Bitcoin Forum

I just want to tell you that screenshot can be fake from using any kind of editing software, but there is a kind of editing method which is scary for the newbie to see. that's what I'm gonna let you see. I'm talking about the HTML editor. somehow you can edit the HTML of a site to make it look likes real but it's not, the only thing you can edit is the site offline data that your browser downloaded, but not the main server of the site so anything you changed to the site is not saved by the server and it will return to normal once you reload it.

But the problem is the screenshot can be made for scamming people, I want you to be aware of this kind of fraud. 

Like for Example:

this is my real balance before editing:

https://i.imgur.com/IsRIN7b.jpg

and it became like this after editing:

https://i.imgur.com/vVtzaoN.jpg

or it could be like this:

Before:

https://i.imgur.com/8Aj7wsY.png

After:

https://i.imgur.com/7UeYV0O.png


These screenshots can be used to scam newbies who don't know about this thing, I thought about posting this so they can be aware if someone sent them a screenshot like this. for all those people who don't know this kind of thing exists, please beware of screenshots that you received from unknown people. at least now you have an idea that it can be edited.

Well, there are 2 ways to edit this things, the first one is to take the screenshot and then with an image edition program we can change the number and the words, but the second option is to open the web console, the select the item we want to change and then select the item and change the value.  After that, we can take the screenshot with the new value.

And getting back to the topic, i don't really see the risk about this, because no one believes in a screenshot nowadays. But thanks for the warning.

It would be interesting if someone came forward with a real life testimonial on how a change in the data on a screenshot led them to be scammed at some point, specifically in the cryptosphere. I think all warnings, and the forum is full of them, would be nicely complemented by real cases of "I fell for it".

The first way is quite easy to detect even using online photoshop detection tools but HTML editing can be believable especially to a newbie.

People who are not so technically gifted or newbies can easily be fooled and possibly tricked into joining scams

I almost have but the scam wasn't successful due to an intervention by a friend. In my country at the very start of the bitcoin hype almost all transaction were done through Peer2peer trade so we leverage the social media platforms for this. I was interested in buying bitcoin so I joined a Facebook group (that was around late 2016) after some discussion with the scammer via DM (as of then i didn't know he was trying to scam me), I requested we should meet physically but he gave an excuse, he doesn't meet stranger especially when it's bitcoin related. I then requested for a screenshot with current time and date to prove he had that amount I was interested in buying. He did sent me the screenshot which appeared very legit to me but luckily a friend who had some knowledge in graphics design, editing of pictures etc was present so I asked for his opinion and one look at the picture he concluded it waa fake (giving a reason that there was some shadow of the edited numbers reflecting) and a second look at the image I notice that too. So that was how I was save and if I can remember clearly it was after that event i registered on my very first cryptocurrency exchange.

Back to topic, No doubt this type of scam still do exist and majority of their targets are always (Crypto newbie) especially in telegram ICOs groups. Great job OP for bringing this issue up.

I received many invites before to put money on their project and promise to give me a higher return, they speak convincingly and talk professionally. Coins.ph are very common on this kind of scheme, so everyone who are using coins.ph should be aware on this kind of scam.

We should not believe to any easy money, especially to someone who really don't know. Cryptoinvestments are prone to this, so beware everyone!

The Philippine bitcoin social media groups is definitely one of the biggest users of this false advertisement. You see a lot of posts like "look what I've earned from investing in this MLM site!", a long with a screenshot of their bitcoin wallet having a decent amount of BTC. Obviously pure BS. Though I barely see posts complaining that they got scammed by this method, I think it's quite common. Instead of stopping after they get scammed, they instead spread their referral code to make back the money from other victims. It's a chain of BS.

Because no one likes to confess that he/she made a huge mistake and fell for obvious scams due to greed, good faith or whatever.
That those guys start trying to scam other people in return is a complete disgrace. How do you deal with them? Do they eg. get red flagged?

Most use secondary Facebook accounts. Though you can report them and potentially get their Facebook accounts banned, they can simply make another one. My solution? Simply leave those groups.

Well done for sharing that. Maybe someone didn't know about it. I always treat with distrust any opportunities quickly and to earn a lot of money. This is 99% deception and cunning to get rich at the expense of inexperienced cryptocurrency users. And posting these fake screenshots is one way to build trust.

If it is about bitcoin then you can ask for the signed message from the wallet and verify the balance in block explorer.  Images can be doctored easily so they should not be taken as solid proof.

No one do image this days because they are 80% doctor screenshots as evidence have been used by so many scammers that scam greedy people and me in particular I don't take screenshots as a poof of any thing. We all have to be wise and try stay away from being scam.

Like you said there are 80% doctored screenshots to use as evidence out there, but let me tell you this there might be some newbies here in this forum who doesn't know about this thing until know, maybe 20% of them still ignorant about it, just a guess but it could be right though. that's why I came about this Idea to post it here to make them aware of this kind of strategy.

I think that someone got scammed in this way by editing the screenshot using editing software like Adobe Photoshop or by using web console or opening the page source but of course when using console is not real but fake. Opening website's page source can help masking your balance.

SCAM develops over time, in the past, it was done by editing screenshots and is currently being sent by (outdated/not burn) token. ----> SCAM ALERT!!! Lost 0.08 BTC [Please stay safe] (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4773983.msg43114643#msg43114643)
So the golden rule, if you do not know how cryptos work, do not invest until you learn.
The same is for editing some signatures (addresses signatures) or using old signatures (something like providing old signature with Hello I’m yazher .)

That's why I don't personally believe screenshots until I see the document/page for myself with how stupidly easy it is to alter and tamper screenshots nowadays. Usually, the target of these schemes and tricks are unknowing newbies who are stupid and greedy enough to believe other people. Take for example, the bitconnect victims who never really examined things and went ahead and poured their money to things they don't understand.

I believe it is for this reason that sites asking subscribers for KYC verification now ask them to take a selfie holding a paper with date and company name written on it. That selfie validates the authenticity of the submitted documents.

Once, I had a glitch after checking my Dogecoin balance on my Freewallet and then had to check my Bitcoin on the same app at once. Surprisingly, the app showed my Doge balance as my Bitcoin balance. I almost had a heart attack because that was really huge. It happened almost two years ago and I started imagining what I could do with all that cash. It was in thousands of Bitcoin. Then I refreshed the app, and sadly it came back to normal. Now, imagine a fraudulent mind having that glitch and what he could've done screenshot and then sold the idea that he had so much Bitcoin in that wallet without even editing it. Till date, I still can't say what really happened that day.

Well I can to discover this scam trick from a scammer that wanted to sell games prediction on line. He goes about altering the results of games to gain trust.
Well there are few things that can not be altered so to be safe is not to trust everything

I've seen a lot of these on Facebook. They do this to attract people and of course when asked how, they are going to give their referral link/code -> say that they need to be ID verified to receive the bonus and will teach more ways to earn more -> and abandon the referrals after. They won't really teach how to get that amount they are showing in the screenshot, well that's because it was fake.

Unfortunately, if coins.ph was used, there's no way to verify the money inside the account. So, just don't trust if the amount is too good to be true and think that if it were you, would you post it? Because I personally won't post my earnings in public. I know there are still honest people that want to get referrals, but not faking anything, but sometimes seeing someone post a big amount saying like "earn +++, ask me how" is a bit fishy to me.

The only way to be safe from this screenshot scam and the only to verify is through online verification and that can be through kyc and with time even the kyc can also be used to scam others because scammers may use another person identity documents to pass through.

Screenshots should not be considered proof of anything and I'm particularly concerned about how online exchanges are accepting photographs of identification when they can easily be altered. By law I think physical copies should be obtained or at the very least video evidence. At least video evidence is harder to edit and get everything working properly whereas screenshots and especially screenshots of forums and websites is easily editable via the source of the page. There's no technical skills in editing because its already built into everyones browser with the inspect element function.