Bitcoin Rising, Scams Rising

[CryptoBry]

With the continuing trend of an upward Bitcoin price, we should be expecting more and more incentives for scammers, hackers, phishers and similar people to be trying their best luring people out of their hard-earned money by promising them returns of investment with sky-is-the-limit proportions. And with new people coming in to the world of cryptocurrency, there can be many who can easily fall victims to different schemes leaving participants with empty bags later and some blaming Bitcoin for their predicaments. Newbies and even veterans alike should be careful at all times and always remember that if something is too good to be true then most probably it is...

It is sad that for people in the media any scam that uses Bitcoin as the medium of exchange or currency is labeled as Bitcoin scam but when a scam is using the fiat money it is not in anyway called as the Dollar scam.

Have you been a victim of an elaborate cryptocurrency-related scam that cost you some money? Please share some details here so we can all learn from each other's mistakes...

[Ronaldcoin2017]

Well that was really already been expected, that when tge bitcoin rise scammers will also increase, maybe bitcoin is the most amazing coin that can really give us a huge amount of profit and scammers know that the people will really trust bitcoin that is why they use bitcoin to SCAM other so that they can get easy money, that is why we need to be more careful on it.

[Ailmand]

This is not something new, since bitcoin was created it had been a way for some scammers to get people's hard earned money. Cryptocurrency is their best resort due to it's decentralization and anonymity. With it, they can easily steal and escape without even getting their real identity disclosed. As long as you know how to secure your funds and what to avoid in crypto for you not to be scammed, there's not much to worry. Just stay safe everytime.

[Haunebu]

1.2 million pounds? Wow. Absolute insanity. Greed got him. Some people are never satisfied and they expect the golden goose to continue providing them golden eggs. I would have happily retired with that kind of money.

An 18 month con proved to be worth it and the thieves must be having a blast. People need to learn from these scams instead of repeating the same mistakes again and again.

[YuginKadoya]

This is very common when we are in a bull market, Right now that the spike towards upward is very visible and this kind of things is really relevant there are certain people that are drawn towards the expanding price of Bitcoin, We can not stop them from doing so but we can certainly prevent it if we help one another in reporting suspicious things and telling the community about their illegal scheme or giving the authority possible modus you may know.

[mk4]

Scams have existed since the birth of the internet, even before it. I don't really expect scams to go away regardless of the market situation, but yea, in bullish times, scams tend to be more numerous and spread out due to the number of inexperienced investors going into the cryptocurrency markets. Keep your eyes peeled at all times, regardless of the price of bitcoin.

[Experia]

that is a major problem that the crypto industry are facing now, it is not about the bitcoin it is now about the people who was using this kind of industry in their own benefits, if the government can still had nothing to do with it then it might really affect the image over the years .

[Pursuer]

increase in bitcoin price and increase in number of scams has very little to do with the value increase and "incentive" that it creates in my opinion. the only reason why the number of scams is rising is because there is an increase in the number of newcomers and that means a lot of new people who are entering an entirely new world that they don't fully understand either. many of them lack security or skills to learn security measures or they may even be too lazy to do it. the result is an increased number of easy targets which leads to more scammers being attracted and more scams happening as the result.

[gabbie2010]

that is a major problem that the crypto industry are facing now, it is not about the bitcoin it is now about the people who was using this kind of industry in their own benefits, if the government can still had nothing to do with it then it might really affect the image over the years .

It is an issue that must be quashed once and for all else it will continue to paint the crypto industry in a bad light thus tarnishing it's image.
Already many countries had taken a negative stance on cryptos with this latest development regarding reoccurring scams will enable those government not to renege it's stance by placing total ban or embargo to the detriment of already teeming crypto enthusiast.

[Artemis3]

Scams have existed since the birth of the internet, even before it. I don't really expect scams to go away regardless of the market situation, but yea, in bullish times, scams tend to be more numerous and spread out due to the number of inexperienced investors going into the cryptocurrency markets. Keep your eyes peeled at all times, regardless of the price of bitcoin.

Well we can always recall that infamous Italian family name everyone seems to be familiar with: Charles Ponzi

He made a fortune by exploiting a flaw in the postal service, back in 1919...

In January 1920, Ponzi started his own company, the "Securities Exchange Company," to promote the scheme. In the first month, 18 people invested in his company with a total of $1800. He paid them promptly for the very next month, with the money obtained from the newer set of investors. He set up a larger office, this time in the Niles Building on School Street. Word spread, and investments came in at an ever-increasing rate. Ponzi hired agents and paid them generous commissions for every dollar they brought in. In just one month's time, between February and March, 1920, the total amount invested had risen from $5,000 to $25,000 ($62,000 to $309,000 in 2017 Dollars, respectively). As the frenzy began building, Ponzi hired agents to seek out new investors in New England and New Jersey. At that time, investors were being paid impressive rates, which subsequently encouraged others to invest. By May 1920, he had made $420,000 (~$5 million in 2017 Dollars). By June 1920, people had invested $2.5 million in Ponzi's scheme (almost $30 million in 2017). By July, he was raking in a million dollars per week and rising. By the end of July, he was approaching a million dollars per day.

He began depositing the money in the Hanover Trust Bank of Boston (a small bank on Hanover Street in the mostly Italian North End), in the hope that once his account was large enough he could impose his will on the bank or even be made its president; he bought a controlling interest in the bank through himself and several friends after depositing $3 million. By July 1920, he had made millions. People were mortgaging their homes and investing their life savings. Most did not take their profits, but reinvested. Ponzi's company meanwhile had set up branches from Maine to New Jersey.

Even though Ponzi's company was bringing in fantastic sums of money each day, the simplest financial analysis would have shown that the operation was running at a large loss. As long as money kept flowing in, existing investors could be paid with the new money. This was the only method Ponzi had to continue providing returns to existing investors, as he made no effort to generate legitimate profits.

In the end, it works as long as the money keeps flowing, whatever the means... Until it becomes large enough that the amount of incoming money cannot keep with the size of the operation.

He wasn't probably the first one, but its one of the first properly explained which is why some people tend to call all schemes "Ponzi" (I can only lament on the poor Italians born under that family name).

I clearly remember people claiming Bitcoin was one such scheme, back in the beginning... Took about 10 years to shut them off.

[BitcoinHodler]

money always attracts all kinds of people and bitcoin ( the new money) is growing and that growth is not just among regular users, it also grows everywhere else and attracts a lot of scammers. and when these scumbags enter the market and see how easily they can make money by scamming a bunch of newbies, their numbers grow more and more every day. so in a way we are responsible because we allowed many of these scam methods to thrive, like ICOs for example. if we (as a decentralized community) banned ICOs from day one we would have never seen so much scams.
it will be repeated too, unless the community matures enough to be able to recognize these scammers right away.

[Odette]

that is a major problem that the crypto industry are facing now, it is not about the bitcoin it is now about the people who was using this kind of industry in their own benefits, if the government can still had nothing to do with it then it might really affect the image over the years .

I agree this kind of issue really affects Bitcoin entirely which make most of the people believe that bitcoin is just a scam we should be more careful since Bitcoin is now rising again, scammers are now thinking how they can fool people once more, take everyone here as a stranger we perform everything here anonymous pertaining that we shouldn't trust each other also for our own selves and remember that there is no easy money thing everything here takes a lot of hardwork and determination.

[drumamat]

Regardless of whether bitcoin is growing or not there are a lot of scammers.Especially a lot of them where the money is spinning.And there is a lot of money in cryptocurrency.In the telegram I'm just tired of seeing messages from different scammers.They literally write every day.Therefore need to be vigilant always.

[dothebeats]

It's not only the scammers but also the number of greedy and gullible people believing anything regarding false promises and exponential gains in just a few days/weeks. I guess it's pretty normal for any financial-related ecosystem to be plagued by scammers, and even in fiat you'll see numerous scams and con artists lingering around, no matter how hard and aggressive regulations are and how strict rules can be.

[Mr.Ease]

I don't know about you... But ever since I got involved in Bitcoin

I have become Paranoid 

I don't trust many people and my saying is this: "Everything is a Scam until proven Otherwise"

[romero121]

As bitcoin price keeps rising doesn't cause any increase with the scams. Whenever price increases automatically more and more common people will get to know about existence of such a asset. Scams were common with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, it is our responsibility to stay away from them though it is hard to find a scam as they're just resembling similar to legitimate services.

[peter0425]

Well I've been a victim of a scam when I was still a newbie in crypto years ago so I too became paranoid not to trust anyone. Maybe greed is one factor as well that's why many people are being scammed. They believed this too good to be true offer and then later bitch around when they found out that they have been scammed.

[xWolfx]

Regardless of whether bitcoin is growing or not there are a lot of scammers.Especially a lot of them where the money is spinning.And there is a lot of money in cryptocurrency.In the telegram I'm just tired of seeing messages from different scammers.They literally write every day.Therefore need to be vigilant always.

Yeah this is exactly what i was thinking, there will always be while they can get profit out of it. Of course it's truth that the higher the price the more people that is drawn towards here and those are more possible victims and for that reason more will move and come here to try to get some easy money.

Have to be really careful on who to trust in this life sadly.

[Shenzou]

Well that is the nature of the world we live in, whenever there are is a trend or something that involves money, there will always be people who are trying to take it the easy way, and when it comes to bitcoin it provides the perfect target for that because it is anonymous so they can steal the money and not be traced, but at this point the people who are involved with cryptocurrency have seen a lot of these scams, that they know a scam when they see it, but scammers just come up with more and more intelligent ways to an easy way for money.

[traderethereum]

Well, if I look back in a few years ago, I think I've been a victim too like some members, and I guess I lost some money because of someone scams me.
I agree with the title which said bitcoin rising, scams rising because many people want to make a short time profit and they will do everything to get that profit, and suddenly, they are trap in the scamming model, and they are losing their money.
Scams do not happen in real life but also happen on the internet so there is nothing we can do except to be careful to make a decision.
Always research before you decide to invest in any programs because the scam is everywhere.