Beware of this new scamming methods

[DVlog]

So he asked me a few questions about the project and i gave him the answer. At the end he told me that he wanted me to sign a contract so that there wouldn't be any copyright issues. This sudden change of tone makes me more skeptical, and i tried to look at the link he wanted me to click and found that it had a javascript written on it. I don't want to share the link here as it has phishing elements on it. I had a similar incident before which i shared in the forum, so my mind told me not to click that link.

This is something new I never read something like this, a screenshot of the conversation is just enough proof, we here in the community only ask for screenshots of the conversation or anything that can prove that an agreement has been reached but never a contract, and its a simple article writing and no money was involved I will be suspicious if I am asked to download something to sign a contract.
Only reputable companies like banks and insurance ask for a signed contract but never an individual, its good that you posted it here for awareness.

I should have taken a screenshot at that time as when i tried to find that old conversation, I haven't found it. I think the scammer removed everything or i have done it intentionally. Actually this is a common practice by the scammers: if they failed to make someone a victim of their trap they tried to remove everything. I think i will get similar phishing attacks in the future so i will definitely store some evidence for reference.

[robelneo]

So he asked me a few questions about the project and i gave him the answer. At the end he told me that he wanted me to sign a contract so that there wouldn't be any copyright issues. This sudden change of tone makes me more skeptical, and i tried to look at the link he wanted me to click and found that it had a javascript written on it. I don't want to share the link here as it has phishing elements on it. I had a similar incident before which i shared in the forum, so my mind told me not to click that link.

This is something new I never read something like this, a screenshot of the conversation is just enough proof, we here in the community only ask for screenshots of the conversation or anything that can prove that an agreement has been reached but never a contract, and its a simple article writing and no money was involved I will be suspicious if I am asked to download something to sign a contract.
Only reputable companies like banks and insurance ask for a signed contract but never an individual, its good that you posted it here for awareness.

I should have taken a screenshot at that time as when i tried to find that old conversation, I haven't found it. I think the scammer removed everything or i have done it intentionally. Actually this is a common practice by the scammers: if they failed to make someone a victim of their trap they tried to remove everything. I think i will get similar phishing attacks in the future so i will definitely store some evidence for reference.

They are fast on that before they offer you that they could have done an investigation on who you are here in Bitcointalk so when they think that they are busted or you are suspicious they will delete the conversation, but what if their target does not have an account here in Bitcointalk, it will not be reported and they will continue to victimize more people.
Scammers are imaginative and innovative they could have used their talents to make money in legal ways but there are people who find their joy in scamming people.

[DVlog]

So he asked me a few questions about the project and i gave him the answer. At the end he told me that he wanted me to sign a contract so that there wouldn't be any copyright issues. This sudden change of tone makes me more skeptical, and i tried to look at the link he wanted me to click and found that it had a javascript written on it. I don't want to share the link here as it has phishing elements on it. I had a similar incident before which i shared in the forum, so my mind told me not to click that link.

This is something new I never read something like this, a screenshot of the conversation is just enough proof, we here in the community only ask for screenshots of the conversation or anything that can prove that an agreement has been reached but never a contract, and its a simple article writing and no money was involved I will be suspicious if I am asked to download something to sign a contract.
Only reputable companies like banks and insurance ask for a signed contract but never an individual, its good that you posted it here for awareness.

I should have taken a screenshot at that time as when i tried to find that old conversation, I haven't found it. I think the scammer removed everything or i have done it intentionally. Actually this is a common practice by the scammers: if they failed to make someone a victim of their trap they tried to remove everything. I think i will get similar phishing attacks in the future so i will definitely store some evidence for reference.

They are fast on that before they offer you that they could have done an investigation on who you are here in Bitcointalk so when they think that they are busted or you are suspicious they will delete the conversation, but what if their target does not have an account here in Bitcointalk, it will not be reported and they will continue to victimize more people.
Scammers are imaginative and innovative they could have used their talents to make money in legal ways but there are people who find their joy in scamming people.

These scammers first raise victims greed by offering free service or high but reasonable wages so that victims won't suspect anything. If someone is new to this sector and doesn't have enough work to do they will easily fall for such a setup. So if someone is responsible for a community's security and administration, he needs to be more careful about his response to all the PMs he gets.

[Agbe]

Op this is very good notification and information. This awareness is not only to moderators but also to website administrators, developers and the users. Everyone is involved so the best thing to do is to be a security conscious about your accounts and dealing with people for your accounts details. Like last two weeks, someone called my uncle and told him that they compiling names on a political movement committee and his name is also one of them, so they would send number to his phone and he should send the number to them so they can add him up and he sent them the number and the hacker use the OTP to hack the man WhatsApp and changed the phone number to email address and add 2FA. And through the WhatsApp, the hacker hacked the Facebook. And almost a month now, the hacker has been trying to scam people from these two social media of my uncle. So we should be careful with our internet security details.

[jeha2015]

These scammers first raise victims greed by offering free service or high but reasonable wages so that victims won't suspect anything. If someone is new to this sector and doesn't have enough work to do they will easily fall for such a setup. So if someone is responsible for a community's security and administration, he needs to be more careful about his response to all the PMs he gets.

The first mistake we make in falling into a scammer's trap is of course because they are looking for potential victims who are greedy. And it is true that many people are tricked because of this trait, almost all groups can fall into this trap, from ordinary members to those who have a strong community.

Team scammers have many methods, nowadays they are all sophisticated, don't want to hear that people you don't know suddenly PM on Telegram or something else, you have to ignore them, don't reply or anything else. Especially with the promise of expensive fees or other benefits that can be said to be unreasonable, it is definitely a scam.

[Queentoshi]

Gaining access to a moderator account can give him control over the server which he can use to post phishing links.

And if links are posted from a moderators account, it becomes believable to community members who will trust it and may not pause to double check the credibility of the links. Many community members will fall victim. There is another lesson which we can learn from this, it is that no matter where links are posted from, we just have to be careful clicking and following them.

[Broadanbig]

This is interesting and I was wondering if you could still screenshot the link and upload it here for us to see it for ourselves. Scammers are always looking for means to.perpetrate their evil acts. Every day new tactics and newbies always fall victim of this scheme.

Since you are a moderator I believe this could be a discord community you are talking about as I know discord moderators always have that access to administrative informations and other important aspect of the project too that was why the scammer contacted you and I was also wondering why they could have the guts to tell you for an interview. What an audacious request from them.

[TakeItEasy]

Scammers are everywhere, we are seeing different ways of scamming every day. Some users say their wallet has been hacked or some say their PCs have been hacked etc. But when we listen to those both of them were hacked through different methods. So scamming nowadays is too viral and most scammers hack user's wallets. We should keep in mind, that we should always keep our strength strong whether we are using any Laptop, any phone, or any other source of electricity that is online connected.

We should only make its security strong, only then there will be more chances to make ourselves safe from these scammers and these ways of scamming. I don't think that through security a person will be 100% safe from scammers because I have seen 1000 scams on that websites and exchanges even though they had very strong security. But it is a precaution to save ourselves.

[suzanne5223]

Thanks for sharing this information but there's one thing we have to keep in mind scammers and online theft always come up with new strategies once this scamming method is exposed they will come up with a new one.
One thing I will advise the experienced and newbie user to practice is never to trust anyone on the internet other than yourself because online theft also hacks people you know so well account and uses it to get to people who can entrust her with something valuable.

[DVlog]

Thanks for sharing this information but there's one thing we have to keep in mind scammers and online theft always come up with new strategies once this scamming method is exposed they will come up with a new one.
One thing I will advise the experienced and newbie user to practice is never to trust anyone on the internet other than yourself because online theft also hacks people you know so well account and uses it to get to people who can entrust her with something valuable.

If you are working with a community it's not about trust every time. No matter if you trust a stranger from your community or not but you will have to provide support for their concern if you are a community moderator. Sometimes you need to see their screenshots, videos, and documents to get a better understanding of their problems. You can not deny helping them in a convenient way as this is what a community moderator does.

However sometimes you need to engage with investors and marketing agencies as well where you might need to do cross communication through URLs from different sites. The thing is you should be aware of how to handle such situations and how you can approach them without being a victim of a scammer. It is not that easy for someone new even some old dude, to fall for such a trap. That's why we saw some big project servers being taken over by hackers and used to promote malware through fake promotion.

[Zigabel]

This piece of information was actually really useful, tnxs OP, one way to avoid some of this persons sometimes is not giving them audience especially when they don't look genuine, or better still if you must give them audience always refer them to the white paper of the site.as an administrator it's important you be very careful who you respond to and do not click untrusted links, and if you must do out of curiosity, copy the link paste somewhere else, create a dummy account where which you can use to check out the link.that way you reduce your risk of your admin account been hacked

[Mr.right85]

Interests to scammers are on a different level and there particular interest in moderators and those that own channels have been on the rise due to how much influence they can get out of the legitimacy of the service and users reputation. They understand the need for these influences and reputation but, can’t go through the time it takes to build one.
This adds to the log of reasons why you mustn’t always take these owners of channels and blogs to there every word. You just might not know when the hack is in motion.
As scammers continues to become innovative, you be curious on offers even when it wouldn’t cost you nothing. Nobody gives something for nothing.

[Kelward]

Thanks OP for sharing these experiences, because scammers are now like wolves in sheep's clothinga to deceive unsuspecting victims. I guess that it's best to see every acquittance on the internet as potential scammers, this thoughts will help to keep our brains on the alert and lookout for any signs of scam during interactions. Sometimes family and friends will ignorantly share links from unknown sources to their loved ones, that promises different enticing offers, when you clique on the link, you'll be asked different personal questions, eventually you'll be directed to a phishing link. So it's also very important to verify the authenticity of links sent by trustworthy people, before attempting to engage in it.

[suzanne5223]

Thanks for sharing this information but there's one thing we have to keep in mind scammers and online theft always come up with new strategies once this scamming method is exposed they will come up with a new one.
One thing I will advise the experienced and newbie user to practice is never to trust anyone on the internet other than yourself because online theft also hacks people you know so well account and uses it to get to people who can entrust her with something valuable.

If you are working with a community it's not about trust every time. No matter if you trust a stranger from your community or not but you will have to provide support for their concern if you are a community moderator. Sometimes you need to see their screenshots, videos, and documents to get a better understanding of their problems. You can not deny helping them in a convenient way as this is what a community moderator does.

I understand what the community moderator of a project has to go through in order to help the community user but accepting documents from them is never an option based on what I know and if you do not have a choice about a document you need to be careful because some online theft is sending malicious document which will give them access to the victim computer.

However sometimes you need to engage with investors and marketing agencies as well where you might need to do cross communication through URLs from different sites. The thing is you should be aware of how to handle such situations and how you can approach them without being a victim of a scammer. It is not that easy for someone new even some old dude, to fall for such a trap. That's why we saw some big project servers being taken over by hackers and used to promote malware through fake promotion.

You have a point but you can't be too careful due to human error and I hope you're using good paid internet security.

[lalabotax]

. A community moderator has most of the administrative access in the community server or channel, so he is the primary target of a hacker. Gaining access to a moderator account can give him control over the server which he can use to post phishing links. Similar incidents have happened with many projects recently. So guys beware of this as you can lose your job and your community altogether.

It looks like they are already organized. Whether they are one person or working as a team, what they do is quite organized and intended to scam people. In fact, the target is not ordinary people or newcomers but moderators or group admins who in fact are aware and know very well that the admins or moderators are not new players in the crypto business.

Because of this, wherever and whatever the conditions, we must be alert to various things that come our way. Having a sense of suspicion and not easily trusting anyone here turns out to be necessary so that we can be more careful and not easily fall for scammers. Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience.

[Broadanbig]

. A community moderator has most of the administrative access in the community server or channel, so he is the primary target of a hacker. Gaining access to a moderator account can give him control over the server which he can use to post phishing links. Similar incidents have happened with many projects recently. So guys beware of this as you can lose your job and your community altogether.

It looks like they are already organized. Whether they are one person or working as a team, what they do is quite organized and intended to scam people. In fact, the target is not ordinary people or newcomers but moderators or group admins who in fact are aware and know very well that the admins or moderators are not new players in the crypto business.

Because of this, wherever and whatever the conditions, we must be alert to various things that come our way. Having a sense of suspicion and not easily trusting anyone here turns out to be necessary so that we can be more careful and not easily fall for scammers. Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience.

Scammers are always very organised that is why you see people falling for their tricks. There is never a crime scene that is not properly organised. All scam activities are well organised and coordinated from the little step they take till it turns out to be a big tit tat. However, admins are majorly their targets because admins and moderators have influence over their community and are listened to because they convey information from the project founders to the community so therefore if getting them is possible, they would so that they could lure the community through the hacked moderators and admin handle to scamming members on their platform.

[Natalim]

Scammers/hackers have been too aggressive and really finding ways to get someone to fall into their tricks. Good thing that they are talking to someone who has the knowledge about their way of scamming but if this happens to normal people, I have no doubt that they become successful with their plan.

As the crypto community grows, scammers have been targeting us now believing that they have succeeded. Fortunately, as we continue battling these scammers, we are able to warn the community and avoid them.  

After all, I was too skeptical when someone sent links to me even to my friends.

[Sandra_hakeem]

If there's actually one thing I guide against every single day of my life is getting exposed to scammy activities... I don't even wanna be a part of it anyways  
like I said in one of my post, I can easily sight a scammy Project when I see one... managing a community like you said actually has alot of vices to thwart your effort, but I'm happy you were very smart to overvome such a planned format... Let's be careful out there as that's what has been occuring in several ways, with divers formats too.

Sandra 🧑‍🦰

[albon]

A lot of our community members work as community moderators and copywriters on various crypto projects. I am working on a few projects as well and i have faced a new kind of technique recently used by scammers and hackers that i think needs to be shared with our community members who work in similar professions.

Recently one of my project where I am working as a community moderator a guy dropped a message in my inbox asking for permission to write an article about the project and they wouldn't charge anything for it. It is a free community so anyone can write anything about any project so I told him to work on it we don't have any problems. So he asked me a few questions about the project and i gave him the answer. At the end he told me that he wanted me to sign a contract so that there wouldn't be any copyright issues. This sudden change of tone makes me more skeptical, and i tried to look at the link he wanted me to click and found that it had a javascript written on it. I don't want to share the link here as it has phishing elements on it. I had a similar incident before which i shared in the forum, so my mind told me not to click that link.

Working as a community moderator or any other profession requires the worker to be in touch with his community, respond to their inquiries, and verify what community members send can be risky. This is because not all community members are honest people. Some scammers try with all their ability to trap this worker who is striving to make a living. These scammers know that no matter what they send to him, he will not block them because it's part of his job.

Therefore, those in these professions should be careful and not open any link sent to them without scanning it carefully. The community moderator should receive the article's content written in text as a message or receive it published on LinkedIn or Medium.. etc., without including links from untrusted platforms. It is also better for community moderators not to use their primary devices to work in this profession. In addition, the security measures for worker accounts must also be increased, such as adding two-factor authentication and so on, as the field of cryptocurrencies is not free of scammers, so no one should put his trust in strangers, no matter how much evidence they have of them that proves the opposite of their malicious intentions.

[Iroh]

Do we expect scammers to keep using the same old routine? Same old phishing attempt but with a new twist to the story every time.
I thought it wasn’t right when they requested your permission to write an article. That was probably thrown in the premise that you would feel important enough to be asked permission from and get you in a way, committed. Giving the attempt another go with a new twist wanting an interview.
His tone betrayed how desperate he wanted this part of the con to succeed and you were observant enough to notice it.