[Scam Alert] Private Key Scam

[Pokapoka124]

What happened::
A friend on telegram told me of a recent encounter he had with a scam company. Of course at the time he thought he was investing in a legitimate business. He invested $500 in the company website and was promised $1000 returns in 48hours. The amount was supposedly sent to his blockchain wallet. Here

Scammers Profile Link:


Scammers website:
http://Gracefinex.com


$1000 is reflected in the victim's blockchain wallet and thus the scam begins



discovers the funds are not accessible


Now this message pops up when he tries to transfer the funds. He complains to the investment site about the situation. And they demand $200. At this point, he realise it is a scam

Additional Notes:
This scam is useless if you have some basic knowledge of how the blockchain works. My advice to all newbies is simple. Learn before you think of earning. Above all knowledge comes first

[masulum]

You are right, to send a coin, we are not required to fill in the private key, but maybe we just need to complete 2FA if we are enabled it for every transaction we made. If the application is from an official application and trusted wallets to use, it is likely that the device has been compromised with a virus or malware. If it not, it looks like the user has downloaded a fake wallet.

[tyz]

Is this now basically a warning to never give out your private key or did you really find an app in the app store that asks for the private key to confirm the transaction? If so, it would be helpful to name this app here.
Often people search beforehand to find an app is safe and then when they become aware of the thread, they can protect themselves from it.

[BitMaxz]

This is a common issue on blockchain wallet if you are not the creator of that wallet it's the same as other scammers on telegram selling blockchain account with balances but can't able to send.

I never trust people on telegram because most of the users there are scammers tell your friends to don't trust anyone unless if he ask it here on the forum.

Another thing is don't use a blockchain wallet because it's an online wallet and scammers out there always use this to scam people. Tell your friend to switch to Electrum wallet instead and don't trust any investment/cloud mining site because there is no trusted cloud mining site until now no one survives they run all users funds and gone.

[zasad@]

It seems to me everything is much simpler.
I may not understand investment, real estate, agriculture, construction and so on.
But if they ask me to send them $ 100 in order to return $ 200 to me tomorrow, this is a scam. And you don't even need to know how the blockchain works.
Those who like to get easy money will, as a rule, be deceived by scammers.

[Igebotz]

Telegram is a scam city and must be used with care, there are so many fake airdrop phishing links in every telegram group right now, the best way is to exit and report any suspicious group you found yourself. Too good to be true? It's a scam, too big for a small input? It's a scam, scammers are always ready to offer unrealistic profit in a short period

3 months old site and the registrant identity is hidden using a paid service.

Domain:gracefinex.com
Registrar:NameCheap, Inc.
Registered On:2021-03-10
Expires On:2022-03-10
Updated On:2021-03-10

https://www.whois.com/whois/gracefinex.com

[$crypto$]

Telegram is a scam city and must be used with care, there are so many fake airdrop phishing links in every telegram group right now, the best way is to exit and report any suspicious group you found yourself. Too good to be true? It's a scam, too big for a small input? It's a scam, scammers are always ready to offer unrealistic profit in a short period

True,, almost every day I come across scam telegrams like this with investments they offer via PM or invites in groups I can't believe this can be true basically they must ask for a large amount of money for large multiplication but behind all that is a scam .
The best way, yes, like that, get out and leave anything suspicious, just do it if you don't believe it.
Remember, never try to get the OP to do what they ask, including some offers via the app or instructions on the website, it could be a trap that will make you lose everything.

[khaled0111]

Sorry, but I didn't get it! What's the relation between the irreversibility of bitcoin transaction and the scam you have exposed!
The way I got it, your friend sent the money at his own will. No one stole his private key nor hacked them someway.
He, sadly, felt for one of the most common and obvious scams: bitcoin doublers. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible and if you send your coins to one of this services that offer to double your investment then you've lost your money. The moment you sign the transaction and broadcast it there isn't much that you can do, your money is already gone.

[Rengga Jati]

Classic scam, but in fact, there are still so many people who are scammed with this. Because they may not know about this case, or they only care about the money that they are going to receive after sending it (in fact, it is a scam and they will never get the money, and precisely will actually lose their money. 
And there are so many fake telegrams groups that have this kind of scams:
sending private keys to get the money
sending some coins or money to a certain wallet in order to claim the rewards
sending investment in order to get 50% profits only in 24 hours (so funny)
and more...

And yeah, whatever the platform, whatever the investment, whatever the programs, and whatever the promises, if they ask for private key, it means they are a scammer.

[joniboini]

Looks like an app screenshot. I tried to access the website and there's no interface like that, do I need to log in?

Btw instead of a private key scam, I tend to agree that this is more like a bitcoin investment/doubler scam as mentioned above. A private key scam sounds like an app is providing you a fake private key that can't control your address without any investment needed.

Honestly, this is quite obvious, 2x in just a few hours is just a dream come true. You need to tell your friend to be more cautious and don't fall for a blatant trick like this.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

If you have an account on a custodial wallet, when you log in, you can make your withdrawal with or withou 2FA, depends on whether you set up 2FA for your account.

2FA can be email verification code, SMS code or code in 2-factor authentication application but surely it is not private key or QR code. It breaks the reason why do you have to log in your account.

Successfully log in accounts or wallets mean has access to your private key if you don't have 2FA setting.

[passwordnow]

He invested $500 in the company website and was promised $1000 returns in 48hours.

Too bad and sorry to your friend. With such promises, he should have already realized that it's a scam. There's no such way that you can double your money within 2 days. I find it odd whenever someone posts a picture on Telegram that looks like a professional guy, with that factor, I have already that feeling that guy with that picture is going to scam anyone that he's going to message. Tell your friend that there really are this type of scam that exists not just in crypto.

[joker_josue]

He invested $500 in the company website and was promised $1000 returns in 48hours.

Too bad and sorry to your friend. With such promises, he should have already realized that it's a scam. There's no such way that you can double your money within 2 days. I find it odd whenever someone posts a picture on Telegram that looks like a professional guy, with that factor, I have already that feeling that guy with that picture is going to scam anyone that he's going to message. Tell your friend that there really are this type of scam that exists not just in crypto.

My father used to say: "if the person, in a conversation, has the need to claim to be honest - it is because he is hiding something".
In other words: if a service/person needs to say that everything is legal and honest, something strange happens.
Anyone who is honest doesn't need to announce it to the world. Your actions and attitudes prove it.

[Davidvictorson]

Those new to crypto can easily be taken in by scams. And there are many of such.Just like the OP said, knowledge comes first. Promises of easy and incredible gains can be enticing to lots of people especially when little or no effort is required. 

It’s crucial to learn about bitcoin’s underlying technicalities and the basics of how it works. Secondly, before making any move toward investing or trading thoroughly vet all potential trading platforms and other crypto websites for authenticity. Anyone who asks for your private key is definitely a scammer.

[passwordnow]

He invested $500 in the company website and was promised $1000 returns in 48hours.

Too bad and sorry to your friend. With such promises, he should have already realized that it's a scam. There's no such way that you can double your money within 2 days. I find it odd whenever someone posts a picture on Telegram that looks like a professional guy, with that factor, I have already that feeling that guy with that picture is going to scam anyone that he's going to message. Tell your friend that there really are this type of scam that exists not just in crypto.

My father used to say: "if the person, in a conversation, has the need to claim to be honest - it is because he is hiding something".
In other words: if a service/person needs to say that everything is legal and honest, something strange happens.
Anyone who is honest doesn't need to announce it to the world. Your actions and attitudes prove it.

That's true, whenever there's a promise and the guy himself putting credit to himself that he's honest and legitimate then there's something wrong with it.
Honestly is going to be recognized by the people whom he's dealing with and not himself that does the crediting and claiming that he surely is one of it.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

My father used to say: "if the person, in a conversation, has the need to claim to be honest - it is because he is hiding something".
In other words: if a service/person needs to say that everything is legal and honest, something strange happens.
Anyone who is honest doesn't need to announce it to the world. Your actions and attitudes prove it.

If a person want to be too good, it is because something wrong or shady behind. A good person does not need to show or claim that he is a kind person. People around him will look at him, what he does every day, what he contributes and make conclusion that he is whether a good or bad person.

Some person is not as good as they claim and always make noise to claim they are good. This action makes sense to prove the opposite fact, they are not good.

[VRExpress]

First I would like to clear the fact that any cloud mining whatsoever is a 100% scam and secondly money isn't easy to get, there is no short cuts about it unless you plan to do evil shits to get the money so how can one offer you free money and you took the bait? Lack of discipline makes man desires the impossible, this is why rich are different from the poor, rich people believes in hardwork and poor believes in fantasies

[joker_josue]

First I would like to clear the fact that any cloud mining whatsoever is a 100% scam and secondly money isn't easy to get, there is no short cuts about it unless you plan to do evil shits to get the money so how can one offer you free money and you took the bait? Lack of discipline makes man desires the impossible, this is why rich are different from the poor, rich people believes in hardwork and poor believes in fantasies

The rich also hope that the poor carry on the fantasies so that they can keep getting rich.

[aioc]

This scam is useless if you have some basic knowledge of how the blockchain works. My advice to all newbies is simple. Learn before you think of earning. Above all knowledge comes first

You should not invest in Cryptocurrency unless you know how to secure your wallet and you easily believe what these experts are saying, you should not compare to traditional investment where there is a third party who will manage your funds and take care of everything for you, Cryptocurrency investment is totally different, you are your own bank and you should know how to secure your private key, so educate yourself and you are good to go.

[ScamViruS]

First I would like to clear the fact that any cloud mining whatsoever is a 100% scam and secondly money isn't easy to get, there is no short cuts about it unless you plan to do evil shits to get the money so how can one offer you free money and you took the bait? Lack of discipline makes man desires the impossible, this is why rich are different from the poor, rich people believes in hardwork and poor believes in fantasies

Most of the people who come to the crypto market have a misconception that it is easy to make a quick profit from the crypto market. And using their misconceptions, scammers create all kinds of fake websites, and crypto greedy investors fall into the trap of those fake websites.

In most cases, new small investors easily fall prey to various scams just because of the thought of making a quick profit. Trying to warn them in different ways but many times they ignore those warnings and face big danger. So those who are greedy will always think how to make a quick profit.