Bitcoin Forum

After reading how a forum user   Almost Gave Scammers Access To his wallet (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5405619.msg60533632#msg60533632), there is a need to state how important it is not to be deceived or fooled by titles. This is an advice to newbies and some other forum users to not be deceived or fooled by titles. There is a tendency for someone to let his/her guard down when approached or contacted by another person with a title like Chief executive officer(CEO), Managing director(MD), Consultant, Project Manager, Business Development Manager, Investor, Forex trader etc. due to the fact that titles naturally accord respect to the individual who bears them. Do not be deceived, scammers can easily bear these titles to have an advantage over you.
 
Don't let your guard down.

I think one of the important things that every investors must put in their minds is "Legitimate projects will not contact you thru DM. Only scammers are".
I mean scammers can fool those newbie and ignorant investors just by putting a title in their name. CEO, MD or anything is just a title and scammers all the time are the ones who are contacting investors thru DM. That is why I'm not entertaining any DM's whether it is from Telegram or Discord because I know that real title holders or legitimate projects will not contact you thru DM.

Just out of curiosity, is there anybody here who received a DM from a random people regarding a particular project and that project became a successful one? Successful I mean it raised money and still developing until now and has a community on it.

DM first with money request, private key request, mnemonic request is always from scammer.

Legit person does not DM first and ask you to send money.
It does not relate to their job position, their job title, whatsoever.

Impersonators will use username, name, job title, job position to increase validity of their messages. You can protect yourself by remembering that any invitation for you but request you to send money first is scam.

The article Fivestar4everMVP just caught my attention as well.
This is a warning to all investors, especially newcomers, not to trust anyone when involved in the cryptocurrency industry. Always be wary of airdrops or free rewards from a certain stranger regardless of whether it is a member of the project or even the CEO of the project. Always verify airdrops or strange links by sending them to the project's official telegram channel so that everyone can verify their transparency.

Additionally, we should use the new wallet instead of the wallet where we store our assets to participate in the airdrop.

When I saw your post headline, my mind quickly goes to titles here at Bitcointalks. Titles such as Legendary, Hero Members, etc. To me, that's the easiest title that can fool a Newbie here in this forum because those titles are not easy to get, and sometimes it can equate trust to some extent.

Anyone believing outside titles such as CEO, COO, Manager, Director, etc without verifications probably deserves what they get. Does it take anything to call myself a CEO online? Probably not.

Those titles are actually the signs that a person shouldn't contact or reply to them. It's likely that they're going to scam the people that they try to message.
I've received those messages from random strangers and after looking at their bio, they already made me decide that they won't do good to me and will never click any link that they'll provide. That's why most PMs or DMs from those people are automatically blocked on my socials.

I think most people who fall victim to Scammers with big title holders are more concerned about the name or the office of the person (Scammer) than the business idea or investment they bring or introduce them to. First of all, you don't give an unknown person your
full attention when you have not made proper findings about the investment he's about to link you into not even because you have been seeing the advert of the business or investment on social media. Secondly, big title holders have a special way of attracting their victims either by giving them false hope with abnormal incentives which is the easiest way to gain their trust so with this scammers will have clear access to scam them.

Scammers who appear with such titles as @Rruchi man listed here know that they can easily be accepted because of the respect accorded to such office holders or titles and they also spend time to find out the ways to attract a particular person who they intend to scam.

Everyone needs to be on guard so that scammers will not have the opportunity to perform their tricks on us whether here or in any other place we find ourselves, scammers are everywhere.

Title in a small company means nothing. CEO, MD, etc are basically the owners of this small company/project.

I believe most of those people get scammed because they want some easy money. The title is not the most important, but the "free money" offer.


This is so true. Anyone should really block anyone who asks for your private information online, especially financial information.

Exactly their greed is the reason why scammers are successful in their attempt to steal funds from them and I really want to know that they didn't get alarmed at all that why would anyone would be giving them free money as there is hidden cost linked to these free rewards.

Speaking for the airdrop then the biggest mistake they do is join these at first end filling out their personal information to them and ending up their privacy.Second is they link their main wallets having funds in them which give them direct access to your funds and then they drain out your wallet balance through it as you have already given them seeds of your wallet.


There are so many threads and information regarding this topic that never share your seeds or private keys with anyone you don't trust IRL also but they are giving them away to scammers they have met online which is really surprising.

You should not be joining these telegram groups at all where they ask for such information with misrepresentation portraying lucrative offers to the members in hope to scam them of funds.

The Internet is famous for the fact that here everyone can put on a mask of some famous person, and this can be so faked that inexperienced people can easily believe it.

Therefore, of course, one does not need to be very naive and gullible. Turn on your brain, and do not trust anyone, no matter who he claims to be, promising any benefits. Just ask yourself how this person can know about you and why he does what would seem to be a normal person would never interfere, namely everything related to finances.

Ideally, accept that you can't make friends online unless you know them personally.

Title names and those regarded as crypto influencers take this an advantage over unscrupulous users who get freak easily by mere title whereby many claim to impose the bearers to those title unknowingly to the user, we warn that not everything red online is true, atleast give a second thought and make it detestable, the more are the ways these set of heartless individuals improve their techniques to deceive and scam people, same way we are expected not to loose guard our defense against all related means of an attack.

Quite a lot of people claim to be who they are not, it is so normal to see such happen nowadays, now when it is over the internet it becomes very difficult to verify if the person is actually genuinely who they claim to be or not, you might think that by asking them some questions you'd be able to ascertain the truth, but that is not so, these impersonators are quite smart and they must have prepared for your questions beforehand, and it will be a doddle to them in giving you answers to your questions.

Having said that, people should also not be greedy, it is greed that more often that not aids these impersonators to take advantage of their victims, and as a rule of thumb always remember that whatever is too good to be true is prolly a scam.

Better to say, be skeptical, research and not easily believe.
Many people try to appear as if they do not need money to send money to them without fear of losing your money, so I personally avoid sending money to anything that suddenly sent me and asked me for a service or getting to know him, send money and invest.

What would I gain if I were to talk to the CEO of an unknown company or lend them money?

that is true but usually, I decline every message even that is CEO because I always double-check it before, the scammer usually gives "sparkling hope" that we are usually interested. but this good to be true look what kind of investment that make 100% apy in a day or whatever is that if exist why need investor right the logic is like that if you got DM by person that know investment with high apy

No matter the big title someone's   bear, no has the right to ask for password, seed phrase or money directly or indirectly,  anyone having this agenda is a scammer. I'm still wondering how someone (a newbie) who want to disclose seed phrase or password to a stranger knowing things like these are not to be shared, they are personal information that is suppose to be keep secret.  High titled people in crypto are suppose to share knowledge and not to share peoples person information.

Don't be fooled by anybody asking for information, money, or favor. Even if its a CEO or a consultant or an owner or a manager, don't trust a stranger.

History is full of cases where people let their guard down because they seem to be dealing with someone who's worth trusting, or perhaps a celebrity. Don't be deceived. Even if it's Elon Musk or Barack Obama or Kim Kardashian using their official Twitter accounts, don't trust them.

It happened in the past where these people's official accounts with verified badges were asking for Bitcoin. And it was a scam.

Definitely don't be and be sure to do your due diligence and research, look into this as people may be perpetuating fraud as how they present themselves vs who they really are can be different as day and night.  And even if they are legit, doesn't mean they have your best interests at heart.

Actually you can reply directly on that's thread without creating another thread since it's a same discussion and many people already know how scammer strategy to convince their victim.

As the case is happen because he's participating in airdrop program, if you stay away from any kind of bounties and airdrop or anything that free money related, you'll be safe.

Regardless anyway in the internet, I treat people with titles like just a normal human being that I might come across in my everyday travel unless I am "officially" under that person like an employee or something. Even in my own freelancing business, I had met few CEOs managing their ecommerce website and I just talk to them like a normal human being.
Plus why would I even give anyone an access to my own wallet.

Well you can also see that in many telegram groups where the owners of a project are active on their telegram group, scammers can impersonate the owners, taking their name, profile pic and anything that can strike resemblance and go into Dm or many people even Moderators of the group, this act if the prospective victims aren’t security conscious they can fully fall for it.

Just to add some information about your post, I remember there was a person asking this forum if the project that he is potentially investing on is legit. The website was designed generically but there were tons of information available (e.g. whitepaper, team pictures, etc.) which made it look genuine at first.

When I looked into the team pictures, it reflected some images that looked very dubious and sketchy due to face misalignments and disproportionate features (e.g. left nostril looked straight, while the right looked curved, etc.). They also have names which sounded "smart" with matching titles. When I tried reverse-searching the images, nothing reflected but what gave it to me to conclude that it was computer generated was due to the background of the picture.

Normally, computer generated AI images have this some sort of wavy and weird backgrounds that somehow affect the overall features of these people. Again, don't let yourself be fooled just by the fact that people have nice titles, names, and pictures on the internet.

No matter how respective their titles are, still they are not responsible for whatever losses you may encounter in the future. So always do the right thing before giving your trust and giving your money, research and research until you see red flags that will help you to determine that you're falling for a scam. Scammers will always disguise theirselves in people whom they think you can't turn them down, but when you start seeing things that are too good to be true, then do not hesitate to turn them down.

Scammers can go to any length just to steal from people, most scammers always use those tittle so that they will look responsible and really, which will make people trust them, I always say it don't trust anybody you meet online no matter what the person is claiming to be, nobody should be trusted. If you see anybody PM with those titles don't even reply then just block and report those kind of people before you are been brainwashed.

The title of a person is indeed one of the considerations. It will be true what you said, in the online world, especially this cryptocurrency, we really can't be sure whether the title is genuine or not. Or whether the title is true of a legit project or a scam project. Actually, not only titles but also being deceived by the names of influencers or famous people. Because many scammers also create fake accounts of famous influencers in carrying out their scam missions. What's more, they promise huge instant rewards. For beginners, of course, this is very tempting and interesting. However, we must be vigilant and always instill a sense of distrust easily towards something new or too good to be true

That was actually my thought when I read the title. But after I read through the body, I understood the angle Op is coming from.
Evenn in the forum, we shouldn't be deceived by titles also, this is because some Hero and Legendary accounts are sold and giving to people who are relatively new to the forum.

Regarding, scammers with title. You dare not trust anyone that Dm first for a business or investment.
Infact, treat any stranger online as a scammer until proven otherwise.

If a person is asking for private key, recovery seed and asking for money is a scammer. I received PMs like that in telegram which I didn't take notice about it or simply think that you didn't receive such PMs like you provide money and that person will double the money within a short time which is in my opinion is too good to be true. Some scammers won't ask for the private keys, recovery seed or something like that which you shouldn't give is they provide ba site that looks like the original but the truth is that it is a phishing site. I am sure you know that there is something called clickbait title which made people curious about it after reading the title but don't fall for it. Triple check the link of the site you enter would also help avoid phishing sites.

I now use Telegram for my clients and had some crypto-related tasks that I did not expect. I encountered a lot of referrals and scam links that were obviously just an attempt to take money from me.
Good thing I do not bother reading those kinds of messages. After a day, I just found out that those scammers ended up being a "Deleted User" just like what you see in Discord.

Yes I noticed that too when a scammer's telegram account will be deleted user soon but we can't deny that they can use another mobile phone for example to create another account. I find hard to trust many people in the telegram but I was able to befriend some when I received a pm from a stranger which he let me borrow some money for transaction of my funds and then paid once I am done with the transaction.

It just proves that sometimes titles can be deceiving too, that even scammers can use highly appointed names just to lure everyone and gain their trust. I guess the best thing we can do here is always take caution before doing important transactions like money transfers. As much as possible, make a background check first and do research on the person you wish to deal or transact with.

Exactly, titles can be manipulated so easily, they may create fake projects and entitle themselves as the CEO with convincing biodata. But, once they are scammers, they may be too good to be true in informing about their projects. Here, we have seen so many fake people accounts in the crypto world, resembling someone popular in the world, using fake social media to deceive many people. That is why we must be careful when analyzing certain people, moreover never only believe in the title, because they may not secure you from being a scammer victim.

In my opinion, This should be common knowledge as titles, being created by man to feel important and differentiate the so called elites from the common man and to further widen the ever increasing gap between the wealthy class and the poor.
Titles do not make a person nor does it magically make its holder a honorable person with integrity.
And I think it’s obvious no CEO or MD of an organization would go around in any platform giving poor, uninteresting sales pitch and then trying to get people to “invest in this hot deal”.
I guess it’s always safe to highlight this to create more awareness so newbies and people in general would not fall prey to shady people bearing shady titles.

If someone really good at sweet talks and he can even prove how formal he is. We should at least do more due diligence and background inspection of the person cause chances that are they are using someone else profile could be possible. So how we can guaranteed he is legit?

Then we can do that by at least doing a face to face video call and confirmatory of the credentials he is presenting to a third party not provided by them.

In this type of business, money is at stake so as much as possible we should learn to take caution in everything we do. Be wary not to open private links as it could lead to scamming, and yes send it to the official group you belong so they can warn you if ever its a red flag. And learn not to fully trust anyone but only yourself. Scamming is now becoming a norm, so we should learn to protect our account, our funds as much as we can.

Social media is a place where it is wrong to believe anyone one who does not relate to you in the real life in any way . The people we meet on social we are all strangers to each others, you can't tell if the person you meet there if his/her intentions are true. Many disguise themselves to who they are not.

This bedeviled act by scammers has really only brought ridicule and debasement to the genuine holders of these titles, and this could end up making efforts to the occupation of these positions lack value.

But nevertheless, we should all be on guard qnd sensitive too on how we relate with the situations that be, so we don't end up ignoring or liken a genuine one for scam.

Scammers are predators.They often target people who are weak and vulnerable. This are people who slave themselves for big title holders. There are also others who are not in any way at all being content with what thing they have and could do every to get more by all means from others. And just like the greedy man's dog with the big bone in his mouth would behold his own reflection mirrored on the body of the river with the biggest of bones and, instead, lost every to greed going for the shadowed bigger one. Really, it has always been  slavery for title holders and greed for begetting more from others that sold  people into the hellish hands of scammers than every.

This is a very good advice to the newbies. Newbies this days are not even here to learn but for another interior motives. Most time when I see newbies post I even wonder whether if it is a newbie that wrote the thread because when I come compared my newbies days. I really struggled if not because I was very serious to learn in this forum I would not become the level where I am today. This thread is a good guide for the newbies whose aspirations are motivated by the titles of a thread. Scammers are subtle like the serpent, they have different methods to attract their preys.
As for me I have learned my lesson from scammers. I really suffered from them. I have been scammed for about 20 + times. I believed I have said this in my early days in the forum. But mostly you can see these scammers on Facebook and telegram. They are also here but because of the strict rules in the forum they can not show face. Scammers also use celebrities to deceived people mostly the fans of the particular celebrity.

Title is just a mere name that can be answered or given by anyone. Just because someone bears a CEO doesn't make him genuine or above me to accept whatever he or she said or sent to you.

In this crypto space, nobody is to be trusted. Whether a CEO of a project message you or not. Nowadays a project that looks legit ends up scamming people of their funds. We should all be careful in whose words we are abiding in crypto.

But some legitimate company do dm ,and not only scammers message on your DM first or spam.

Whenever someone offers $1000 dollars as reward or more but they need a fee $100 upfront then its scam just ignore it buts its very old technique and people nowadays realizing it that is why scammers also evolving with new techniques which we have to be updated all the times. But the basics are same no matter what don't fall for huge offer with small only initial fee. :)

Even in the platform that I worked at, they usually ban Telegram accounts since it is widely used by scammers when people start chasing those seemingly legitimate clients. Good thing that I don't communicate in Telegram unless we had an agreement or even an escrow to handle payment. Not going to take risk in getting myself shot in the foot.
Believe me or not, it is like a scammer's paradise in that communication channel.

To be safe from all sorts of scammers, then trust only yourself. People may always be deceiving in their own ways because they also have their reasons, and that is to make money for their own by taking advantage on some people. If you are fool enough and is likely easy to believe and get convinced, then you will fall eventually as a victim. Even those high titles and positions can be manipulated once money is at stake, so always have your own guarded all the time. Never dare to trust strangers once and for all.

I was for a second speechless when I came across this. This is almost unbelievable! One would think you would have learnt your lesson after maybe the first 5 times or 10 times but for you to get scammed 20+ times is unbelievable. I think if you are as serious as you claim to be on the forum with your posts, you would have learnt something after the first 5 times to say the least. 20 times!! Wow.

You are right, to be free from scammers and not to fall into their trap is never to trust anyone on social media.  The social media is a total strange land that is is impossible to know the real self of anybody, and never to believe that it is possible to have free money from the social media.  With mindset like this it will be hard to be prey to scammers.

Asking money first even from a CEO or higher position you know will always remain a red flag. You should never doubted in all transactions like that because that is always a form of scam. And scammers will never hesitate to impersonate other people or use their titles just to put their victims on their own trap. If you are cautious enough, you might be saved from scamming, otherwise you’ll end up putting your money into a waste.

Titles are meaningless to me. I prefer to celebrate competence, straightforwardness and diligence than mere titles. If your title correspondence with your output, then you win my respect. Like religious, political and educational leaders that clothes themselves with diverse titles with the aim for gaining respect, these actors in the financial space use titles to scam people. Like you rightly titled this thread: I wouldn't be fooled by titles.   

As long as you don’t know that person personally, you don’t have to comprehend to whatever favor he’ll ask. The fact that it’s all for money matters, then everything will be done with high caution. Don’t be deceived just to please everyone in high position, after all we are doing individual investments here and that we always try to make profits on our own. If ever there are red flags in the start, then you should be quick to deny the offer or decline the favor.

The truth is that who ever first drop a pm concerning how to make money about investment or trying to do favour for money, it is a big sign to know that such person intentions are never real. First approach from strangers on social media are for their personal gain, if newbies can be familiar with this it will be very hard for them to fall for those who claim to be big titled cryptocurrency expert.

Don't also let your guard down here too when you come across those titles you mentioned. Maintain the smartness of the serpent whenever you're dealing with anyone online, whether in BTT or elsewhere. In fact, whenever you ask questions regarding finance, pending bitcoin transaction issues or lost of wallet with cash in it and someone sends you a pm to proffer a solution; know it's a scammer at work. The real users who will solve that problem for you won't private chat you first. So, be careful. Know the antecedence of any supposed veteran member you're following or admiring first before anything else.

When I newly joined the forum I always see users with higher rank as set of people that can be of helped in solving cryptocurrency problems, I was carried away by their big rank but now I believe that it is not by rank, anything can bad can happen from any person whether from expert or anyone.