important to catch it early on and move quickly.
If you accidentally gave a scammer access to your wallet or other digital assets:
Similar to any other fraudulent incidents, the next stop is your bank. Let them know if:
Other important steps to take are:
Cryptocurrency has disrupted the financial market. It’s unregulated and sophisticated, and full of risk. This makes it a hot commodity for investors. Combine these factors with crypto’s explosive growth, popularity amongst celebrities and big marketers, this translates to a lot of people wanting a piece of the action, including scammers.
Remember, all these scams are after two things: your digital account information and your crypto.
Play it safe, especially if you are new to the market.
Finally, rely on your common sense. The digital world is full of scams. If you don’t hand out money or personal information to people or companies you don’t know, then don’t give out your digital details, digital assets or cryptocurrency either.
