Don’t be lured by the promises of easy money!

[Pmalek]

With the rise in bitcoin's value, sewage rats have come out of their hiding trying to get a bite. But this particular rat doesn’t just want your breadcrumbs or your money. Oh no. He wants to get you into trouble with the law, and he wants you to be his scapegoat. He is the worst kind of rat from the deepest and darkest hole.

For those of you who browse the Services section, you might have noticed a new type of scam that is making its rounds. I don’t want to help the scammer by placing links to his threads, and I would like to ask all other members who comment in my thread not to do it either.

The thread in question is in direct conflict with Rule #17:

17. Trading of goods that are illegal in the seller's or buyer's country is forbidden.

Unofficial rules


How does the scam work?

The scammer promises his victims a quick get rich scheme. He doesn’t ask you for any money, and you don’t need to do any work. The only thing you need to do is give him access to your blockchain.com account. He will top if up with some bitcoin and send you a big chunk of it.

I know what you are thinking. How is this a scam? I get free bitcoin for doing nothing! When you see an offer like that, ask yourself the following questions:

1.   If it is that easy, why doesn’t he do it himself? 
2.   Why does he need my account?
3.   Why doesn’t he make his family, friends, and everyone he knows rich?
4.   What makes me so special that he needs my help and my account?

To detect fraud, you don’t need specialised training, you only need a little bit of common sense. Be honest! Are you special? Do you possess a unique skill that only you have, and that this person can use to HELP YOU make a lot of money?

If you are honest to yourself, your answer is negative, and you feel this smells a bit like a scam, you are on the right path.


Thanks to another forum user who talked with this scammer, we now know what he was planning. What the scammer doesn’t mention in his topic is that he is using stolen credit cards to purchase bitcoin with your account! How does that sound for a quick little earner?

That is why he wants YOUR ACCOUNT. That’s what makes you special. You are the perfect person to get trapped and become an accomplice in credit card fraud. If your account is connected to your real name, and you performed KYC, you just committed credit card fraud in the eyes of the law.


Keep both eyes open and don’t believe everything you read!

[DdmrDdmr]

After Reading through the OP, I spotted searched for and spotted the case behind the scenes. The scammer, performing the classical cloaking scheme, moves whatever serious conversation off the forum and on to a direct contact through Telegram or such.

Fortunately in this case, somebody tested the waters and communicated with the scammer, engaged in a conversation, and managed to determine the intent. He then reported back on the scammer’s thread.

The scam is performed from a Newbie account, which makes it easy and painless, although it could just as well have been made from an account with any other rank or age.

[aoluain]

I have actually come across one of these threads in the services board. I remember reading it
and thinking it was smelly.

How do these people think of this scam and others like it?

I can picture the rats conspiring to take advantage of people. The energy spent discussing
and concocting how they go about their devious little plans.

We can be sure that some people were caught in their illegal scam and be sure they advertised
their scam on many platforms, not just BCT.

At least we are in the know now.

[traderethereum]

The other scam technique is to offer people to send some amount to get rewards by them.
Usually, they attract people to get a popular coin or token for free, but they need to send some amount to the scammer.
Yesterday, I saw that offer come again on social media, and if I am not mistaken, they offer to give a DeFi token, which now is become popular.
So if you find something suspicious, and it is good to be true, you should research for more to find if that offer is right or not.
Just be careful if you read offers that are very tempting and give you a profit quickly.

[virasog]

Anyone who promises to give you free money or easy money is something to be vigilant and get all the details about it and most importantly do not be greedy.
Some people also take your money and promise you to double them in certain days which is another form of scam which is popular in some areas.

[cryptoaddictchie]

OP's right. You only need a common sense to detect them. Scammers tend to be so accommodating and very friendly on chat and persuasive when it comes to putting some money when you talk. If you noticed he keeps insisting and asking for funds with a pretty good deal then better think 10x if you are on the right negotiation cause you might end up losing your hard earned money over a lousy scam attempt.

[New_order]

What's free?

The fact is I don't take what I don't work for and I won't consider any easy way out, I believe that hard way is the only way, people who believe in all this luring skills need to check themselves, if scammers don't give promises and prizes how will they lure any one? People need to understand that hardwork is everything, nothing comes easily

[nakamura12]

I received same messages that you can earn huge money and you need to provide credential information to the one who messaged you and then you do nothing and some situation where that person will only tell you to do some small steps then you're good to go and then you'll get scammed.

[Pmalek]

The other scam technique is to offer people to send some amount to get rewards by them.

That is the oldest and most obvious scam technique they use. Whenever you are required to pay money upfront to get more money back, it is a scam. Their have been real aidrops in the past that required users to send a 0 balance transaction as a requirement to get the airdrop. Such things exist, and in that case the user pays for the network fees, but he is not filling the pockets of fraudsters.

[Coyster]

People trust, and then don't verify, whenever they are faced with promises of quick money, at that point in time, an obvious scam looks like a real and genuine opportunity to earn some money, but that's only cause of the avarice of the victim. As a Bitcoiner, one automatically becomes a target of this Petty scams, it's up to the enthusiasts/users to learn what the modus operandi of the scammers are, and to learn the security protocols to avoid falling a victim.

Having said that, it's 'sinful' to give someone access to any personal account of yourself for whatever reason or price, it's more like the scammer is hacking your account, but with your consent in this case, and in a scenario of wrongdoings, the only connection is you and not the scammer using the account.

[BIT-BENDER]

People trust, and then don't verify, whenever they are faced with promises of quick money,

Then it's not trust, it's greed, I think people who face this type of scam, already have a hunch/thought of this person may be a scam, but it's to them who is the fastest to outsmart the other, and when they don't have to send any form of money and just a blockchain account is to be sent, they just create a new one and send to the person, some are aware of how compromising this is to their identity, but the GREED in them eclipse that reality.

[Darkelf11]

Sad to say but I was once scammed. Going back then, I knew nothing and was just lured by those promises which I am not aware, or better say I din not think of the cons. I'm thankful I did not invest a lot of time, effort, and money into that.

I learned a lot just by reading here, and I am very thankful and glad for that.

[Gozie51]

1.   If it is that easy, why doesn’t he do it himself? 
2.   Why does he need my account?
3.   Why doesn’t he make his family, friends, and everyone he knows rich?
4.   What makes me so special that he needs my help and my account?

Unfortunately enough that these are questions that we all know that is reasonable to ask but at the point the victim is about to be scammed, he or she doesn't bother to ask. Such questions don't find their place in their heart because of greed.

Greed is the major reason we get scammed. The scammer provides juicy offers and you dive into it because you see a big gain but at the end, the table will turn against the victim while the scammer has exited. If we can take a way greed, then scammers won't have anybody to scam.

[Lordhermes]

This is the greatest scam technique story I have ever come across which eventually will cause the victim some life time imprisonment if actually the account is kycd, how can someone give out his login details account to unknown person to credit bitcoin for you, wouldn't you call it blessings? Wouldn't you call the scammer a real life saver? This is actually more dangerous than any other scamming technique ever.

Never give ears to information that seems to be too true by an unknown user promising some fraction of coin if allowed to access your account, even if empty.

[sheenshane]

1.   If it is that easy, why doesn’t he do it himself?  
2.   Why does he need my account?
3.   Why doesn’t he make his family, friends, and everyone he knows rich?
4.   What makes me so special that he needs my help and my account?

I came across the same situation like this and the bolded part above was already I experienced two years ago when someone asked my help.
There's someone asking me to withdraw his fund on the exchange that I never encounter, due to the reason that he can't withdraw his fund on that exchange due to the reason that he was restricted to use this site in his country.  Unfortunately, I get trapped, I clicked the site and register my account there and transfer his fund, but when I tend to withdraw it requires me to send the first Bitcoin 10% of the entire balance and he wanted me to borrow my Bitcoin at that time, but fortunately, I realized that is a scam.

These are true, we should apply this in our selves not to fall into the trap and if someone asks for financial purpose, think this how many times before having your decision.  Common sense will always safeguard us from those who wanted to take advantage of our greediness.

[traderethereum]

The other scam technique is to offer people to send some amount to get rewards by them.

That is the oldest and most obvious scam technique they use. Whenever you are required to pay money upfront to get more money back, it is a scam. Their have been real aidrops in the past that required users to send a 0 balance transaction as a requirement to get the airdrop. Such things exist, and in that case the user pays for the network fees, but he is not filling the pockets of fraudsters.

For us, that scam technique is an old way, but it is a golden way to get a nice reward by the airdrop, reward, or whatever it names for every new people.
They can still scam new people with the old method, but they can also modify the old technique or make a new one base on the current situations and conditions.
So we do not have to confuse or shock with the technique because the point of that technique will use the old technique with a little modification, so the new people, sometimes old people, do not know if that is a scam.

[Pmalek]

Greed is the major reason we get scammed. The scammer provides juicy offers and you dive into it because you see a big gain but at the end, the table will turn against the victim while the scammer has exited.

There are very few ways in life to earn big amounts of money without putting in effort and work. I am not talking about luck or gambling in this scenario. Whether it's labor-intensive work or your mental capabilities that are required, doesn't matter. You have to provide something to get back some rewards. What is shocking is that people believe they can skip the part where they have to work, and arrive straight to the endpoint where they get the spoils. This just shows that they have never done any real work in their lives (yet). How else to explain the mentality of wanting to get paid without providing anything in return or providing something as easy as a blockchain account?

[Alucard1]

I already got scammed by a fake investment website before when I was a beginner in the world of crypto, it happened last year maybe around February or March. The website offers to double your money for only 24 hours and by that, I got hooked up well that would happen for the beginners of the crypto world because of thinking that they could have easy money. I just realized that there is no easy money even in the virtual world, knowledge would be the power for us as well as the experience.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Everything is correct. New users, naive cranks who want to get rich quickly will always be the victims of this kind of scam. On other forums, I have come across a "freebie" section. Just look at these sections and look at those who want to buy or purchase something for free. People are greedy, and the promises of incredible bonuses overshadow some minds and eyes.
OP, you are giving a good warning, I think such topics need to be created periodically to teach and accustom some that nothing in life is free.
For any free or hacked program, we pay by the appearance of viruses on our computers. And for trusting strangers who promise us profit, we lose something valuable to us and also gain the lessons that are given to us so as not to believe in easy luck.

[KaratX]

Nothing comes easy, you got to try and keep trying to make something work out for you, if you don't see life hardship as the way forward you will always look for easy way out and there is no such thing, every easy way out is fraud, a trap by scammers, have a mindset of getting paid for what you only worked for and things will be fine around you.