Bitcoin Forum

Seems bitcoin on up trend mode and on the other hand scammers/hackers are waking up. Just few days back we have noticed about binance hacked. (https://www.ccn.com/binance-7000-bitcoin-ceo-reveals-new-details-hack) I am suspecting more hackers and scammer will wake up since bitcoin is on up trend. Especially ponzi scheme, hyip & fake ICO. Perhaps scammers and hacker would use this up trend as weapon of scam.

So we need to be more careful about current scam. Scammers are more smarter from us, so we have to think more. 

We have to be vigilant at all times, update those passwords, if by chance provide some 2FA as that will strengthen security over your accounts, also let it be a habit to use hardware wallets over your crypto coins and tokens. Be alert also of clicking those links as some of it are just scheme for phishing.

Anyone still engaging in crowdfunding through ICO when 99% of them have failed? maybe we should pay more attention to scam from IEO as I have notice too many unfamiliar exchange offering their platform for IEO and scammers will like to explore that means for scamming since it's new and alot of hype is still following around this crowdfunding trend.

The watch word is to be vigilante because with every market increase comes intense pressure from scammers and hacker to displace the community members of they found, ICO have thought a lot of us lessons and one need to be careful with the new trend IEO because scammers will still try to manipulate they way on that again.

Unfortunately, many people buy bitcoin looking for easy and fast money. This is  the perfect situation for scammers.
These people are vulnerable because what they want is risky, and the ecosystem is too complex.

When bitcoin Price's goes up like this (from 3200 to 6800 , more than 100%) more people look for bitcoin. So more scammers show up.

The increase in price of BTC always creates great interest in public, but still real FOMO (Fear of missing out) is usually created when price is reach $10 000. Then there are usually a lot more people who for the first time invest in bitcoin, and how some of them actually know very little or almost nothing about crypto, they become perfect targets.

One old method which is very popular among scammers is to sell watch-only wallet, actually wallet that is hold only coin address/es or public key. One who does not know the difference between coin address and private key should not invest in bitcoin.

Another very popular way scammers use to trick people is posting on social networks something like this : "Send 0.01 BTC to this address and you will get back 0.10 BTC back". Similar to that is when user win some coins, and for withdraw he needs to deposit coins. Stay away from this, and never send coins to anyone, this is easy money for scammers.

Third method is phishing via e-mail, and in some cases hackers can target individual user with which they have already established contact on Telegram, Discord or Twitter. Never log-in to your account by using links you get in e-mail from crypto exchange, you will lost all coins you have on exchange.

To be fair, hackers that are trying to break the security of exchanges are always present and trying regardless of bitcoin price. but yea, in the next bubble, expect a lot more new pump and dump coins and tokens to appear out of nowhere; probably a lot more compared to the number of scams in the bull market of 2017.

Lately it does seem to have picked up traction, which is logical due to Crypto Newbies being drawn-in by the positive new. Those are the easiest prey, and the more that come, the easier it is for scammers to get someone on the tip of their bated hook.

Just yesterday, there was an account spreading the link to a fake Telegram MEW, and today I’m reading about a case that seems implied in creating a cloned fake Ann thread, and changing the wallet links enclosed in order to point to a fake wallet.

Concerning 2FA, that is one great gap in the Binance hack that need to be filled in, since allegedly the 2FA was bypassed to some extent in the event (be it through achieving a set of Binance backup codes or whatnot). 2FA is a very important security feature from a transversal point of view, and whatever happened on Binance should be made clear for all.

Yeah the correlation works in many ways. Bitcoin up, Websearches about Bitcoin up, Scammers up (probably because money inflow is increasing or about to increase), Posts about Bitcoin up, Media talks about Burch up. In a nutshell, when money is coming, no body rests. We just have to be careful as usual!

A lot of these scams happen because people don't apply the same judgement and logic online that they use in their daily lives.
Someone who is not that familiar with computers and online security can become a victim of  phishing, OK I understand that.
But how can someone fall for the oldest trick in the book like Lucius explained?! The one where you send a X amount of Btc/Eth and in return get X10 times that amount.
That is just greed and absolutely no logical thinking whatsoever. 

What I forgot to mention is that some scammers create accounts on social networks pretending to be some celebrities, for example by creating Elon Musk fake accounts. People do not realize that everyone can make account anywhere with any name, and just pretending that it is a real person.

The problem becomes even greater with hacked accounts, they can fool even some more experienced users what was the case with Elon Musk account on Twitter who was hacked last year. Hacker is tweet that he is giving 10 000 BTC in name of Musk, but first you need to send some coins to him.

Twitter: Fake Elon Musk scam spreads after accounts hacked(2018) (https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46097853)

And noobs and victims are waking up also,as they are being targeted by these scammers no wonder in just a weeks lots of complaints in reputation/scam accusations board will come out

Hope that people in crypto now are more vigilant and observant to keep the distance from these bad elements
In every new profiteering for sure new strategy from these scammers and hackers will be created so let us invest in our own risk

when the market is active again, scammers are also more active. It is difficult for us to avoid their tricks if we do not have experience. New people are often the most vulnerable, I will invest in bitcoin and cover the waiting for prices to rise. Perhaps that is the best way to avoid scammers  ;D

That is an expected move from them. Bitcoin have more value today so even a few satoshis worth more so they will come back trying to scam someone for a living

Facebook has also lifted its ban on crypto/blockchain ads, so watch out not to invest in any get rich quick scheme.

Never hand your BTC over to any website claiming they can give you returns while your sitting on your ass at home. Regardless of what it is, cloud mining, trading, or whatever BS they offer. Also never hand your private keys over. Learn how to invest, hodl or trade your self.

BTCBTC

Campaigns or people who ask to send money first, bitcoin or whatever altcoins are highly scam ones. Don't believe such projects, don't believe anyone whom ask you to do this, sending your money first in order to be accepted and receive significant amount of bitcoin / altcoins / money returns. Always keep it in your minds, and maintain healthy money hunting, then you will be safe. Greediness often leads to losses. Scammers always aim at greedy people to do their scams.

Bitcoin hackers have been targetting people each and every day, even when bitcoin prices were down to $3k I got an email saying they have confidential details about me and asked me to pay up however I simply ignored it. Now that prices are rising again we will see ads and mails like send us 0.01 btc and get 0.10 btc in a hour, they’ll even show you fake bitcoin generator so I hope no one falls for it. Another method they will use is by making fake accounts of famous people to lure newbies into their trap, so kindly avoid such clickbait schemes.

Binance really handled it well unlike other exchanges. CPZ was smart when he foreplanned SAFU.

What frightens me most is that more and more of those who are trying to get one Merit to sell them account or participate in campaigns.
In 2017, the number of those visiting increased as the price increased. Now, with the merit system, attempts will be more severe and thus more effort for good members and managers.

Popular platforms have huge profits, so it is their responsibility to pay more for the protection of their customers and reputation.

Can you share a link to this information of Facebook lifting ban on cryptocurrencies ads, because it will be a great news to all the community members, and since Facebook is about to develop it own coin it will be inappropriate to ban the advert of what you are involved in, and Facebook is one platform scammers use to communicate with the potential victims so we have to be more careful.

Recently, the Ann section has seen a couple of fake Ann threads created, that have exactly the same content as the original Ann, but that change the links of the publicized links, swapping them for links that point to fake/scam wallets (see  SCAM - Ulord(UT) FAKE ANN and FAKE Wallet to Spread Malware (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5141275.msg50974721#msg50974721)).

DT members are doing a good job there of detecting, investigating and tagging related accounts, but there is a cast shadow of doubt over whether some of the implied accounts really did perform the alleged action, of whether they were temporarily taken over by hackers, who made the posts in the account’s name, did not change the password, and left the scene seemingly without a trace.

A priori, this seems rather much improbable, but the case is interesting due to various OPs claiming to be completely in the blue as to how those posts got tied to their accounts. The implied accounts are even totally unrelated (i.e. from different countries and using different languages), which makes it a case worth studying incase the allegations are true.

Please don't forget those crypto "experts" or "gurus" that will be coming out on twitter then starting their own paid group to scam newbies.

With our experience last year, I think people are already aware of this.
These scammers will promote a shitty ICO and most likely newbies will be their target.
I think this community is very active in sharing information on how to prevent getting scam, so it's up to us if we will still fall for these scams.

We need to read and study before investing, and OP is right, be careful.