Cryptocurrency fraud and scams

[EmmaTalks]

how they happen and how you need to pay attention to safeguard yourself against them.
The Computer Science saw a different phase when cryptography mechanism was introduced with Bitcoin. With this big of a change, threats of fraud increased, to safeguard from these malicious activity is extremely important. Startups without blockchain should not be trusted at all. Before committing to any company, their credentials should be reviewed.
There are many fake ICOs that can scam people easily. The best way is to do research before being affiliated to that exchange. Another way is to send an email and ask about the exchange to be cautious. Phishing is another way to scam people, by asking their details and asking them to invest their Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. Fake Airdrops and Punycode are most common tricks.
There are many unregulated brokers that can lure clients in lower prices and trading products and fast returns. So, one needs to be vigilant. The automated trading systems are not scams but  they will take any opportunity to earn profits. Exchanges will charge an unfair amount to withdraw, the best way to avoid is to already be aware of exchanges price differences.
Fake emails look so authentic but at the end they are still fake. Check every bit of information before acting upon it. Many companies copy and paste some other company’s whitepaper, rather than having an original idea of their own.
Most exchanges use fake information for their team members. To be careful one must look for incomplete or inconsistent information and odd details.Inconsistent texts or details on any part of the website is also a red flag. One should read and proofread to be sure.
People should run scans to look for any Bitcoin miner or bot in the system. Companies will do anything for money, to ensure safety and security right websites should be used. There is a lot of responsibility one needs to practice in order to be careful.

[btc_love]

Actually, what is the message of this topic? Exercise caution? I think that in this forum people know exactly what to do in order to protect themselves.

[Mulann2]

yeah very important for people to identify all this fake project and scam platform, most platform that will encourage people to invest for the sake of helping them to do trading are not always genuine, good thing that i don't pay attention to such platform, it is best to stay away from them,
if you don't trust any new project enough to invest, then buy already existing coin in the market, we have enough good ones out there to chose from, cmc can also help in that aspect.

[crwth]

Imagine seeing this so-called Project Covid-19 Crypto Coin

Do you think it's legitimate? Would you still invest in these types of projects?

[YuginKadoya]

Caution is most important and if you don't have any kind of idea and information about something then it is better to stay away from it because of these individuals they surely know what they are doing, prevention is still better in this kind of situation being an individual that doesn't have knowledge with this kind of fraud needs to equip themselves with some information in the past and share what they experience so it will not happen again.

[target]

We have an army of scam busters who are creating accusation threads every time they see scam to be projects. Often times they do have evidences of scam from whitepaper plagiarism to fame team members. There are still new scam these days which they normally look legit but in the end its a scam. Projects like the ones doing IEO on exchanges but after it, they will eventually delist the token.

[kryptqnick]

how they happen and how you need to pay attention to safeguard yourself against them.
The Computer Science saw a different phase when cryptography mechanism was introduced with Bitcoin. With this big of a change, threats of fraud increased, to safeguard from these malicious activity is extremely important. Startups without blockchain should not be trusted at all. Before committing to any company, their credentials should be reviewed.
There are many fake ICOs that can scam people easily. The best way is to do research before being affiliated to that exchange. Another way is to send an email and ask about the exchange to be cautious. Phishing is another way to scam people, by asking their details and asking them to invest their Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. Fake Airdrops and Punycode are most common tricks.
There are many unregulated brokers that can lure clients in lower prices and trading products and fast returns. So, one needs to be vigilant. The automated trading systems are not scams but  they will take any opportunity to earn profits. Exchanges will charge an unfair amount to withdraw, the best way to avoid is to already be aware of exchanges price differences.
Fake emails look so authentic but at the end they are still fake. Check every bit of information before acting upon it. Many companies copy and paste some other company’s whitepaper, rather than having an original idea of their own.
Most exchanges use fake information for their team members. To be careful one must look for incomplete or inconsistent information and odd details.Inconsistent texts or details on any part of the website is also a red flag. One should read and proofread to be sure.
People should run scans to look for any Bitcoin miner or bot in the system. Companies will do anything for money, to ensure safety and security right websites should be used. There is a lot of responsibility one needs to practice in order to be careful.

The examples you described are real and sort of dangerous. But I also think that they are quite famous and easy to spot. The things that are less popular or easy to spot but do exist are the following:
SIM swapping (famous but hard to confront)
QR-code generator scam (hard to confront if you are used to QR-codes)
Malware that changes the address you have copied and pastes a different one that has the first three characters that are the same with the original one (not talked about enough and tricky if you aren't used to checking the pasted address properly).

[Coyster]

Imagine seeing this so-called Project Covid-19 Crypto Coin

If there was no outbreak of corona virus, would this project have ever started, did the idea of this project come in synchrony with this deadly pandemic, all this thoughts is enough to conclude that it's another scam attempt, a very foolish one at that, decentralization in cryptocurrency has made many people come up with the unthinkable.

Would you still invest in these types of projects?

It may sound impossible, but many people still will.

[dothebeats]

Imagine seeing this so-called Project Covid-19 Crypto Coin

Do you think it's legitimate? Would you still invest in these types of projects?

This, perhaps wins the competition for greedy cunts taking advantage of a dire situation that is crippling the whole world right now. This is what's wrong with people nowadays: they'd try to make money off of literally everything and lost their sensitive and humane sides. Projects like this should be ignored, and should they get something out of the pockets of the general public, the ones in-charge should be reported for profiteering and scheming.

Serioualy, though, the whole cryptocurrency scene is plagued with scams and schemes that only loves to take people's money. Exercising caution against these type of projects ensure that you will not be duped by these nefarious beings.

[Gozie51]

Generally speaking, I think research can help but not totally because some scam project can hide things you will never see.
I just believe in some red lights like unsecured website, mistakes here and there on the thread or white paper, alsovif my mind doesn't approve of it.

[Oceat]

Ghad! I hate to read this unappealing kind of paragraph that looks like an article but anyway, since your point is to kinda like secure ourselves of how to avoid such fraud and scams. There are tons of precautionary guide all over the internet you just have to know how to search a common phrase and done. Once you own a cryptocurrency you will need to know about of how you are going to avoid/notice such scams and fraud. By constant research and reading you will know more about of how the cryptocurrency works.

You have the advantage if you have the knowledge.

Think of it that way.

[gundala]

Generally speaking, I think research can help but not totally because some scam project can hide things you will never see.
I just believe in some red lights like unsecured website, mistakes here and there on the thread or white paper, alsovif my mind doesn't approve of it.

I also hate that, sometimes fraudsters so neatly hide their lies. So I prefer to discuss with friends who are more experienced to check the authenticity of the project from the seriousness of web management, team structure, and the project of course. Well, even though the project initially looked promising and attracted market interest, it could have ended the drama, for example, bcnex, it was annoying right? One of the things that we can strengthen is to be prepared to face all risks after making various analysis efforts. Scams target us.

[K4C]

You can lose both cash and money on the card, scammers are everywhere.

Absolutely! In crypto, scammers are everywhere and I have never seen a sector that gas more scammers than crypto industry! Crypto and HYIP have the most scammer ratio, that's why everybody should be aware and earn knowledge on how to detect scammers! Crypto card means fraud or scam, I have seen many projects came with the same crypto cash, card idea, but they all failed or scammed! Pundix FX is doing well though but they have still many issues!

[Jating]

You can also read a good article about corona virus related scams.

National Cyber Security Alliance Encourages Vigilance Against Coronavirus Scams, Best Cybersecurity Practices for Remote Workers

NCSA offers these tips to avoid being a victim of these scams:

- Don’t reveal personal or financial information in an email, and do not respond to email solicitations for this information. This includes following links sent in email.

- Pay attention to the website’s URL. Malicious websites may look identical to a legitimate site, but the URL may use a variation in spelling or a different domain (e.g., .com versus .net).

- If you are unsure whether an email request is legitimate, try to verify it by contacting the company directly. Contact the company using information provided on an account statement, not information provided in an email. Check out the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) to learn about known phishing attacks and/or report phishing.

- Keep a clean machine. Keep all software on internet-connected devices – including PCs, smartphones and tablets – up to date to reduce risk of infection from malware.

- Additionally, as more employees are working from home due to the coronavirus outbreak, NCSA urges companies to establish security policies and guidelines for remote workers and train them on these policies and the company’s expectations. Companies should also have a clear process for reporting any IT issues for remote workers so they know who to turn to for support.

NCSA recommends the following tips for employees working remotely on how they can stay safe online when using company devices:

- Connect to a secure network and use a company-issued Virtual Private Network to access any work accounts. Home routers should be updated to the most current software and secured with a lengthy, unique passphrase. Employees should not be connecting to public WiFi to access work accounts unless using a VPN.

- Separate your network so your company devices are on their own WiFi network, and your personal devices are on their own.

- Keep devices with you at all times or stored in a secure location when not in use. Set auto log-out if you walk away from your computer and forget to log out.

- Limit access to the device you use for work. Only the approved user should use the device (family and friends should not use a work-issued device)

- Regardless of where you are, NCSA urges all internet users to stay safer and more secure online by updating software on all devices (including antivirus and firewalls) backing up data, enabling multi-factor authentication and having strong, lengthy passphrases for each online account.

https://staysafeonline.org/press-release/ncsa-encourages-coronavirus-vigilance/


So better be very vigilant and in order not to be a victim here, we need to equip ourselves with the knowledge and understanding how cyber criminals attack.

[isaac_clarke22]

Generally speaking, I think research can help but not totally because some scam project can hide things you will never see.
I just believe in some red lights like unsecured website, mistakes here and there on the thread or white paper, alsovif my mind doesn't approve of it.

Surface research like looking only at the ratings of a project in a certain site won't really tell you the truth behind a legitimate project. I had stumbled upon sites before like ICOBench wherein you can see the ICOs current status as well as any relevant information pertaining the project itself. Some project ratings felt a bit off and at that moment I think that the ratings could be a paid review, like those shady activities are quite common, right? This led me to not trust ratings anymore as well as those passing KYC test at some sites.

[KrisAlex18]

It is really important to all of us to identify scammed projects and links, there are so many scammers and hackers in this virtual world, in fact, they can easily get your account if it is not secured and if you are not using a strong password, for us to secure our account on the scammers and hackers, always be wise, do not open unsecured links and advertisement because most of the hackers techniques is using that thing to hack your account.

Always do a research about any websites that you are going to log in, read some reviews about it, and if you see positive reviews then I think that is enough to try that website.

[wozzek23]

Lol where you said that people should send emails to ask questions about the exchange? Seriously, why should you even be sending an email to ask them about their exchange ? You know for sure that even ask scammers about their fake exchange they are never going to tell you that it’s a fake, they will keep on pretending and acting like it’s real to convince you.

The best thing is never to talk to them, so that they won’t have your email. Only their site is enough to figure out if they are scammers. Check for their team and then trace them to their social media, especially LinkedIn to figure out if they are really what they are claiming to be. Sometimes they use pictures that belongs to other people and pretend to be those people, so you have got to be very careful.

[Krislaw]

Every of your points is straightforward and can't be really understood by any newbie.
There's no need to run scans on bitcoin miners because are either scam and will always turn out to be scam even if they pay some people.
Also, exchanges charging it's users high/low fees is not a problem here. It's part of the agreement and there are ways to check even before you sign up for the exchange.

[Wexnident]

Research isn't everything, and even if one isn't a fraud or a scam and is a legitimate project, one's own judgment is really important. You aren't participating in projects just for the sake of participating in them, but rather for a return of investment you've made in the beginning. Hence, any project whether it be a legitimate or a fraud, one needs to understand the core concept and see if it is viable and would the market be willing to accept them. Frauds are hard to spot yes, but projects that could bring about profits are much harder.

Asking a project/exchange whether they are a scam or not is legit a stupid thing to do. It's not your first day on the net, why bother doing such a thing? The only person you could trust here would probably be yourself since any info on the net could actually be fake for all you know.

[sunsilk]

Despite amoung us being aware of the "send xx amount, receive xx profit", there are still a lot of newbies that's being scammed by this scheme. They really don't research about it or even think of it how the hell they'll earn real money that quickly.

@OP, I think your thread is good but you just have to provide spacing to emphasis those important points.