[Guide] Spot And Avoid Some of the Common Crypto Scams.

[cafter]

Understanding Some Common Scams and How to Safeguard ourselves.

This guide helps you to understand scams on platforms or services and how to avoid them.

Here are some common ones I've seen online:

1. Ponzi Scheme:
This is a type of Investment Fraud that promises high returns to investors with very low risk or no risk involved, they get investment by telling the investors their fake business model which will always be profitable.
In this scam the early investors get their profits by using new investors money, the scam keeps running as long as the scammers are successfully getting to scam more people or introduce their scheme to more investors, once the influx of money from new investors stops the whole scheme falls. And most people will lose their investments, the early investors may make good profits from it but the majority of them will lose.

How does it work?
The scammers try to introduce their scheme to new people by using social media platforms, paid advertising, etc. they promise high returns that can be 50%, 100% or a little more than what others are giving,
They may introduce their fake business model like cloud mining which will be always profitable because they successfully mine 10 blocks a day, or they have a team of professional traders and shows their PNL or says they have build a bot using AI, machine learning that make them 100% profits every day.

After getting some early investors they introduce their schemes to more people, then the early investors successfully get their returns which is from new victims of the scheme, in this phase everything looks Okay and profitable. But in reality the victims don't know what is happening on the other side.

Ponzi scheme operate smoothly as long as the scammers are able to successfully get new investors to invest, once the scammers struggle to bring in new investors, and simultaneously earlier investors start trying to cash out but can't, the whole scheme collapses.
In some cases the online platforms tweak their terms and conditions stating, - to withdraw your investments you need to have 5/10 active referrals. Which helps the ponzi scheme to run some more days or months because some more people will get introduced to the scheme. But eventually this scheme falls leaving the majority of people in loss.

How to stay away from it?

• I would say that wherever you see unusually high returns then skip it, never look at it and research about it more, because the scammers introduce their scheme so convincingly that we cannot resist ourselves to be a part of, sometimes…..!
• If you find a good ROI then research about the platform on reviews sites, start by reading the low star reviews first, because they mostly seem genuine. And if the site is a scam then you will see a lot of people reviewing it as a scam.
• Look on their website and their team if they are real people by researching their LinkedIn, social media, etc. in crypto space the socials will be unavailable most of the time so skip that platform because those are obvious scams most of the time.

2. Romance Scam:
This is a slow process of scamming.
Scammers use fake dating profiles, fake social media of the victim's opposite sex. First they try to start a conversation like an intro making an excuse of their cousin also having the same name so they thought you were him/her.
And when time passes they try to make relationships with the victim, and introduce the victim to trading, crypto, forex. And convince them to invest on their fake platform introducing how they made huge profits.

How does this work?
The scammers introduce themselves using fake social media, and they try to play with your emotions by asking questions like hobbies, education, etc. they seems like real people at first,
They share personal incidents, what they are doing at the moment, etc. type of images.
After a long time, building a connection with the victim they try to introduce them to crypto or forex trading or something similar.

They prove that they have made good profit by trading/investing at a specific platform.
Then they convince the victim to deposit on that platform which is an exchange or broker which is fake and developed by scammers to scam.

They may tell the victim that they get insider news from a uncle/anyone from that she/he can make good profits daily.
At first the platform may give a withdrawal for a small amount but when the victim invests something significant, the scammers run away with the money.

How to Spot and Avoid these types of scam?

• You will be contacted first by the scammer, using any type of excuse like they got your profile/contact from a friend, they were trying to contact another person, etc.
• They will always seem to be online and always reply very soon to you with any query or message.
• Ask them to video call
• Their pictures on their socials will look like models or very attractive pictures. which are copied from other people profiles or stock images
• They will always try to motivate you and cheer you up in any situation.
• Always look for reviews of any platform you are trying to make an account with. Research in depth about that platform like their location, their team, their linkedin, look at their partner company’s social posts - because there will always be a social media post if the company partners with some other company, etc.
• Do not pay anything first like account opening charges, fee for verification etc.

3. Job Scam:
I found most of these types of scams on discord and telegram channels. Scammers post job listings/ads on Facebook job groups, telegram channels, discord servers for a job where they need many employees/freelancers for basic tasks. Such as data entry, converting text on images to pdf, Copy pasting, etc. by promising unusually high salary. But in the end they charge a fee for making Job IDs, Fee for application process, etc.

How to Identify these types of scams?
You will find similar job postings when researching their FB profile, posts like basic tasks, basic copy paste job, no experience needed, etc.
These scams let you start working immediately like no interviews, no asking for qualifications.
The job listings will be by a person without any connection. In case they provide the company name then research about them see the profile of the person/employee on their company linkedin match with the jos poster or not.
They will promise high payment like $500 for 1-2 hr per day. These are really very vague claims but some people fall for these obvious scams too.

How to stay away from it?

• Avoid paying for getting the job, you can be asked to pay for anything and any amount. Legitimate employers do not charge fees for employment.
• Stay away from basic no skills required jobs, that pays unusually high amount.

• Stay away from basic no skills required jobs, that pays unusually high amount.

• They have crypto as a payment method.

4. Phishing scams:
These scams involve scammers attempting to obtain your sensitive information such as passwords, credit card details, and private keys by using fake platforms or urls that look like legitimate ones. Once you enter your data there, your account may be hacked or your wallet wiped.

How does this scam work?
In this type of scam there are no big claims, no big promises, no charges, no fees.
They try to just gather your personal info like the password of a platform, private key of crypto wallet, Social account details, etc.
In most cases they try to gather this info by using similar links and interfaces of the original platforms or websites.

Here is an example of an phishing attack to understand about it:
The victim is contacted with an email saying that the victim has been chosen as a winner of a giveaway, in which he didn’t even participate. When seeing the $ sign and 4 zeros after a number the victim’s mind stopped thinking and he clicked the link, which maybe a hyperlink or a link seems similar to metamask. Like this 'metamosk.io'.
Then he got redirected to a platform which looks exactly like metamask where he needs to enter the private key believing its required to claim the reward and get scammed. Then they check their browser history and figure that it was a phishing link.

Recently I got a phishing link that was asking for my twitter password to be able to see the account activities. I get daily some DM's on twitter and i didn't Even posted on that account.

How to spot and stay away from phishing attacks?

• Always use 2fa security on websites, like a confirmation email when someone tries to sign in with a different ip, or use google authenticator 2fa, etc.
• Always check what url you will be redirected to: To Check that you can copy the hyperlink and paste it to a notepad for checking if it's a real website or not. For pc just hover over the hyperlink you will see the redirecting url on the left corner of the browser window.
• Do not fall for free stuff like giveaways.
• Always use a different browser profile for finance related sites like banking sites, exchanges, etc.

I came across these scams i thought it would be helpful if someone is new and just getting started here, but after pasting the post from my notepad it got really very long.

[1714278538]

1714278538

[_act_]

The is a good and useful article but there are more crypto scam than these 4. But the way you wrote it is good.

How to spot and stay away from phishing attacks?

• Always use 2fa security on websites, like a confirmation email when someone tries to sign in with a different ip, or use google authenticator 2fa, etc.
• Always check what url you will be redirected to: To Check that you can copy the hyperlink and paste it to a notepad for checking if it's a real website or not. For pc just hover over the hyperlink you will see the redirecting url on the left corner of the browser window.
• Do not fall for free stuff like giveaways.
• Always use a different browser profile for finance related sites like banking sites, exchanges, etc.

Using 2FA might protect you from hackers to hack steal your coins from your exchange account that you are using  to trade but not useful to avoid phishing attack. Also using different browser can not help you to avoid phishing attack. Just know how to know the phishing attack emails and messages generally and do not open the phishing emails and messages. They are easy to know and avoid.

[cafter]

snip

Yes, but i shared the tips that can save us from most types of the scam, And using 2fa can protect us all of the times, think of it in this way: assume that unfortunately you entered your details on that phishing website and the scammer got it, but when the scammer would try to login or withdraw the funds then how he will enter the 2fa? which may be a email verification code, or code which is in authenticator app in your phone or browser.

and using different browser profile can also save us, In my case, I save passwords in  the browser save password feature so it would be easier to enter the details in one click.
which increases the chances of entering the details on that phishing site too.

and one more advantage of using different browser is, we will discover less phishing links or no phishing links on that separate browser (or browser profile) because all those types of links will be on our daily use browser which have no details of financial websites in it.

[Findingnemo]

snip

Yes, but i shared the tips that can save us from most types of the scam, And using 2fa can protect us all of the times, think of it in this way: assume that unfortunately you entered your details on that phishing website and the scammer got it, but when the scammer would try to login or withdraw the funds then how he will enter the 2fa? which may be a email verification code, or code which is in authenticator app in your phone or browser.

and using different browser profile can also save us, In my case, I save passwords in  the browser save password feature so it would be easier to enter the details in one click.
which increases the chances of entering the details on that phishing site too.

and one more advantage of using different browser is, we will discover less phishing links or no phishing links on that separate browser (or browser profile) because all those types of links will be on our daily use browser which have no details of financial websites in it.

Not entirely, 2FA is not a foolproof security measure and there are many ways that it can be bypassed so never consider it will save the funds in exchange when someone tries to hack then it is wrong.

Also, I am against saving passwords in the browser which may look secure but we are completely trusting the browser we are using with our credentials which can be used in any way and there is a high chance the saved data from their cloud if there is any data breach and it's more common though but only good thing is if the saved passwords are stored in encrypted format.

[Upgrade00]

and using different browser profile can also save us, In my case, I save passwords in  the browser save password feature so it would be easier to enter the details in one click.

'Easier' most of the times means less secure and in this case it is. Investors use exchange wallets for storage cause it's easy and they take a screenshot of thetr seedphrase instead of writing it down cause it's convenient and they end up compromising their security.

Using your browser to generate and store passwords is a terrible way to access a profile, especially for sensitive ones related to financial activities.

and one more advantage of using different browser is, we will discover less phishing links or no phishing links on that separate browser (or browser profile) because all those types of links will be on our daily use browser which have no details of financial websites in it.

Your online habits are what determines whether or not you'll be exposed to scams and phishing links. The number of browsers or browsing profiles you use does not reduce this.

[cryptoaddictchie]

Using 2FA might protect you from hackers to hack steal your coins from your exchange account that you are using  to trade but not useful to avoid phishing attack. Also using different browser can not help you to avoid phishing attack. Just know how to know the phishing attack emails and messages generally and do not open the phishing emails and messages. They are easy to know and avoid.

I get it that 2fa is helping on protection from possible hack but why more browser cant help on avoiding such phishing? I am using different browser and so far and luckily Im not been penetrated by such attacks. What do you think aside from exposing your address to those spammy email might better do to reduce that, sometimes even an inactive email got a message of spam.

[348Judah]

The is a good and useful article but there are more crypto scam than these 4. But the way you wrote it is good.

How to spot and stay away from phishing attacks?

• Always use 2fa security on websites, like a confirmation email when someone tries to sign in with a different ip, or use google authenticator 2fa, etc.
• Always check what url you will be redirected to: To Check that you can copy the hyperlink and paste it to a notepad for checking if it's a real website or not. For pc just hover over the hyperlink you will see the redirecting url on the left corner of the browser window.
• Do not fall for free stuff like giveaways.
• Always use a different browser profile for finance related sites like banking sites, exchanges, etc.

Using 2FA might protect you from hackers to hack steal your coins from your exchange account that you are using  to trade but not useful to avoid phishing attack. Also using different browser can not help you to avoid phishing attack. Just know how to know the phishing attack emails and messages generally and do not open the phishing emails and messages. They are easy to know and avoid.

2FA verification means has been one of the safest means of protecting ourselves from scam targeted on us, the beauty in this was that, if they manage to escape the first security bridge by gaining access, they will be denied entry without passing through the 2FA other means of verification which they are likely not going to pass through since they are not the legitimate owner, we also have to the mindful as not to by our own mistakes grant them access to attack us with our ignorance.

[hugeblack]

Since scam is a new thing and scammers invent different tricks every day, trying to search or follow specific tips will not be useful in avoiding fraud because they will become outdated over time. The best tips for avoiding fraud are DYOR, be skeptical, always ask, and do not use any service that you do not trust or in other words consider all services are scam.

Without trying to question, research, avoid using random links, avoid downloading unknown applications, using closed operating systems or cracked programs, any advice will be useless.

[robelneo]

Educating yourself and limiting who can contact you is the best practice when it comes to avoiding scams, scammers are now innovative but that innovation is nothing if you do not open a path for them to implement their scheme to you, we have a saying here in our country don't trust strangers but you should not put 100% on people you know.
You are your bank, and since you are, you will always be a target of scammers, especially if you're giving away too much of yourself in what you're holdings, so I would like to add that be discreet in all your dealings and how you talk about your investment, especially to people you know personally, being discreet is protecting yourself.

[Shishir99]

I would love to write more about some of these scam methods.

1. Ponzi Scheme:

Unfortunately, scammers re-branding the Ponzi scheme themes. They are presenting it like it's a new business. They are doing it in various ways. For example, they are opening trading platforms where AI will place trade for you and you have to buy the AI for a couple of hundred dollars. Which is a pure scam. People say that they are making money from AI trading and suddenly those platforms stop paying them and close the business.

2. Romance Scam:

This is also known as a e-whoring. If you check https://hackforums.net/, you will find a thousands of packages which promised to gives you tricks to earn $10K per months and those are nothing but e-whoring tricks. Nudes of a girl will be included in those packages. People should stay away from those scams.

[LogitechMouse]

I've seen it all already. All types of scams that OP has shared with us, but I'm disappointed in myself because I almost fell into a phishing scam.
I'll share a bit of my experience with it, and I hope 1 or 2 can learn as well.

It was at the time when we are waiting for the DYM airdrop. I saw a link that is almost the same as the legit website (always the case), but something's wrong already with the website because I can't log in to my Kepler Wallet. I gave that link to my relative and my surprise, he said to me that it was a phishing site. I guess the fact that I can't log in to my account is already a "blessing in disguise" on my part, and even though I didn't log in, I'm still thinking that somehow, the hacker can drain my wallet. Well, weeks have passed and fortunately, nothing has happened to my account... or has it??

I guess the lesson is that don't get excited too much, especially when you are eligible and about to get the free tokens. Like I always say, when emotions are high, intelligence is low, so don't get excited like I did. I learned from that as well anyways.

[snowpega]

<snip>

there are alot of scamming techniques hackers or scams use to trap crypto users but those you mentioned are also one of them which i already have kind of idea but nice effort but dear can you tell me from where did you compiled all this data because adding some source link may good for your account health.

Now let's talk about the scamming traps greed is the most used trap to scam crypto users. If I share one of my thread which I experienced some months ago, here is the link to the thread...>>>> [Guide] Avoid These Kinds of Scams i did not take any action over it because there is no free money someone is going to offer you without any reason. So the best suggestion is to always stay up-to-date on these scammers so that you do not have to face any kind of problem.