Bitcoin Forum

Hi guys, I'd like to share my bad story as a warning to anyone new to bitcoin.  A few months back, I joined a group chat where people were discussing a "sniping bot" that could allegedly assist you buy new currencies before their prices up.  The community was pleasant and competent, and the bot was free to use, so I figured I had nothing to lose.  They wanted me to connect my cryptocurrency wallet to the bot so it could "analyze" my holdings and assist me with trading.

The moment I connected my wallet, my entire balance more than $200 that I had saved for so fast quickly gone.  There was no notice, no ability to reverse the purchase, and no one to contact for assistance.  The crooks vanished, and I lost my money permanently.

Sorry I felt humiliated and outraged, but I discovered that these scams are widespread.  Scammers promise easy rewards, encourage you to move quickly, and frequently impersonate experts or friends.

If you are asked to link your wallet, invest in a new coin, or pay a charge to release your cash, it is almost probably a scam.

I hope this help newbies.  :'(

Sorry about your loss and it could be used for educational purposes and help other not to experience such but I have noticed something, you said things about the scammers and how they probably work which anyone can hardly doubt you but you forgot to mention things from your own part. You should mention that you felt incompetence and could not do your own personal research to make your own decisions on what to buy, you were greedy and wanted what you thought would give you sure success which was the bot. As harsh as it may sound, it is true that no scammer can work successfully without you unknowing or ignorantly helping them.

Yes i was greedy and wanted to get something new with bot, all my mistake  :-\

The beginning is intriguing. Although, no. It is already known in advance how such stories end.

This is the price of your current experience. Consider that you "bought" the knowledge of safe storage of cryptocurrencies. Perhaps this knowledge will protect you from greater losses in the future.

Don't worry. There are a great many people who have been deceived like you.

Remember these feelings and when new temptations of enrichment and easy money appear.
Remember these feelings, that this stopped you from doing wrong.

Always a newbie falling victim to such low level scam, how the heck will you connect your wallet to a smart contract without adequate verification and assurance of it guaranteed security knowing fully well that once you connect your wallet you authorize the other backend to have control of some certain features such as your coins movement.

.any have fall for this scam before and we need to be guided, infact never belongs to all those telegram groups who attempt to offers cryptocurrency related investments advice, because most members of the groups are scammers waiting to see the gullible chance to enter you as a newbie.

It will help newbies especially those that wasn't introduced to Crypto-currency properly. However if newbies actually start paying attention and practicing what they are being taught then this is a very silly mistake I don't think even newbies should make.
So you should actually bother more about yourself because this shows you have a lot to learn about security yourself.

Sorry about that. That's why some communities outside the forum are furious and hasty with what they have for their members. If they're hurrying you to use that for "checking" the portfolio that you have, that's already a sign of red flagging it. They've probably used smart contracts for you to just accept whichever agreement on that snipping bot, and they literally snipped your balance out of your wallet. Surely, the newbies are going to learn from this experience that they should trust no one and they shouldn't download any bots or files that they are not familiar with.

Don't connect your wallet to random sites. If you must connect your connect, use to different device that does not have your crypto assets on it. Avoid offers that are too good to be true. It's an old scam and the scammers are targeting newbies like you who don't have much knowledge of cryptocurrency and security.

I feel for you, but you must move on in life. It's just that you learned in a hard way but that will make you more careful about your security online.

Sorry for the lost.

Is unfortunate that our newbies are still falling victims to this chips scammers. Because if am not mistaking this issues of newbies to be aware of scammers have been discussed several times here in this Bitcointalk forum, but still they keep on making the same mistake everytime. Due to quick money, without noing that scammers are using different strategy just to get access to your holding. As a newbie it's very essential to always do your own research and ask questions before venturing into anything, because scammers are always looking for a way  online to scam people that would easily fall them. That is why we should always be mindful of ourselves, because once your funds is go there is no how you can recover it back.

This is newbie scam. It is newbie scam because the victims are mostly newbies who are desperate. Their desperation is what the scammers use. And experienced holders will already the modus operandi of the scammers. Sorry about your loss $200 is even a big money in my country. Take this your story and awareness even to more places outside of the forum to reach more people.

Is it really true? It seems you are a very old user of this forum, even though you post less. But as a forum member, you should be familiar with this kind of scam. This isn't something new; this is a common scam method, and scammer applying it for quite a long time. For me, I don't even trust crypto signal groups. I just follow the news for analysis and quick updates. Other than that, there's no purpose in joining such groups.

However, I'm sorry for your loss. If you don't know much about bots or can't read codes, then you shouldn't trust them. It's related to your crypto assets; you shouldn't connect your wallet everywhere. Even I don't trust too many sites to connect my wallet if I am not familiar with that website. Don't be greedy; there is no easy and quick way to make you rich.

I think the OP is actually referring to what most web3 guys and degen traders call a sniper bot. Basically what the bot does is it helps you buy meme coins that hasn't been launched just with having their contract address alone. The bots work by connecting your wallet which is basically giving the bot you master keys.... Pretty lame right.?

Where the scammers get them is giving them a fake bot to steal their keys and since they have your keys they don't need your authorisation to move your coins.

Reading these stories always displeases, however dear OP, you have been on the forum since 2017 am I to believe that in 8 years of being on this forum you have never noticed the quintessential motto of us bitcoiners?
"Not your keys Not your Coins"
Never link your Wallets on unknown platforms, or at the very least link a Wallet with little bitcoin. Study the platform well, seek feedback from those who have perhaps already used the platform (bots in this case) and then assess whether or not you should risk it.

I only hope that this testimony of yours can help many of us to avoid such scams!
Sorry for my harsh words, but when I read these things I can't understand how it can still happen after all these years.
Remember this for the future! "Don't trust! Verify!"

Consider that $200 a stupid tax you paid for a very important lesson: dont be a gullible idiot with your money. There are sharks circling everywhere in this space, and they prey on people who dont stop and think for five damn seconds.

Thanks for sharing your story, though. Hopefully, some newbies will actually listen and learn from your mistake instead of making the same boneheaded move.

Oh for sure, as soon as someone offers you a quick and easy way to make money, but require a "minimum" deposit to somewhere, run away. There's thousands of such schemes active, and their community, which is usually a tight group of scammers, are pleasant and helpful. Until you bite the bullet, deposit, and it all goes down hill from there.

One way or the other, most of us have lost money to scams. Either you buy and hold shitcoins, hacking, participate in give away to turn out to be phishing or scam and many other formats scammer use to lure their victims. There was a time hacking of celebrities  twitter accounts and launching a ponzi scheme that gives x2 in minutes, was trending. Anything that requires you to connect wallet, always use a wallet with little to nothing inside. This will reduce the loss should that be the target of the scammers.

The major key phrase here is don't trust the unknown source, don't feel too relived or excited over golden promises that rewards are to come in a quick while
It's also essential to note that connecting your crypto Wallets to an unknown recommendation such as bots and other networks portraying cryptography can be tooled to steal our private informations which may give scammers access to our wallets and then steals our funds which was the strategy used to lure the Op.

And of course we should know when we're participating in one of those projects that gives free earnings of rewards such the payment system may require the connection of your own wallet to their network. To be on safer side in such a case is to proceed the with a different wallet that's not associated with your official wallet address accommodating your funds for concious measures.
In the case of trading or investment purposes where some instructors however they may claim to be genuine is absolutely phishing to be scam.

Anything that sounds too good to be true is a sign of a scam, and there is nobody completely wasting his time to develop something that they will have no benefit from.

All they did was make you trust them and convince you that you can actually make free money by using their bot , which your ignorance allowed you to connect your wallet to their dapp, which was exactly and the only thing they needed, aside from you granting them permission. Any form of link sent to you by someone you just met online – be careful the way you treat it.

Sympathy won't reverse anything right now. The deed has already been done, and the lesson has been learnt. The privilege newbies have now is to learn from this experience and make sure they do not fall victim to anything similar. These scammers always target newbies because they know they are still fresh in the system and don’t know much.

I already feel it’s high time we begin to have a new set of newbies who are exposed, newbies who are already informed through research and learning. The fact that one is a newbie should not automatically mean they are fools. They can protect themselves from scammers even with their little experience.

Scammers are everywhere targeting novices. The best thing newbies can do to help themselves is by learning security and safety tips.

Don't trust other people with your wallet, even if you think you don't have anything to lose. Scammers will do everything just to take advantage of your innocence, so it's always best to stay away from any bots or groups, even if you think they seem good and reliable.

The truth is, you cannot rely your progress and profitability to other people around. Obviously, they're not here to help you, but to steal your funds whenever they have chances to do it, as they are just waiting silently in the corner eyeing for a new victim to fall on their trap. This serves a lesson now to stay informed and get rid of offers that are just too good to be true.

The most common methods faced by newbies when they come into the crypto world are due to their lack of knowledge about cryptocurrency. They often listen to their friends and try to make quick money, but they don't understand the real dangers and end up getting scammed. Don't be a fool, when someone tries to connect to your wallet or asks for any kind of shortcut, you should know that it's a clear scam. If you find yourself in such a situation, always keep a zero balance wallet for yourself just to check if the scam will take place or not.

I am surprised how people still fall for this type of scams even when it has become popular and everyone knows about it. Infact, being cautious of scammers will save you from many nonsense. You should try and have this mindset of contentment in you and you will avoid planty scams.
If any kind of ads or promotion pops up in my wallet or exchange account, I avoid it to the end. Whatever they like they should promise, I don't participate. This is renowned exchange and wallet I am talking about, let alone unnamed platforms suggested by a stranger and went ahead to connect your wallet.
Even if you want to test them, why didn't you just create a new wallet and connect it?

Anything that has to do with you connecting your personal crypto wallets holding to a third party, it’s highly advisable to stay away from such as it’s already sending you a signal of a scam attempt by such parties. You can’t connect your wallet to a third party agent for them to help you analyze your holdings, even if they’ll make suggestions for you on what coin to invest in, they don’t need to have access to your wallet. Did you forget the key phrase of ‘not your keys, not your coins’?

It is important to always have that in mind when such thought come across your mind to take action on. A lesson learnt is worth taking note of and avoided the next time. It is good that you shared your story for other newbies to be aware of. Telegram is a hub for scammers, nothing should fascinate or persuade you to take part in anything there no matter how true it might look, always do your extra research and verify the authenticity of a service been rendered there before taking action on them.

You are right to say it is good to keep our own crypto safe and be careful. Your warning about not trusting other people with our digital wallet even if we think we do not have much to lose is so important. Scammers are getting smarter and will try anything to trick us if we are innocent.
It is also great point that we can not depend on other people to make money with crypto. In this kind of online world we have to be responsible and watch out for ourself. Like you said there are many bad people out there just waiting to steal our money when they get chance. They are hiding and looking for someone to trick. This is good lesson to learn to stay informed and be careful of deals that sound too good.

Sorry for the loss, you have learned your lessons the hard way. You have been on the forum for some time, and you should learn that your wallet is for only you. You should never grant anybody assess to it regardless of how trustworthy they might look. Since you don't know the people you are dealing with physically, you have to treat everyone or group you meet on social media as potential scammers.

I have heard so much about these trading bots, but I don't know how reliable they are. If you want to be a crypto trader, I think you should study relevant materials and gain knowledge instead of relying on bots. It is also important to note that any system that promises constant profit might be fake because traders also experience losses.

However, thanks for sharing because it will be helpful to not just newbies but to others.

This is why we should not trust people online instantly or any link or application that our friends recommend that need to connect our wallet.  We must always verify things, ask parties or do research before touching this stuff.

I bet your experience will serve as a lesson for all of us, old-timers and newcomers. 



Do not trust even friends, once they get tempted it will only become a cause of misunderstanding and conflict.



We can learn from their experience but never entrust our money to any of them.

Sorry about your loss mate i hope your recovery very soon! just be more smarter do not believe everything you see mate!

Those who are new or have little knowledge of cryptocurrency are likely to make such mistakes, new are usually greedier. There are many newcomers who can trust someone quickly and be deceived because of this trust. Since a large part of scammers are busy with such activities, it is the wisest thing to be careful.

In order to protect oneself from the mentioned situations, he should be careful about several things.

One should not trust anyone by getting acquainted with a group chat. Especially if it is recommended to use a bot, it should be avoided.
Moreover, there is a risk of damage if you use all the free bots that are available.

In the case of Web3 or D-App based wallets such as Trust Wallet or MetaMask users, many people can give various suggestions for connecting to the wallets. Especially in the rush to make quick profits, many people quickly connect their wallet and later lose all their money by being deceived. Users of these wallets must be vigilant.

You should think twice about this type of work. Because in most cases, there is a possibility of being scammed.

Newbies should take note that any crypto-relating matters that involve airdrops and connecting of wallets are supposed to have a separate wallet that has no coins in it to participate in such. The reason for that, is anything that arises from such, be the siphoning of funds, the scammers won't have any crypto coin stealing from you. But whereby you make use of your main crypto wallet that has crypto coins, you will eventually lose your coin because the scammers have gained access to your wallet through the connecting of the wallet you authorized.

This is a lesson to learn that there is no free money in crypto. Tried as much as not to be carried away by positive vibes from their community members because some are paid to do that so that you will lose guard and not feel bothered to research the project, whether genuine or not.

No need quoting you with long texts, add up to what other forum members have said/have to say.

Don't lose your key to anyone for no benefits.

Scammers are the proudest to promise huge benefits.

You get no benefits from strangers without paying a prize, don't be misled to make huge gains when you work less for it.

What happened to you isn't the final stop on how scammers operate, there are many more tactics they use just be careful with anything concerning your wallets and giving access to bots, clicking on links, or linking to a site.

Sorry for your loss, this method can be confusing enough for anyone to believe because there are bots that works this way and they are not scam but I personally don't like connecting my wallet to anything, if the bot can do it by itself I can do it too because I am human and we created those bots.

A friend sent me a bot with full information that's similar to your story too, he is someone I trusted but since doing this isn't my way I pretend as if I've used the bot, things started looking suspiciously when he started asking if I've used the bot at all, I had to tell him that I don't need it anymore since I found another.

I lied to safe myself because the idea don't sit well with me, it's something I hate to do, next time try to use a separate wallet for such testing, make sure the wallet have small usdt that won't be painful if you lose it instead of connecting your main wallet.

The fact that they are asking you to connect your wallet, that’s already a big sign for you to be noticed. They are clearly after your money, but since you are not that cautious enough, you end up falling on their trap. The key here is never easily trust anyone especially when bitcoin is concerned. Scammers have their own mask, but if you’re well educated, you will see their true colors, and unveil their mask.

This was a big mistake on your part. It is well known that Bitcoin investment and the use of a wallet are private, and if they are exposed to a third party, human or bot, they can be accessed. No matter the crypto group or platform you find yourself in, Bitcoin investment and the seed phrase of your wallet are meant to be private. Many people have fallen victim to scams just looking for a shortcut on how to trade, and scammers have always used the means of assisting traders to scam people. The first step in trading is learning, and this is something that needs to be done well to gain knowledge.

Trading and investing are personal, and it will be very risky to involve someone else for assistance; if one is not ready to take charge and responsibility, there is no need to get into it.

Sorry your loss and it believe is a lesson well learnt. However, why it was not entirely your fault because in my observations there is an existence of such bot and while you were not able able to differentiate the food and the fake one they took you unaware, honestly the high rate of scamming is becoming alarming that everyone should increase their sense of security and always be watchful be scamming will never end so far life exists, one thing is to own an asset and the other thing is security, I feel your pains but you don't have take for too long there is much that you can achieve rather than dwelling on your past mistakes which of course will be an eye opener.

Sorry you had to learn the hard way. The crypto space is like a battlefield filled with landmines and for you to survive or make it through, you need to be careful, if not you might step on mines. The mistake you made was jumping at the opportunity that the bot was FREE, not knowing it has been laced with a drainer. I don't know where you found the group but anytime you see users commenting in a funny way how they make money using a service or platform, just RUN. They're fake and their target is to lure unsuspecting users, and I'm guessing that was how you took the bait.

Here's a similar story like yours and I hope someone learns: https://www.reddit.com/r/Crypto_com/s/6Auh3vKYal

I'm the 11th member to say sorry, I'd rather use thank you for sharing. Their technique is not questionable for freshers, it made the bot appear easy to access. You have helped thousands of readers to learn from your mistake, a good deed that not too many people would do while lamenting on the sad experience.

That's not a new thing as this has been going on in the industry for quite a long time. It's a good thing you came here to alert those who mightn't know about them but I doubt if people don't know about all this. What I feel is that we get ignorant and doubt if it's scam that we're encountering when we're the targets. The market is open to everybody that wants to make a profit through trading or investing so you don't have to believe on someone making the money for you. When people approach you with this offers, just know they're scammers and they have nothing good to offer than to scam you. The sad thing after this whole situation is that, we're still going to get those that'll be prey even after reading this thread.

For your information, I want to say that the sniper bots you are talking about are not always free. Yes, there are some free bots, but they are not very pleasant. You will see that they are very slow or your fees are high.

And no matter how early you want to buy a token, you will need alpha news to buy that token. Which not everyone gets. For that you will have to spend money or build your good network in the crypto space. And remember, it is bitter to hear but true that no one online will give you a penny

Ignorance is the cause of this because you should have make your own findings about such sniping bot to no weather there are traders also making use of it, they actually deceived you from the free usage of the sniping bot because you thought it will just be generating money for you without having to spend anything, there is no free thing in cryptocurrency so whatever way they manufacture any information for you to invest don't listen to them, secondly I will advise you to leave that particular wallet they collected the $200 because is been compromise and you don't no if they still have there way to that wallet, don't feel humiliated but have it as something that have taught you what people can do.

I believe this will help a lot of newbies, and I hope the newbies reading this will also understand that there's no shortcut the riches in crypto, and everything that seems to be like that is always a scam.
Second, the best way to thrive in every ecosystem is to go for the hardest aspect of it, not running away from it, because there are always fewer competitors there.
Third, no matter how good the thing people tell you about something, if the person is your relative, as crypto is concerned, always DYOR first before diving into it.
Lastly, whenever you grant any platform you can't trust with your fund access to your wallet, which is what you did when you connected your crypto wallet with the bot.

It's sad you got scammed of your $200 while trying to connect your crypto wallet to an unknown bot or an app. Because in scenarios like this, the best type of wallet you ought to have used is an empty and brand new crypto wallet, and not a wallet where you still holds your crypto assets. And the truth of the fact is that these scammers are stopping anytime soon, because knowing fully well how there are a lot of people out there looking for ways to assist them spot new cryptocurrency before their prices up. These people will capitalize on this, scamming more and more people, until people are aware that there are no such thing as a bot to help you spot coins that might skyrocket in value.

I feel like stories like this also help to stop scams like this, so I am very happy when someone posts their experience about their mistakes when they were a beginner in crypto, especially in Bitcoin. However, I feel like this is not only for beginners, even a pro or someone who is experienced can become a victim of a scam due to negligence, so this warning is very important to be a reminder for anyone. Regarding the case that happened to you, maybe you can tell us what their community is called, so I think this can also be an important thing to tell to prevent further victims.

The first thing you need to do to help newbies is remove "new to Bitcoin" from the topic title, because what you experienced has nothing to do with Bitcoin.
You have been scammed because you have connected your altcoin wallet to a web3 app/website, orsomething like that.. I don’t see how this has anything to do with bitcoin, tbh!
Anyway, afaik, even if you connect your wallet to one of those web3 websites, they still need your approval to move your funds.. afaik, they can’t make any transaction without your approval. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

You are correct I agree that it is good idea to use new or empty crypto wallet when we are trying out new apps or bots. It is like having safety net for our money.
Unfortunately these kinds of scams will not stop soon. Many people are eager to find new cryptocurrencies that will quickly go up in price. Scammers take advantage of this desire. It is sad truth that these scams will likely keep happening as long as people are looking for easy ways to make money with crypto. Most important thing to remember is to be careful and not trust anything that promises you will definitely make much of money quickly.

The sniping bots are usually used in altcoins does it mean that what stolen from you are altcoins and not bitcoin probably. Cause Im not sure if theres a trading sniping bot for bitcoin, or am I wrong?

Id heard of them before some of them were legit and has token and been listed to cex and as far as I know its not that free if its free its maybe a scam one.

The thing that we can do if we curious with the offer is to create a new wallet that doesn't contain much asset or fund so when something bad happens, we will not be too regretful. Sniping bot is something that may be new to some people but not to others so we must be really careful if we want to join that community.

We can not risk our private wallet containing much asset because they can do many things once we connect our wallet to them. We don't have to join them if we suspicious and leave them away without we think much.

Also be very careful because some crypto sniping tools or bots or related this kind of offers can infect your computer with virus, malware, like sniper bots that stealthily steal data or crypto mining malware. Never install anything.

If a favour from a stranger sounds too good to be true, you should suspect it to be a Greek gift. All you've to do when faced with such a scenario is to look for the loophole. There's always a loophole. Find it. It's hard to find strangers who run charities in cryptos. There must be something they ask for in return, sometimes it's hidden.

When next you find yourself in such a situation and you feel you don't want to let go of that opportunity (because actually that point was where you should've left the group), create a fresh wallet and deposit a minimal amount to test run it. Don't ever use your main wallet with huge funds in it.

Sorry for your loss, anyway. It's the cost you pay for experience. Most of us here have gone through one form of such loss or the other. That's what makes us advise newbies of certain things to avoid from the point of experience.

Newbies are the targeted ones in regards to this kind of incident, they fall cheaply to this things just because they are newbies and some of them do not know that someone could be scammed through such means,  different newbies have got some bad experience in the crypto space but the problem here is learning with this kind of experience, this might be discouraging, I just pity him at this point, the crypto space is just littered with scammers that are already part of the system who understands the way to twist newbies in other to defraud them, they know that it is very difficult for them to do this to old folks, this scammers wouldn't stop at anything until the get those people that'll pay attention to the shit they are saying, just as you've said, it will be nice for newbies to stop being part of any social media group that involves any of these crypto projects to avoid being victim to this ugly situations, it is unfortunate that the newbie involved do not know that his wallet is his personal stuff and there shouldn't be any form of brain washing from anywhere that will make him do otherwise although this was as a result of not being conversant with how things are being done in this space, shit happens and people learn too.

It has nothing much to do with Bitcoin, this is something about bots and crypto wallets, anyways, next time don't ever trust anyone when it comes to your wallet, there is nothing good coming from someone else with your wallet, there is a high chance that they are after your balance.

Bots are dangerous, if they are not built by you they are not completely safe, even if you paid for the bot like premium don't forget that the builder can one day install a malicious update to the bot and make it steal from crypto wallets.

There should be no trust between your own crypto wallet and that of your friends or strangers, believe me, nothing comes for free, if they are there it's because they have a target, your attention, your money or your help, be wise.

There are different tactics for scamming, and that is the reason why we don't need to trust anyone or take quick action unless we properly research something, especially if it is related to money. One thing to note is that looking for quick solutions can lead someone into the hands of scammers.So, I advise others to stop having the mindset of becoming rich quickly, especially in the cryptocurrency industry. Once someone has that kind of mindset, it becomes a trap because they can easily believe anyone offering high returns. Sometimes, even if you sense it might not be legitimate, you may risk it because of the mindset of wanting to become rich quickly.this tactic of scamming you was not new, but you are easily got scammed c because of your desire to make money quickly. I would say that this is what caused you to fall for the scam.sorry op for this lost.

First of all, thanks for sharing your story. For sure, this would help other newbies out there and they will know now what to avoid.

As somebody that saw how the scammers do their thing, I'm always hesitant when it comes to connecting my wallet into whatever it is whether it's a bot or anything. I would always suggest to use a burner account and maybe put a small amount like 1 or 2 dollars just in case. Also, scammers will not notice you that they stole your money. :D Those feelings that you've felt after getting scammed is pretty much normal, but if it's your first time getting scammed then don't worry about it because it's pretty much normal for newbies to get scammed because their knowledge is pretty much limited like you.

What's important right now is you learned from your mistake, and you know what to avoid. Also if you have free time, watch some YouTube videos or read on this forum and in reddit about tips on how to avoid getting scammed. Information are everywhere. It's only a few taps away so better do it. :)

It works quickly and they managed to fool one more person and that is you? Do not be offended because maybe this is a mistake you have ever done and maybe on the other time we can be much more careful. Fraud occurs because someone thinks can multiply money faster and this often happens everywhere because someone who intends to cheat will definitely look for victims who are psychologically more easily influenced.

It is important to have a mindset in the ability to find financial and in this world there is no free something that can make someone achieve wealth. If this concept is applied in life, realistic things will be a reference to start and in the end people find it difficult to deceive us.

Yes most time such stories helps others to avoid falling victim to such scams especially newbies, since this kind of scam is mostly newbies targeted since their lack the basic knowledge on the risk of connecting your wallet to a third-party smart contract, most of the times it happens to those airdrops hunters and bounty hunter's who don't separate their airdrops wallets for the personal portfolio storage wallets.

This is very correct; it's better to avoid clicking on the link completely in order to be safe than to create a new wallet and try to check what's up with the offer they give to you. In some cases, unless the device is completely a different device from the one the person makes use of, which might have his or her data linked to other stuff, malware nowadays is very dangerous. Clicking on a link alone can damage a lot of things without the owner's knowledge.

I think this scam is common amongst bitcoiners,though newbies are more vulnerable because they lack knowledge about the crypto space.Even most veterans that are knowledgeable about this scam do fall victims because of greed,so this piece of information is helpful to all not only to the newbies.My advice to everyone here is to avoid joining any platform that actively participate on "sniping bot" because they literally have nothing to contribute to your Bitcoin journey.Just like what the Op said,he said he found the community pleasant and competent,a scammer would never present his strategies unreal to victims,if it looks unreal it won't draw the attention of people,so it's left for you to detect that the rewards are unimaginable and too good to be true.

Sorry about your loss this could be real warning to everyone hugely to newbies. But if you ask me its your mistake because this scam going on for a long time.

The moment you connect your wallet to any site, you give them full control over your wallet and they can send or withdraw from it. You learned the hard way, The best way is to have your main wallet separate from the wallet you use for trading activities. Trading is a learned skill and takes lots of experience. In other words, no one who really knows what they are doing would agree to help you for free. So the majority of what you would be wary of is accepting free help on the internet Space since most people that offer them are just scammers.

OP, you show the reason for your deception in your post. "The bot was free, the community is competent." How did you conclude the community? Next, "free bot," and therefore, you have nothing to lose? That's where you got caught. Start changing your thinking urgently. Not everything free should be yours. Moreover, you should be stopped by the word "free," since everyone knows that "there is always free cheese only in a mousetrap."

Sorry for your loss but I think you are the cause of what happened to you, although no one is perfect when it comes to Bitcoin and crypto you have to be careful and smart that is why in this forum they always advise to not trust anyone, joining a group where people discuss about crypto is not bad but joining a group where they will advise you to connect your wallet with something you don’t know about is very risky, as a newbie or new person in crypto you have to understand many things about crypto and things you do and things you can’t do.

This has happened to many people before which is why you will see many posts in this forum talking about scammers you can not fall into their trap, I believe now this will serve as an example so that next time you will be smart and you won’t be too greedy and fall into scammers trap, because looking at what happened to you is because you are not smart and you are also greedy.

Sorry about your experience, but looking at your profile, you have spent a little time here to have read about scams and how they operate, so you should not have fallen for them. At first it is not advisable to connect your wallet with assets to any telegram bot be it online or any platform, what you should have done was to create another wallet if you feel that they are genuine and just a little tip to see how it goes before you do any thing but what were you thinking before connecting a fully loaded wallet with asset to a telegram bot which you have no idea who they are.

These are common mistakes made by newbies, and so far, there have been lots of threads created on this platform with respect to scams, which I believe the community learns from because on a daily basis, lots of scams happens with new tactics to get at unsuspecting individuals with little or knowledge on how the scammers operate and the fall victim of such. OP, it's unfortunate you had such an experience, but it is nice you informed the community so that others would know about it and how they operate.

Scammers are never short of words on how to entice people to fall into their traps, they upgrade their tactics every day and it takes observations to detect them so quickly hence it is good to be always posting about scam attempt here so that the community would be regularly update of happenings as it relatesto scammers ar\nd their tricks.

Connecting/linking your wallet and signing the transaction is as if you sent them your seed phrases; by doing so, you granted them full access to steal your wallet and your assets. Many scam bots contain phishing sites designed to steal from people, so you must do the appropriate research, as many scammers are pretending to be experts in this field and using stock photos to appear legitimate.

No one should follow their instructions or be tempted by their promises. Anyone who lacks experience in analyzing new coin projects, their smart contracts, and similar aspects should not invest based on someone’s recommendation. There are already many trending and legitimate coins available in the market.

We fall prey to this scam only when we connect with people in different types of telegroups. There are very few people who give you the right advice and guide you properly and there are more people who are just sitting in the hope that any person who is a beginner, whose mind is completely blank, needs some information and we manipulate him in such a way that he comes from our place and becomes a scam and it becomes easy for the scammers and that poor person who came for his own ease ends up in trouble. So the best solution is that you always seek guidance from those people who are true experts who really know about things, how you can invest, how you can make profit for yourself, how you can improve things. Never trust those people whom you do not know.

Thanks for sharing your experience @op, many people will learn from this and avoid getting involved in anything like this if it eventually comes to them.

I must confess that I have learnt a lot from this forum since I joined. From here, I have learnt that such offer like the one posted by OP right now is an obvious red flag from scammers. Only one person should have access to a person's wallet. If the offer will warrant me to connect my wallet to anything at all, then I should know it is fake.

Through this forum too, I have learnt not to give listening ears to strangers who come to my DM with unsolicited offers, especially offers that are too good to be true. I have tried to protect myself with this information I have. More experiences like this being shared will keep me alert.

Do not trust the people around, they can be reliable at first but will eventually show their true colors and scam you later on. If you are easily trusting, you can fall as a new victim, which I think isn’t new at all since mostly those who fall as victims are beginners or newbies. Let your bad story bring you a huge lesson, that will be your motivation never to fall victim again.

And as a reminder, your wallet should gain the most protection. Do not just give access or disclose it, otherwise whatever inside your wallet will be lost everything and won’t have chances to recover them again.