Crypto Scams & Our Roles.

[The Cryptovator]

Crypto scam, this is a common problem nowadays. But had we thought what was our role during the scam? Have you realized how scammers and hackers making us fool? Victims always popping up with scam accusations lately especially bitcoin scam/hack from the wallet. As we know bitcoin or cryptocurrency is a decentralized secure payment method. We always say be your own bank by using cryptocurrency where you don't need to trust a third party. But unfortunately, third party scamming us even we are holding our funds in our wallet that we have full control of private keys.

Lately, I have noticed a couple of threads where bitcoin users sent funds to the third party or website. Even transactions confirmed on the blockchain but that party or website refusing to credit the fund. Rather blaming the transaction wasn't confirmed and so on. Means, the person who sent the fund has gone forever. You will find many similar cases.

Do you think what was your role during such as scams? You are the one who has been sending funds to scammers and you are the one who has been giving access to your wallet to the hackers. Except for exchange hack, we are directly helping scammers and hackers to scam/hack our funds. Just we can't realize how we are helping them. Let's discuss a few reasons below.

For scam: Are we not helping scammers to scam us? Scammers don't have the power to scam you if you never handover your fund to him. For example, you found a greedy offer a person or from a website. Then you become crazy to become quick rich shortly and eventually send the fund to the scammer. A scam isn't happening with an only Ponzi scheme. There is so many scam scheme like a giveaway, ICO, Selfdrop, Lending, and so on. Our mind can't determine where we are sending funds before got a scam. So we are the ones who are sending funds by pressing the send button.  

Solution: Solution is very simple, think twice before you press send button. Because cryptocurrency is irreversible, when sent out from your wallet and get confirmation on the blockchain means it has gone forever. It can't reverse to your wallet if the receiver does not send it back to you. So spend time as much as possible you can to do your own diligence. If you can't determine something then ask for help on this forum. Or if you found suspicious things then share it with an experienced person nearest you of you know someone and takes advice from him. I help many peoples when someone asks about any investment sites and prevent them to make a deposit. That's how you can save your valuable assets.

For hack: I have to admit that we can't prevent exchange hacks. But we can prevent our wallets and accounts. How a hacker take control of our wallet if we don't help ourselves? No, it's not surprising to me. I can't recall the thread but I have remembered the story someone lost 50BTC once a time. He was watching porno then a popup message came to him to claim a few free BCH. Then he clicks on the link and follows the instructions given by hackers. Eventually, hackers took the control of the device and move 50BTC from the wallet. So who is helping hackers to take control of our device? Not are we?

Solution: Its also quite easy to prevent hackers to hack your device. If you are not helping them then they can't take control. Keep your privacy safe as much as possible. Don't use the same password for different sites. Don't install unnecessary software at any device where you have stored your cryptocurrency. Use a secure wallet and use extra layer security like a use hardware wallet. Don't use a web wallet to store your funds and always try to use open source non-custodial wallet at least. Always make ake you are downloading wallet software from the original sources even during installation on non-crypto software. Better to don't install anything if you aren't well familiar with the source of software. Don't be greedy to claim free coin and handover your private keys to hackers. Double-check when you are copy-pasting address to avoid clipboard hacking. There would be more ways to secure your find, feel free to express your opinion too. I just give some basic examples.

Control your greediness to keep control of your funds.

[Coyster]

The rule of thumb to avoid scam is to wholly take the responsibility of being your own bank without trusting third parties and exchanges, there is a misconception about the Bitcoin network and scam, tbh most of the scams in the network stems from users follies and mistakes, this follies can be avoided, only if the users will be their own Banks and will painstakingly prioritize their security.

Mass adoption is affected by the misrepresentation of the network by the media, even on the beginners and help section, there are many threads on crypto scams, it's possible for newbies to stay shy off this network because of this risk concern. That being said, talking about our roles, I have stated many times already that it's impossible for anyone to protect everybody on the Bitcoin network, hence our role is only to make sure we are correcting this distorted picture the media is portraying, and try to lead people in the right direction through education on how to use this network without losing funds, few of which are, using: Non-custodial wallets, safely stored private keys, seed phrases secured, not telling everyone your own Bitcoin, etc...

Pointing Bitcoin users to btt is another valuable role we can play, this forum has protected/will continue to protect alot of people from crypto scams.

[longlivecapitalism]

The way I see it, everyone, especially beginners, could stand to be a little more careful and dare I say suspicious of any offers out there. Even more so when there's an offer where you can't see the way with which the person making said offer can gain anything from it. Most people didn't get into the crypto world to help others, we have seen evidence of this time and time again. The problem is that beginners haven't seen it yet so they are more susceptible to a scam offer.

[Charles-Tim]

For scam: Are we not helping scammers to scam us? Scammers do have the power to scam you if you never handover your fund to him. For example, you found a greedy offer a person or from a website. Then you become crazy to become quick rich shortly and eventually send the fund to the scammer. A scam isn't happening with an only Ponzi scheme. There is so many scam scheme like a giveaway, ICO, Selfdrop, Lending, and so on. Our mind can't determine where we are sending funds before got a scam. So we are the ones who are sending funds by pressing the send button. 

You are right, but I want to include one to it, which is DeFi, there are scam in DeFi projects now, some people will not know about it but onl want to invest in DeFi. There was a time Tron even legitimize a project that pulled and exit scam recently, and there are many other DeFi scam. People will not know about what they are investing on, and be scammed, this is so common, it will be good for people to research very well before greed take from them but never give anything in return.

For hack: I have to admit that we can't prevent exchange hacks. But we can prevent our wallets and accounts. How a hacker take control of our wallet if we don't help ourselves? No, it's not surprising to me. I can't recall the thread but I have remembered the story someone lost 50BTC once a time. He was watching porno then a popup message came to him to claim a few free BCH. Then he clicks on the link and follows the instructions given by hackers. Eventually, hackers took the control of the device and move 50BTC from the wallet. So who is helping hackers to take control of our device? Not are we?

The deadliest thing someone should do is to click on ads, I made a topic recently to let people know how important privacy is important while online and how the privacy can be compromised by careless and unknown means of browsing https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5280274.0 As deadly as clicking on ads can be, it is just one part to avoid scammers, there are other parts to be known, some are revealed in the article, and will be helpful for beginners.

[Trinx01]

Crypto scam is common in the crypto world because there are many scammers and hackers who will try their best to access some of your wallets and steal all of your funds. You will be the victim once you didn't fully secure your wallet. We are responsible for our own wallet, we should know that there is a big possibility that we may lose our money because of hackers so we should make something to avoid it. Just like what others say.

1. We should secure our wallet, we may use 2FA.
2. Think before you click, do not ever try to visit an unsecured website.
3. Do not fall for fake websites, there are many fake websites, fake investment websites specifically, do not trust the website saying that they give 100% return for only a few days, there is no legit investment website that will double your money.
4. Do not input your personal information to any website you don't trust.
5. If you have a doubt, then you shouldn't try it.
6. Do not be greedy, success takes a lot of time.

[Pffrt]

For scam: Scammers do have the power to scam you if you never handover your fund to him.

Did you mean DO or it should be DON'T? I'm a bit of confused. It seems like you mistakenly wrote DO.

For example, you found a greedy offer a person or from a website. Then you become crazy to become quick rich shortly and eventually send the fund to the scammer.

There are a lot of people who get trapped into the TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE case even. I don't know how can they believe such an offer, even from a stranger most of the times.
There are a lot of other scam methods. I would like to add some.
1. Fake volume- Some projects themselves increase the volume and price of their shitcoin to attract newbie trader and when newbie invest, they sell their coin and leave such a market which never can recover.
2. Yobit shit money making method- Some people earn from Yobit's scam scheme but most of the people get scammed. Minex project has been off line for sometimes now, no exchanges had this coin listed. But Yobit for some unknown reason, started to allow trading this shit and offered a lot of rewards for holders etc. This way they are actually scamming the holders as at some point it will be dumped significantly.

[The Cryptovator]

For scam: Scammers do have the power to scam you if you never handover your fund to him.

Did you mean DO or it should be DON'T? I'm a bit of confused. It seems like you mistakenly wrote DO.

You are right, it was typo error. Thanks for point it +1.

You are right, but I want to include one to it, which is DeFi, there are scam in DeFi projects now, some people will not know about it but onl want to invest in DeFi.

Yea, I forgot to add the DeFi word on my post. Its true DeFi has become a more easy way to scam now. But I believe very soon it will end like the ICO trend. DeFi scamming peoples even after listed on big exchange by pump dump. Lots of traders losing their portfolio due to the DeFi pump dump scheme. That's the reason we have to avoid greediness and move on straightway.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

As a rule of thumbs, if a stranger goes first in PM, in invitations and give you something is too good to be true, ignore that guy in a blink of eyes.

Block immediately because if you are newbies, the more you read invitations sound good, the higher risk that you will be trapped. Greed is in all of us, and newbies have less ability to control their greed.

[BIN-BIN]

Control your greediness to keep control of your funds.

This is the only solution to personal account hack and scam, greediness is the major instruments the scammers take advantage of because they know most people still believe in miracle money and never have to stress to make huge profits. I scammer contacted me some days back on telegram that he has trading platform that can give me almost 50% profits on my investment within 24hours then I told my self how possible is that in an uncertain and unpredictable market such as cryptocurrency. Then I never allow my greed to take over me. Guys we need to be careful with our information and how fast we jump on an offer.

[pooya87]

to be honest when i read your title and the words "our roles" i thought you were going to talk about the big elephant in the room which is the bounty hunters and how they play a role in helping scammers. in fact this has been something that has been bothering me ever since ICO scams got hyped up in 2017 and then followed under different disguises and names such as IEO, STO and nowadays DeFi.

i have talked about it in the past on this board too. ICO (and all their alternatives) could never scam as large number of people as they did if there weren't a lot of users helping them advertise their scam to lots of other people just so that they could get paid a little bit of money. and that's clear aiding and abetting the commission of the crime.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Scammers are very cruel. They go to different tricks to deceive people and take their capital. I recently read an article about how a trader allegedly persuaded an elderly person to invest their accumulated money in digital assets. The article tells about a pensioner who saw an advertisement on the Internet and, due to her illiteracy, agreed to such a scam.

One thing is not clear to me, how was a pensioner able to transfer money to the exchange very quickly, without any knowledge? Here one can blame not only the one who deceives but also the one who blindly believes in things that he does not understand.

We should never hope for quick and large profits. In any case, only we ourselves are responsible for the safety of our money. And as long as people are so naive, there will be scammers.

Source for the story of cheating a pensioner. (Unfortunately, there is no English version of this article)
https://bitnovosti.com/2020/10/05/pensionerka-poteryala-bolee-1-mln-pri-popytke-kupit-kriptovalyutu/

[plvbob0070]

People who can't deal with their own greed are vulnerable to get fooled. Some of them are too thirsty for money but do not want to come up with their own way and strategy to achieve it. So instead, they join a fake giveaway where they must first withdraw money before obtaining the actual reward. It sounds silly, but the reality is many people still think it will be easy money. At long last, it just caused an adverse effect on their assets.

[Little Mouse]

Telegram is the heaven for the scammers. I very often receieve PM from scammers offering me to join their network or sometimes help them to withdraw their money from certain exchange etc. in return of a lucrative payment. Newbies will easily fall into this scam method as the offer scammer do is too lucrative. My advice to newbie- avoid any kind of PM in telegram if they offer you something.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

OGEOS shown roles to fight scammers. Please let me advertise that topic for OGEOS.

[Cadaver20]

For scam: The most important reason for scam is greed and ignorance. There are more ways to scam people. We should aware of it.
1. Double spend transaction: This is a very tricky way to scam people. I want to share a recent topic about this scam https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5279758.0.
2. Bounty scam: At the end of the Bounty campaign, Bounty Hunters will receive payment. But at the end of some campaigns, the admin/team demanded a fee from the Bounty Hunters for their shitcoin transaction and fled with the fee.
3. Scam via email: Almost every day I get various tempting offers and airdrop via emails. Even today, i received two emails related to UNI airdrop from different person.  These emails contain different types of malicious links. We have to avoid these.
4. Scam via Telegram: Little Mouse has said this very nicely in the above post.

Some solution for hack:
1. You tube: Different types of ads come while watching videos on YouTube. We need to be careful of these ads. These ads may contain malicious links.
2. Website: We need to stop visiting unnecessary websites. No popup message can be clicked.
3. Wallet: It is better to use hardware wallet to store crypto. If you use online wallet then you have to use very trusted wallet.
4. Many times we save our wallet seed, private key etc online (google drive). I think it's better to write the wallet seed, private key on a piece of paper.
5. We need to use 2FA as extra security when using wallet and exchange.
6. Some exchanges require a private key to log in, such as Forkdelta, IDEX.  It is better not to log in too much time in all these exchanges.
7. Above all, we need to use a strong and secure password. [GUIDE] How to Create a Strong/Secure Password

[hd49728]

To begin, don't promote scam projects or if you don't know whether a project is scam, it is good to only apply in campaigns that are managed by professional managers.

For managers who are new or use low rank accounts to run campaigns, you have to be very cautious. Also look at their profile page, click on Trust to see their accounts have strange things: woke up after long period of inactivity, password changed recently, etc.

Some guides from OP, try to apply and detect scam projects. It is not for newbies.
🌍 Guidelines, how to spot a scam ICO & report effectively. ✔
🌍[Guide] Prevent scam!!! Some useful tools for find scam / fake ICO team 🌍
[Guide] How to detect fake token and spot scammers.

[stompix]

to be honest when i read your title and the words "our roles" i thought you were going to talk about the big elephant in the room which is the bounty hunters and how they play a role in helping scammers.

I thought that we're going to talk about how we can prevent scams or prevent at least people from falling into those scams but although I appreciate the intent of Coolcryptovator, this is a bit of a situation when we're preaching to the choir. People who fall into scams are people who are no researching the project or company where they invest or don't bother to read about security and thus, unfortunately, they are not that eager to read advice either. The ones reading those are usually the ones who already know this and are almost as qualified to give advice on themselves.
Well, of course, one more signal to newbies landing on this board on how to stay safe and avoid ending in the scam accusation section to find out they were scammed is almost welcomed.
Unfortunately, newbies go straight to bounties..

Yea, I forgot to add the DeFi word on my post. Its true DeFi has become a more easy way to scam now. But I believe very soon it will end like the ICO trend. DeFi scamming peoples even after listed on big exchange by pump dump. Lots of traders losing their portfolio due to the DeFi pump dump scheme. That's the reason we have to avoid greediness and move on straightway.

Unfortunately, after the DeFi craze, another one will come, just like with the ICOs, and a new wave of newbies who will make their first contact with cryptos will be scammed and on and on till we either arrive at a point where the majority is already too educated for it or, the other scenario, although much worse when almost everyone has already been scammed once or twice and las learned his lesson.

Scammers are very cruel. They go to different tricks to deceive people and take their capital. I recently read an article about how a trader allegedly persuaded an elderly person to invest their accumulated money in digital assets. The article tells about a pensioner who saw an advertisement on the Internet and, due to her illiteracy, agreed to such a scam. One thing is not clear to me, how was a pensioner able to transfer money to the exchange very quickly, without any knowledge? Here one can blame not only the one who deceives but also the one who blindly believes in things that he does not understand.

Probably the method of transfer was via a banking app they told the pensioner to install and they took control over it and make the transfer themselves, that's how much I can get from google translate since the rbc website mentions something like a remote control.
But in this case, it was also a bit or a bit more of greed involved, the fact that he was attracted by a promise of gain from a simple add tells most of the story.

[erikoy]

I have been a victim of my own greediness and that is part of learning about cryptocurrency. I never regret in doing it even if it is all about lossing some money. In the end I think I may able to manage to get back the losses after knowing some important ways on how to invest in cryptocurrency. Experience in investment is advantage to every users and that will help him grow in investment.

For newbies investing in cryptocurrencies advised to hold if you get your funds downtrend. Do not get emotional to which it could result to selling and lossing of some funds.

[Coyster]

For newbies investing in cryptocurrencies advised to hold if you get your funds downtrend. Do not get emotional to which it could result to selling and lossing of some funds.

Selling some chunk of your asset when there's 'fud', isn't part of the scam the op is talking about in this thread, your ROI may be small or even nothing, but you aren't losing your funds per se, you're actually selling them yourself/willingly, to prolly meet one basic need or the other. Scams are hacks, phishing, malware/ransomware/email attacks etc, were scammers compromise your wallets and takes you funds, without you being aware, or get hold of data from your device and requests a ransom, or situations were users send funds to scammers in typical 'giveaway scams', etc, afaik it's quite different from "selling" during btc plunge.

[Sparrow96]

I've experience of getting scammed. Not single time. I was scammed 3-4 times. I earned money writing blog when I was 14 only. So I was too young to understand all of these. My ignorance is responsible for getting scammed. After getting scammed for many times, I have learned how to control greediness. Now I am writing what to do prevent scam.

• You can receive Messages in BTT, Telegram, ICQ etc for Investment. They will say you will get 200% ROI. Don't believe them. Just block and report.
  
• You can Investment proposal in Google Ads. Just ignore.
  
• Don't invest in ICO, DeFi projects without investigation.
  
• Try to use 2FA. I know this is painful but it can save you from being poor
• Don't share your personal information especially your wallet information in unsecured website.
• Use safe wallet to store your Bitcoin. Don't download all wallet you found in App Store. App Store like Google Play Store can list fake apps. Here you can read my scam acquisition.
  
• Don't invest in Shitcoins. Now I repent for my foolishness.
• At last, control your greediness.

I gave advice based on my experience. I was scammed for all of this. So, I aware freshers to keep them safe from any scams.