Why are scammers everywhere, it is obvious online

[Oshosondy]

Some weeks ago, I told two of my friends about bitcoin and how to use it, I tried to devote my time for them. The two of them like bitcoin  they were interested. I opened electrum wallet for them. After some weeks, it was even yesterday, a friend of mine contacted me using Whatsapp, he told me what he saw online, that it is even possible to double bitcoin online. He wanted to double his bitcoin, I told him that it can be a scam that he should send me the link.

Code:

https://bitcoindoubler.tech/

The website want people to deposit a minimum amount of 0.002 bitcoin to a maximum of 10 bitcoin, that in 10 hours the bitcoin will double. I told him immediately not to do it that it is a scam. I would have blamed myself for telling my friends about bitcoin, but I was happy because he did not send his bitcoin but told me about it before doing anything. But why are scam very obvious now, some are even having domain and nothing done about it. Is it because cryptocurrencies are not regulated the way it suppose to be or this is just how the world is?.

[mk4]

To put it simply, it's quite easy to scam people(by taking advantage of the gullibility of a lot of people) and at the same time with the high likeliness of getting away scot-free. I mean, bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies are pseudonymous; that alone should be enough of a warning. And along with that, there are domain name services which doesn't require KYC, and you can even use bitcoin with some.

[Daniel91]

Fraud has always been and will be in human history, this cannot be avoided.
Everything is even easier on the internet because it is much easier to hide the true identity and it is harder to discover and punish the culprit.
In addition, in times of crisis, people become desperate and are ready to try anything to get out of trouble.
You're a really good friend.
Maybe your friend has some knowledge and skills that he can offer here on the forum, like translating or programming, and earn something in a fair way.

[DdmrDdmr]

<…>

It’s not a regulation related issue per se, but rather more the existence of ruthless people that can hide behind anonymity (for the most), in order to swindle gullible people. Crypto somehow seems to have an aurora around it, that somehow leads people to believe that getting rich is quick, easy and painless. Add to that inexperience, and messages that often prompt you to act swiftly before the offer runs out, and you get your call to action in motion. Someone’s bound to take the bait, so repeat and rinse the modus-operandi with slight changes in incentive and site appearance.

Take a look at this:

It’s hard to conceive that someone will believe that you’ll make 120% after 24 hours, 140% after 2 days or 300% after 24 with a VIP plan. That can only be a straight-up scam. These types of sites are created/cloned frequently, and tend to copy their modus-operandi, structure and even the set of FAQs from one to another. Create one, scam a few, close it, repeat and rinse.

How exactly did you get to know of this site (further than "got in touch with a random on the internet that recommended me this site")?
This is often something that is not detailed when we see the aftermaths, and it’s just as important to get to know, since it creates awareness on the points of contact origin.

I’m also curious how this paced so quickly: The scammers domain was registered barely ten days ago (which does not mean the site has been up for so long).

By the way, performing a quick reverse image on the alleged CEO renders (without going into investigating them any further):
-   A Mark Smith (now degraded to Investor) on a very similar look-alike site (https://www[dot]babylon[dot]co[dot]uk[dot]index.html)
-   An Ed Machen who provides a testimony on a College consulting site
-   A nameless guy at company that "builds innovative companies and disrupt markets" (he’s in the team of finance/investment).
-   Yet another sibling of the scam family of sites described in the OP (https://btc-train[dot]uk), where our guy has now regained the title and name as in the OP (RUSS MEDLIN - CEO).
-   And yet another one (https://cryptosheart[dot]com), where our CEO is now Antonio Conte, degraded to Marketing Head.
-   And again (…) another site belonging to the scam saga, where our CEO is now Antonio Conte (again), Head of Trading.

Damn, how much is this guy making? ...


Ok, I’ve had my fun. The list goes on for pages and pages of google image search results ...

If you want to have some (careful) fun, skim through the search results that I pointed at in the above post: There are 11 pages of results with (nearly all) the same presumed CEO of a swindler website, being used for multiple scam sites, many of which have a similar look and feel. This shows how some of these sites are related, with changes in bait here and there. Now go and get some social engineering in motion to spread the links and wait for the bite ...

[stompix]

Minutes before you opened this topic:

BTC Help me. I have purchased mining software that doubles my bitcoins as Bitcoin Core on my Computer.

Is it because cryptocurrencies are not regulated the way it suppose to be or this is just how the world is?.

Regulation has nothing to do, scams were happening with fiat, ponzi schemes are a hundred years old, the thing is not about the laws.

Most of the people that are coming to bitcoin are here for gains, they've heard stories about making x10 x100 profits so for the most of them an obvious ponzi scheme seems legit because they know from a trustable source that indeed it is possible to make profits in short time with cryptos. So they fall for all the tricks out there.
The other problem lies with the easy way scammers can get away, transactions are irreversible, there is no way of freezing those accounts, most victims won't press charges for 100-200$ because they know it will cost them 10x more to even take to court someone that resides across the globe and there you have it. The perfect combination.

[Peanutswar]

We can double your money = scam
We can tipple your money = scam

It looks like they are giving free money if they do this. Are you Elon Musk to do that? Lol.

Those platforms are absolutely scam no one will double their money by just investing a small amount. It's good to see that you are aware of this kind of scam to prevent your friend makes an investment and risk all of their money with this kind of platform.


Always beginners and greedy will fall on this scam. If there are still victim on this scam sure the scammer won't stop.

Code:

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Name Servers	MARIO.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM (has 20,240,303 domains)
VERA.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM (has 20,240,303 domains)
  
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IP Location	United States Of America - Texas - Dallas - Cloudflare Inc.
ASN	United States Of America AS13335 CLOUDFLARENET, US (registered Jul 14, 2010)
Hosting History	3 changes on 3 unique name servers over 3 years

[molsewid]

The real issue here is not by being regulated, the main issue is the main idea of newbies in bitcoin. Newbies are the main target of the scheme because they know that it's too easy to earn in the bitcoin world. Newbie's first impression in bitcoin is too profitable, so if they see some chances like investing in some websites like this some of them will automatically join without thinking twice.

It will not stop until it's profitable to the owner of the website.

When encouraging someone to use bitcoin, please tell them to prevent investing in HYIP investment like this, or else they will become the next victim of these websites.

[sujonali1819]

Actually, those are the people (your friend) who are searching by the scammers. And scammers always do this even it would be regulated. And that is happening in this earth. They always find a new technique to do a scam. So I think regulation will not stop them completely. but may help to lessen the scams.

[CryptocurencyKing]

Is it because cryptocurrencies are not regulated the way it suppose to be?.

I guess that's it. With certain advantages comes also a disadvantage, what makes the advantage more balance is as to it's scaling in terms of balance. So long as the advantage out weighs the disadvantage then, it is allowed to persist.
It's no doubt scammers have taken to exploiting this system to suit their purpose.
Its normal that, where ever there is a good thing, there is also going to be some element to plague the system. Your security always turns to you. It's always a necessity that you should verify platforms before making any transaction as what is done as per sending your Bitcoin to other wallets or platforms can not be undone.
But again, no matter the regulations put in place, scammers are always going to be out looking for loopholes to exploit for their selfish advantage.

[Bekuciwu9]

Scammers are everywhere because majority of people are into crypto because of profit, not because of idea and philosphy behind bitcoin. So naturally, greedy people are more prone to be scam victims, especially if they are ignorant, as many newbies are.

[Oshosondy]

Some people should try to investigate about a business or a website before investing anything on such websites, because of greed many people are scammed. I think of it that it is not possible for a website to double money in less than a day, this is not possible, it is just a scam. Some people are scammed because of greed, they do not want to be patient, they only believe in scam until they are scammed.

[The Cryptovator]

Existence of scams everywhere either online or real life. Cryptocurrency isn't regulated, does it mean scam not happening on the real worlds with fiat money? I don't think so, we aren't highlighting here about real worlds scam, just take look into your government then you will realize about real-life scams. Cryptocurrency scams highlighting because there is no tracking system on decentralized cryptocurrency. So it's quite impossible to identify real scammers.

Good to see that you saved your friends. I have to admit your friends wasn't much greedy, before send fund to the scammer he had asked you. If newbies share with seniors about such as scam attempts then they can save their valuable assets.

[plvbob0070]

Like what others have said, it's not about the regulation. You already said that it's so obvious yet scammers still do this kind of tricks because even if it's obvious, there are still people who fall for it just like your friend (but gladly he consulted with you first before doing anything). A lot of people really get attracted to the idea of easy money, especially newbies, and fall for it without knowing if it's real regardless if there's a regulation or not.

[robelneo]

But why are scam very obvious now, some are even having domain and nothing done about it. Is it because cryptocurrencies are not regulated the way it suppose to be or this is just how the world is?.

Scams are everywhere offline or online, you know that it is if they tell you things that sound unbelievable, they do this because in the back of our minds we want easy and fast money just like a lottery jackpot, but if you think that a bank or any other big company can't give you a huge profit if you put your money on them why would a small company or even an individual do that, just moderate your greed and you will see the light.

[Krislaw]

Even there is a regulation there are people who will find ways to scam others, We have laws but why there are still criminals?, I agree with molsewid it's not only about the scammers but also the lack of knowledge and the greediness and also out of desperation of the person, maybe the best prevention is having a knowledge and awareness because if there is an awareness there is also prevention of something that might happen to them.

[Smartvirus]

A common saying goes, 'where there is sugar, ants gatheres'. It's not obvious to have scammers randomly theorize Bitcoin or Cryptocurrency as a field.
We've just got to stay the course and ensure accurate information sharing amongst forum users as we've obviously been doing and the cryptosphere would continue to be a safe place for all.

[Coyster]

I would have blamed myself for telling my friends about bitcoin

Mind you, you should not blame yourself when people make the mistake of being greedy and get scammed, I've seen newbies asking if it's possible to protect others (not just themselves) on this network, and the answer is no, so even if you introduced them to the Bitcoin network, as long as you didn't tell them it's a money doubling scheme/network, then if they want to take the route to fast money, imo, the consequences should be on them and not on you.

[hatshepsut93]

I opened electrum wallet for them. After some weeks, it was even yesterday, a friend of mine contacted me using Whatsapp, he told me what he saw online, that it is even possible to double bitcoin online. He wanted to double his bitcoin, I told him that it can be a scam that he should send me the link.

This is a good demonstration of how a lot of people don't view Bitcoin as money, they view it as some sort of magic bean that makes everyone rich. If you offer someone to double their cash or bank account, they would think it's a scam, but they don't have the same thinking when it comes to Bitcoin, because the field of Bitcoin is so new and different to them, that they are forgetting everything they owned with traditional money.

[fourpiece]

Scammers are everywhere and they multiply day by day as long as money is involve scammers wont stop, scamming is the only work they know because its easy to get money.

[goinmerry]

But why are scam very obvious now, some are even having domain and nothing done about it. Is it because cryptocurrencies are not regulated the way it suppose to be or this is just how the world is?.

It's not about being crypto as crypto or not totally regulated but as long as there is money involved, there's a scam.

There's no 100% protection against scams as even a trustworthy site can show their true color but unless we will use our common sense, we will minimize being scam especially for an obvious offer that is too good to be true.

For that kind of doubling the money offer, I really don't think it's because they are a newbie why they become interested but clearly, these people (your friend, sorry) are aggressive to make money without doing nothing.