I was making a list for my team on how to stay away from Crypto scammers, and thought I would just share it here as well.

Here are the type of Crypto scammers that I have encountered

Type 1. ICO as a SCAM - (More info contributed by: tosindesign)
There are ICOs that are only designed to get your money. Once the ICO is over then the pages are taken off the net and the makers of the ICO disappear with the money. The last case we reported was LoopX, but this is not the only case.

How can you protect yourself?
1. (by: tosindesign) Generally there is no 100% protection here. A good indication for a scam is there is no team mentioned on the website or whitepaper. Although everything is very superficial and promised a lot, but after reading the white paper is not clear how that should be possible.
2. (by: GeckoTrader) One of the best things to do to avoid ICO scamming is to learn and back read all information about that ICO. As they always say " More knowledge is power"
3. (by: GeckoTrader) The team should have been communicating to the community.
4. (by: GeckoTrader) Always they should have an update from their company. If you sense something fishy do not hesitate to ask question from them. In that means you can confirm whether they are legit or just a bunch of scammers.

Type 2. Scammers who sell FAKE COINS (name / coin code is same but coin generating contract is different)
How to protect yourself: Check the contract address of these coins, if it came from the same contract address

Type 3. Social media scammers - Would post like "I will send you 50 ETH if you send me 5"
How to protect yourself: This is an easy one, they all are scammers. Dont even respond.

Type 4: Identity theft scammers - These guys will contact you as CEOs of ICOs or Social celebrities, usually banking upon the names of a famous person
How to protect yourself: Try pinging them from an another ID of theirs (say if scammer pinged you from Telegram, drop them a message over their facebook ID) and ask them to check that message. This would work as a Two-Factor-Authentication for that personality.

Type 5: Malicious code Trojans - Like Wordpress or Chrome plugins, that would use your machine to mine for crypto currencies, using your machine for the same
How to protect yourself: Try not to do plugins or replace them with cloud powered services, OR, Install only trusted plugins, with loads of reviews maybe. I wont be surprised if these trojans take shape of free downloadable games or cracked softwares downloadable for desktop or your mobile.

Type 6: Online Seed Generators (contributed by: tosindesign)
For some wallets (eg the IOTA Wallet) you have to set your own seed. In the case of IOTA, this is an 81-digit password that must consist of uppercase letters and at least one 9. Since some did not want to generate a password themselves, they resorted to online seed generators. These generate you by mouse click an 81-digit seed. However, as it turns out later, a few of these seed generators also stored the generated passwords, The stored seeds were then later used to steal the assets of the investors concerned. You have to know that the seed is something like the master key that allows all credits to be transferred. A thief does not even have to have access to your computer on which the wallet is installed. The seed is enough to access your balance on another computer.

How can you protect yourself?
Never use an online seed generator! When generating an 81-digit seed, all you have to do is push 81 random keys on your keyboard.

Type 7: Phishing website attempts (contributed by: tosindesign)
Scammers would copy exact replica of the websites (wallets, exchanges) and try to get you to login, thereby recording you password. For example, the page Blockchain.info was copied to get the logins. You have to know that Blockchain.info also offers a wallet service where Wallet could save your bitcoins. If Google users searched for “Blockchain info” in some countries, they ran a Google ad that led to Blockchaina.info, a cheat site that has nothing to do with Blockchain.info. The site was a 1: 1 copy of Blockchain.info and was only designed to get login information from users. There are also similar attempts to MyEtherwallet.com and other sites.

How can you protect yourself?
Never click anywhere on a link to a page where you want to log in. The best way is to bookmark the pages and just go over the web pages. In addition, you should always look for the SSL encryption. There will not be a page that stores important data from you and is located at http: //. All pages should now be encrypted SSL and have a https: // domain (although the pages can also be accessed at http: // they will redirect to https: //). The SSL certificates will also show you every browser, for example by a small lock symbol.


Type 9: Used Ledger Nano (contributed by: tosindesign)
At ebay and in other marketplaces there are always offers to buy the Ledger Nano a bit cheaper. This is particularly interesting now, where the Ledger Nano S is sold out and will be available again in one month. There have been cases in the past when users bought a used ledger on ebay and the seed from the ledger was already filled out. Anyone who has not owned a ledger to date will hardly register the difference. Of course, the previous owners have also noted the seed in these cases, which then allows them to get access to the crypto currencies that the new owner stores on the Ledger Nano S.  

How can you protect yourself?
If you want to use a hardware wallet like the Ledger Nano S, buy it directly from the manufacturer and make sure that it is still original packed. The enclosed note on which you can write down the seed should never be filled.

Type 10: Airdrops that ask for personal information (contributed by: StarKay)
There are hyped up airdrops that may ask for KYC information, that may end up being used by scammers / hackers.

How to protect yourself:
Think of your personal information as an investment as well. Research who you are giving your information to and why that ICO will need it

Type 11: Identity theft via Social Media - (contributed by: darkangel11)
You have to realize what they want from you. In the end it's always your money, while in the process they may want some personal data, a phone number, whatever they can get into.

How to protect yourself: Never willingly give anything. Don't share your real social media accounts with random people, keep your email addresses to yourself and if you have to use them make sure to have burner emails. What are burners? Not necessarily emails created for every forum and project. Just emails that don't contain your personal data and that you're not using for online shopping, banking and so on.

Please add more below, or share your story.

People here have claimed that Bitcoin is in fact controlled and ruled by China, as mining is centralized by Chinese mining institutions.

Do you think that China is controlling/ruling bitcoin yes or no?

I've just visit Philippines to have an vacation. I glad to know that Philippines accepting Bitcoin as payments, like Mr. D’s Artisanal Sundries i buy prepared smoked and cured meats, such as bacon or corned beef and i pay BTC it's so very nice that Philippines is belong to the Cryptoworld  

From the moment I start with bitcoin, I already know some exchange has been hacked the latest now is the Coinrail and Bithumb in Korea why a trading platform like this did not put an extra security measure?

https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/19/korean-crypto-exchange-bithumb-says-it-lost-over-30m-following-a-hack/

Is there a way to determine the number of people who are actually using Bitcoin till date? Who would have access to such information? Meaning a way to find out, how many new people have used Bitcoin in 2016 , so that we can say exponential growth is natural not artificially created by hoarders.

Bitcoin is a baby in a big world!
Bitcoin is not as big as people think!

We are excited to erect a Bitcoin billboard for the FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Please visit the blog for information.

https://therubymist.wordpress.com/2018/06/03/bitcoin-billboard-at-fifa-world-cup

Besides contributing, you can also help by sharing the blog on websites and social media. If there are other ways you would like to help, send an email to rubymist2009@protonmail.com

The blog is updated with more information. We will be posting further updates and interview with fans at world cup asking about Bitcoin!

As the popularity and value of Bitcoin increases so do its adoption. Recently, about 4,000 new ATMs were introduced in Argentina. A drastic transformation in this sphere is being brought by Tangem that is trying to make the cash like transaction through cryptocurrencies a possibility for the users.

Tagem, a new smart banknote platform is launching the bitcoin banknotes in Singapore, which is known for its blockchain and crypto favorable regulatory measures. The notes will be on sale at the Megafash Suntec City store. The aim is to mass produce the physical notes of bitcoin in millions by the end of 2018.

Continue reading: https://coingape.com/bitcoin-banknotes-ready-to-replace-traditional-currency/

the huge amounts of new ICOS that arise every month could be hurting the price of bitcoin? you who think about the ICO?

I hope during world cup football the price of bitcoin will increase. It has been started, but I see no effect. It is a big event of the world. Does it not bring any value to bitcoin.

Large groups of well paid, organized, funded professionals with clear objectives and good management - (like R3, hyperledger, ethereum, others) are sure making those Core programmers look like the silly little whiny bitches that they are.  Core is going NOWHERE and getting there pretty damn fast.  Meanwhile, very sophisticated advance is being done every day in other part of crypto/blockchain.  

This is 100% the end of bitcoin as we know it.  Good thing too.  This 'open source', 'no leadership', 'no organization' thing was always a load of bullshit.

One of the reasons governments point out for not legalizing bitcoin is the fact that is prone to scam and not regulated. The  government will want to protect his citizens from anything not regulated and anything that's likely to be defraud from. You will agree with me that that's alot of scam activities going on with bitcoin, there alot of news going on with bitcoin scams everyday which the authorities are always aware of.
All these continue to happens, the government will still have reasons why they will not approve and legalize bitcoin. As they will always talk about the disadvantages aspect of cryptocurrency and neglect the greater benefits cryptocurrency brings.