Bitcoin Forum

I believe there's a need for us to analyze the common reasons why many engage on cryptocurrency scams, the rate at which this occur and how the percentage of affected users contribute to either adoption of bitcoin or create more disbelieves among other people about cryptocurrency, there's no doubt about it that many assets had suffered great losses due to the  fraudulent activities of scam and hacking using various techniques and mode of operations, but I've take it a challenge to engage on the discussion to hear from the the community the reason why there's an increasing rate of scam.

The challenge here is to everyone of us, that we all complained of the daily increasing rate of cryptocurrency scam some were affected while other not yet, but have we not in one way or the other, directly or indirectly involved or contributed to scam rate, how have we found ourselves being in the best position to take full responsibility in fixing this challenge of increasing scam rate.

Why People Engage in Scamming

Some reasons to why there's an ever increasing scam rate in cryptocurrency are listed below, I don't need to explain those points further, they are direct and explanatory.

∆ Improper Education
∆ Iddleness and Joblessness
∆ Friends and Environmental Influence
∆ Lack of Parental Care/Bad Upbringings
∆  Uncontempted habbit and Greediness
∆ Bad Government
∆ Hunger and Poverty
∆ To Avenge/Revenge on someone

Common Examples of Scam and Approaches

Diagram illustrations on some ways they penetrate on users to launch their attacks and scam people.

https://i.imgur.com/6cOXfGh.png https://i.imgur.com/2k6OexI.png https://i.imgur.com/BBpgcz5.png

https://i.imgur.com/1v0JpcF.png https://i.imgur.com/ZOlCjbF.png https://i.imgur.com/LZQPW1E.png

Not being careful enough leads to misinformation by the crypto influencers because they are always finding an illegal means for survival, imposters on social media platforms pretend to be what and whom they are not and make use of games and collectibles, fake crypto investments platforms to launch a Phishing attack on crypto users.

References:
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-avoid-cryptocurrency-scams
https://time.com/nextadvisor/investing/cryptocurrency/common-crypto-scams/amp/
https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/privacy-and-security/avoiding-phishing-and-scams/avoiding-cryptocurrency-scams
https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/types-of-scams
https://www.coindesk.com/learn/2020/12/16/new-to-bitcoin-stay-safe-and-avoid-these-common-scams/

Is there actually any any solid evidence to suggest that crypto scams are increasing ?
It may be that they are reported more as crypto becomes more main stream?

If we look at this …

https://www.vox.com/recode/23153469/bitcoin-crypto-scam-report-ftc

Some factors that may skew any evidence to suggest they are increasing include
1. Just because a ransom is asked to be paid in crypto doesn’t mean it’s a crypto scam
2. Reported losses v unreported losses
3. Romance scams are still romance scams whether they are pid in crypto or FIAT
4. business and government impersonation scams- again these have been going on for years and have nothing to do with crypto - FIAT or crypto accepted !

I don’t mean to derail your thread OP, but It would be nice to have some solid evidence - which I’m sure would be hard to find ?

They are some common scam tricks. And we must be aware when we see someone offering 2× return or something else.
New users should learn about crypto risks first so that they can make a good crypto journey.

I am also sharing some topics about scam tricks what I have shared before in this forum.

1. [Warning] Scammer In Forum Who Want to Steal Private Keys From New Users (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5396440.0)
2. SCAM ALERT!! BITCOIN.ORG website Hacked and Offering Double return. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5361408.0)
3. Get-XLM.com Again XLM Scam Started (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5255305.0)
4. Bhayyaji.com A New Scam Trick (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5254779.0)

OP, no need to associate cryptocurrencies with scams. Fraudsters appeared exactly when the possibility of deception arose. And this, as you know, has been popular since the dawn of mankind.

Therefore, there will always be people who are ready to profit at the expense of others. And no matter how, the main thing is that deception is their way of existence.

If we talk about cryptocurrencies, then scams have been around for a long time, but again, as soon as the price value of any coin appears, scammers will immediately be ready to take away what they own from people.

That is life.

The crypto scams have been prevailing in the market from a long time and billion dollars value have been transferred to the scammers wallets through these and you can see with the launch of new technology there is hidden bad actors that want to take advantage of people's greed and unawareness about that technology.

Like in past 2017 during ICO burst there was so many scams which continued after that time also and then DeFi scams in recent moves for example the Ronnin bridge scam worth $600 million without noticing.

See the image below to have a look at how these scams are for all these years :

    https://i.postimg.cc/xTJKM0ZN/chart-1-yearly-scam-value-1-1024x669.png

If you say lack of resources to make them aware then you would find that most of these scams occur due to their greed and you need to apply common sense why would anyone be giving you free coins or double your investment with these manners and moreover there are many resources to make them aware about different ways of scamming but they didn't read them or ignore it.

For more scam information read this Chainanalyis Blog  (https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/2021-crypto-scam-revenues/)

The same reason why there are crypto scams, is the same reason why there are normal real life or physical crimes, in our society there are always going to be fraudulent people, criminals who want to take advantage of others and steal from them, if they use crypto, or they use fiat, it is all but the same thing, and that is that they want to steal from others.

The whole attention coming to crypto scam is unwarranted, and is just another way governments want to trick people to avoid bitcoin and crypto, it is not like there is a wave of crypto scam, at least it is no more than normal everyday crime all around the world, we should not play into that by popularizing the fake agenda that politicians are spreading about crypto and bitcoin.

If you can be scammed with bitcoin, then you can be scammed with fiat, it is all but the same procedure, the worry should be on educating the victim, and not trying to create a misconception about the financial instrument or currency used to take money from the victim.

One thing you forget to mention

• Crypto projects are open-source so it reduces work burden on developer team that don't actually want to build up a project but instead just want to steal money from investors
• Copy source code, fork it and here you go with a new crypto project.
• In last bull run, I knew crypto projects that can raise millions of dollar solely by attractive websites and white papers. No product at all. I don't know how will those developer team do in bear market?

You know formerly, scammers woo their victims into going to the banks to make a deposit...It worked for them a while, but then the banks started clamping down on them and turning back some deposits to suspicious accounts, this created a problem for scammers. Scammers moved to something called "cash mailing" where they package the money and send via courier to someone who picks it for them and then forwards it to them in wherever location they may be, this method is also very risky and tasking for scammers.

With the start of crypto and how transactions can be made seamlessly to anonymous accounts directly eliminating the banks and their middleman,  scammers knowing this are taking full advantage of the crypto space and now channeling efforts to finding out new dubious methods tailored around cryptocurrency. This is a reason to me why crypto scam rate is increasing amongst the others listed.

While banks and fraudsters were in a struggle to out play each other over the years; the idea that scams with fiat were not working or was on the decline is not exactly accurate.
By a huge margin, fiat is still the major means of scams and fraud. Cryptocurrencies are seemingly more convenient, but still does not mean it's more in use, scams involving it are just more reported.

That's just it! I believe the reason for such isn't far fetched too because it's the attitude of giving a dog a bad name just to hang it. There's so much bad press on cryptocurrency and the proponents of such are trying to run it down by making sure every little negativity of crypto doesn't go undetected.

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Come to think of it, OP missed the most important thing that triggers scammers when it comes to cryptos and that's greed. Scammers like where the profit is.

The saddest thing is that many are still unable to read and analyze if the project is a scam especially if they saw huge rewards and easy money - most of the time people got hooked up with such things due to some personal needs and Greediness. That will certainly make people become crazy about money that even miss determining if they are joining scam giveaways or not.

These scam issues will no longer stop as many people aren't changing their mindset and as well as their attitudes.

People like these will be able to learn their lesson hard when the time they got scammed. These kind of people are the scammers target, The people who choose to be ignorant about doing research and only use their emotions about money are likely to be scammed by those scammers. Scammers can easily get away using crypto, It's more convenient to them that's why they are taking advantage of the technology.

Also, you have to be extra if not hypervigilant as the scammers continue to evolve and become more sophisticated.  You even see examples of the OG's getting scammed or close enough to it.

Here are some quick tips on how not to get scammed -

1. No one in this world, In 2022, gives out free money to a stranger.
2. Dealing with altcoins/shitcoins will most likely get you to a stage where you get scammed. How? Metamask/Trust Wallet. BTC doesn't need these wallets.
3. If you don't use a hardware wallet, chances to get your funds stolen are way more than impossible.

Good Luck!

Scams are all around us, not just in the crypto world. They are rooted in human behavior and are not caused by crypto or any other tool.
Scams occur more often in crypto because scammers prey on the greed of investors, who enter the market expecting to make a quick buck without studying or working hard.

Whatever the environment, as long as we work hard to cultivate knowledge, learn from those who have gone before, don't be greedy, don't hurry, but go slowly step by step, we will avoid pitfalls.

It depends on how you used metamask and trustwallet. Yes there are scams on altcoins but there are also good one. Total marketcap isnt composed sorely of bitcoin alone. Most scams comes from doing alts and shitcoins because there are people whom categorized with the OP's pointer but we shouldnt hate altcoins like it was created except bitcoin to being as scams. If you used defi then youll understand.

The main reason for scam is money, when someone is in need of money and they don't have any resource to generate it then they have a choice to go in the wrong way so called scamming, the reasons can be unlimited because it varies from one and another, we also can see someone hacked banks all over the world to feed the poor people and the hacker poses with a smile when he charged for life time prison sentence.

If crypto scams are increasing then the usage of cryptos are increasing that's it but the job of reducing the crime is in the hands of laws and government.

I Appreciate all suggestions and strong advise from you all, this gives more exposure to understand better in this.


That's right, many are really suffering out there and lack the mentoring to shape them into the right oath to follow, but instead they got influenced through many external constraints that led them to doing scam, we all can't have the said money equally and at the same time because destinies are different but there must be an assurance that everyone one is being able to afford the basic primary needs which are food, clothes and shelter.

Money can also be the main reason, because money is needed to improve the standard of living, giving some to people in need like bank hackers as you mean. But apart from that, the reason they commit fraud is because of greed, laziness and unemployment, so scammers create shortcuts to be able to make more money quickly.
Crime in crypto is on the rise, but crypto users are also more vigilant. some new methods of crypto scams are starting to emerge, but most of them are still using the old methods to target new users who really don't know anything about crypto.

No money and free gifts, if you get them without doing anything, please be aware.

Scamming is already part of our lives, not only in crypto. Even if the government creates a campaign for free education for the people, scamming will always be around. However, the rate of scamming in crypto is clearly high, as long as money is involved, i guess there will always be increase  rate of scamming. And for some people who got scammed, most likely its their own choice to be scammed. Otherwise, they have taken full responsibility and high caution in cases where scamming is mostly observed.

That’s it. People not only get scammed because they are misinformed, most have turn out to be greedy and that gives the scammers the hint to make them as the target. And since most who came to enter into crypto investments and the like are greedy and would only want for quick profits, then scammers jobs have turn out to be easier because the people are already giving them intentions to be scam and be taken advantage.

Surely all these 8 reasons are also the same application outside crypto.
It is not just all happening to crypto and from what I even watched, those "fake email" scams are way more often than crypto.
Cryptocurrency is just their another means of how can they scam people

I noticed that some unscrupulous fraudsters in the area have started accepting crypto. they don't care what is at stake if they can make a profit. Some of the well-known influencers launches paid courses on making money with cryptocurrencies. at the same time, they have no problem presenting proven Ponzi seeds as investment potential. This is enough for uninformed people, and they trust their favourite Instagram influencer. it doesn't matter that he read the first thing about crypto-currencies only a month ago, he is an expert.
That is the beginning of a new-age scam. crypto is just a tool to deceive the naive.

That's how they project their selves to look professional so that they can influence more people and believe that they brought up something huge so that they can earn money from those people who believe in them that's why we shouldn't trust this kind of personalities because they are there creating noise on something beneficial to them and for sure they didn't care about the financial status of other people because their target is to earn a lot of money from what they are promoting.

Nowadays scammers are getting better, they would do anything in order to take someone's crypto and during my experiences in the past I could say they are really investing their skills on trying to scam someone. And I would say that they do have some in common when it comes to scamming that's why if you have had any experiences on scammers you will know that what they are up to. I can't name all what they do but I guess that's the risk we need to watch carefully that's why always choose a reputable one to make transaction especially when it's p2p. And always do some research or read more about crypto on how things work.

Cryptocurrency is one of the ways to get money by fraud. And for a fraudster, it doesn't make much difference what he gets as a result USD or BTC. Accordingly, the same methods that have been used in real life for a long time are used here. If we consider, for example, a ponzi scheme, then it has existed for more than 100 years and despite this, it is also effectively used in cryptocurrency.

I see a lot of this type of comment on YouTube. It usually receives lots of engagements. I do not engage them because I have a feeling that it might be a gang of scammers looking for their next unfortunate victim. These guys are getting smarter by the day. Since this thread is talking about scammers, I want to ask are they scammers?

Scammers are very intelligent in the process of planning and creativity. What we have to know as investors who doely invest in cryptocurrency is that before we invest we are supposed to microscope the platform before we do anything contrary to the platform because investors brain mentality and scammers brain mentality is not same. Scammers have a different devices of manipulating the environment the founder it is only people who are interested for investment that enter the trash of stomachs through investment with larger bonus, whoever that is been scammed is someone that is interested in free bonus.

You have all the possible reasons OP but it guesses what, we can't still stop people from getting scammed. Scammers are targeting greedy people and those hungry for money as they can easily manipulate their minds. These people can easily forget about scams as they are focused on money and listen to what these scammers told and promise to them.

As this kind of behavior exists, scammers can still continue their doing, and scam rates increase. As many people engage in social media and online activities, it is easy for these scammers to take action and trick people.

If there could be a serious decline in the way people actually falls for this scams, there would be a decline in the rate at which scammers engage in scammy acts. Unfortunately, even with all the campaigns that happens here and there, some people still remain ignorant and fall for cheap scams putting the number of scammers on the rise. Its that bad.

Also, people fall into crypto scams because of a get rich ideology for which they have come to associate cryptos with. What you see is one being too greedy to want to double or triple there capital in minutes or few days and when they are met with these offers, they don't see the red flag.

I won't said they're getting better instead the newbies coming into the industry are very vulnerable that they fall easily to this dumb scam attempts. We are having a massive inflow of users that knows nothing about the industry but getting attracted due to the massive marketing done by the projects been created daily. We have NFT brining people in when they don't even know how to secure their wallets or store their private keys well.

Many don't even know anything about the industry they're engaging themselves in but just want to join the train of quick money been spread all over with flipping of NFT, tokens etc. When this users encounter's this scams, they can easily fall victims and just because the industry is having more media coverage they get spread quickly and since the media feeds on negative energy, this scams reported get manipulated to sound worse.

Exactly yes.
In fact, although there havebeen so many chares here aboutcrypto scams, scam is still ongoing, not ended or stopped.
Why?
Because there are still many people who are only targeting instant profits or rewards without any knowledge of how to get it right. Many people are still greedy to get high profits or big money without any further analysis of the projects. And because many people are still lazy ad careless to learn and read that leads them to be scammed. every day, there are also newbies coming to the crypto world, without any basic knowledge and they are very easy to deceive.

Those reasons are not enough for me to become a victim of scam.

• There are some people that I know who are professionals that still invest on these too good to be true investment schemes because of their greediness.
• Your friends or environment won't affect you if you know how the money flows on those scams. You know yourself that those investment schemes are just paying in the beginning to attract more investors.
• Why would someone invest to a scam if he experience abuse from his parents. There are many things in life that will make you happy so why invest on something that will just give you more stress.
• You will always be responsible of your investments. Government can't do anything like capture the scammer if there is no enough evidence or formal complaints. Even if they give a warning, some people that got profit first will defend those scammers.
• If revenging on someone is similar to jealousy then you will just be the loser in the end once you lose your money.

This is the main reason why there are still people that get scammed. Their desperation for money is what drives them to engage to an activity that is extremely risky. Even me back in the days can't stop being tempted to invest because I don't know where to get money.