be careful about Cryptocurrency telegram jobs

[Prognostic_Factor]

I am a freelancer and I work for a company that promotes Cryptocurrency projects on telegram. I have been doing this work for some time now,  in addition I also have my own private freelancing job where I connect with the project and reach agreement to carry out the work.

I am making this post because I believe that there are Cryptocurrency freelancers here. There was this encounter I had with this prospective client, first I introduced myself and what I can offer his project, at first the chat was very casual and I have already learnt about the project because I follow their group and they were newly listed on coin market cap. The conversation was very official, and was advancing quickly we have reached agreement on price and mode of work and he asked for time to talk with his team.

He got back to me saying all is set and the time for the work was fixed I was excited that I started to make arrangements then he asked for personal details like phone number and some form of identification or so, right then I knew that's a red flag, I declined and he insisted but I told that's not how it works I can give him the chance to make part payment and the rest when it's done if he is doubting me but he refused then the deal broke down.

The evening of that day I checked my wallet and noticed that most of my altcoins has just disappeared, I was in disbelief and devastated, it broke me down that I had to seek medical attention.

I am sharing my experience so other may learn.

Being a freelance is not bad especially when you do the job you are paid for without any controversies but here are the mistake I believe I made and some advice I think every freelancer should have

1. Having my wallet in the same device I use to carry out my work.
2. I only started to use 2FA authenticator after that has happened so if you don't have a 2FA you need to have it.
3. Don't trust a project just because they are listed on coin market cap, many scam project are there also.
4. Although I did not do this in my case but don't just fill any form clients gives you, some form can look so authentic but can be phishing links.
5. Protect your private information very well.

[Upgrade00]

You left lots of gaps in your story. According to you, you did not provide any of the personal information that was asked and then the deal broke through, how then were they able to steal your alt coins?

What wallet are you using?

[Davidvictorson]

Thank you for sharing your experience.Telegram is a very wild place and if you must do anything there you have to be very highly vigilant about your security there. There are many ways through which your accounts can be hacked even for people who are experienced in cryptocurrency. I personally do not talk to strangers there unless I know you or we already planned to have a conversation about something there.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

You left lots of gaps in your story. According to you, you did not provide any of the personal information that was asked and then the deal broke through, how then were they able to steal your alt coins?

What wallet are you using?

This is also what I'm thinking, the only way that this criminals might have stolen his altcoins is him downloading some form of zip file extracting it and doing the test as per the instructions of the prospective client. And after extracting it to his machine, that's where the magic begins for this criminals. He might have thought that he on a exam and then the client might report to him that he has passed and that they have a deal.

And then as a diversion, the supposedly client ask for personal information as a diversion so that the OP will not suspect anything in the beginning as the criminals trying to steal everything from him. Of course, the OP will says no, but then it is the expected answer by the client and by the time he check everything, the scammers have stolen his altcoins already.

[DYING_S0UL]

Wait what? OP your story doesn't make sense to me. I got the part that you are a freelancer and your wallet got drained! But how exactly? You obviously left out a lot of information regarding this scam method. How or what happened in the middle of the conversation? Did he sent you any suspicious looking link or what? Or did he asked you to download anything? And lastly, how did you made contact? only through TG? Or other 3rd party conference app? I have heard some of these apps are maliciously created, while the call happens, attackers can do things in the background...

[vadranov]

He got back to me saying all is set and the time for the work was fixed I was excited that I started to make arrangements then he asked for personal details like phone number and some form of identification or so, right then I knew that's a red flag, I declined and he insisted but I told that's not how it works I can give him the chance to make part payment and the rest when it's done if he is doubting me but he refused then the deal broke down.

don't give out any other personal information, it's dangerous. Only wallet, it's enough.. There are a lot of scammers on Telegram, that's clear. Regarding wallets, you should activate 2FA from the very first time you install a wallet.

[Bluedrem]

You did not disclose anything in your story. What is the connection between the project contract being broken and the alt coins disappearing from your wallet? Did the broken project provide you with any phishing links? Did you click on any phishing links? Or did you provide your wallet phase to gain access to your device or trust? In fact, you should have disclosed the reason why the coins disappeared from your wallet. The project authority can ask you for an ID to ensure the transparency of the contract. You only said in your statement that the project team asked you for a phone number and ID, which you did not provide, as a result of which the contract was broken and later you could not see the alt coins in your wallet. Could you please analyze the connection between the breach of contract and the disappearance of the coins?

[fredericktaylor]

I assume your story is true, but you haven't clearly explained the whole story, leaving out some key information. It's normal for the project owner to ask you for ideas to create transparency or trust in the contract. You haven't given a proper reason why the coins were stolen from your wall due to the project contract being broken. If you share your wallet's recovery phrase or passkey with someone, there is a possibility that all the Altcoins in your wallet will be stolen, or if you enter a phishing link and register there,  fraudster can hack your wallet and steal all your Altcoins.

[Webutxo]

He got back to me saying all is set and the time for the work was fixed I was excited that I started to make arrangements then he asked for personal details like phone number and some form of identification or so, right then I knew that's a red flag, I declined and he insisted but I told that's not how it works I can give him the chance to make part payment and the rest when it's done if he is doubting me but he refused then the deal broke down.

don't give out any other personal information, it's dangerous. Only wallet, it's enough.. There are a lot of scammers on Telegram, that's clear. Regarding wallets, you should activate 2FA from the very first time you install a wallet.

I don't think that any serious person that has good intension of hiring you is going to be asking about your personal information, they may ask about your name and where you live but most importantly, they will ask about your portfolio, that's what every project does if they want to hire you for a specific job.

If it's a web3 job, they will ask you for the projects you have work before, the people that own the project and what was your contribution and most times it's via an application through Google form and that's all. Anything other this is a scam, then payment negotiations.

[Findingnemo]

You said you didn't even give your personal info like phone number, which led to breaking the deal but how come the other person can access your wallet? Did he asked you to install any kind of software or ask you to connect with some kind of smart contract?

Because, AFAIK, it is not possible for someone to get access to your wallet just by reaching you out in the telegram. Or it could be two different incidents that you are merging into one?

[MusaPk]

You said you didn't even give your personal info like phone number, which led to breaking the deal but how come the other person can access your wallet? Did he asked you to install any kind of software or ask you to connect with some kind of smart contract?

Because, AFAIK, it is not possible for someone to get access to your wallet just by reaching you out in the telegram. Or it could be two different incidents that you are merging into one?

In cyber space, the security is as strong as it's weakest link and this weakest link is unfortunately the mistakes made by humans. No matter how advance a hacker is and his techniques are, he still has to rely on victims mistake to execute his attack. Regardless of whether OP story is true or not, we have to keep this thing in our mind that security of our wallets and other digital assets rests on our shoulders. Installing and updating an  anti-virus on your digital gadgets won't be enough to secure your assets. We need to remain vigilant against every suspicious thing we see online. 

[cryptoaddictchie]

Telegram jobs are so dangerous especially if you dont know the people behind the offer. Theres a lot of users there who got premium and imitate fake accounts or probably using fake socials too.

Its hard to trust someone to be working on web3 without really knowing these poeple. I think legit jobs can be found on site looking for tg jobs thats where people should look at.

[rdluffy]

Did you download any software?

The most common thing I've seen scammers do is advertise a crypto job, usually for a Discord or community moderator
They have their own website and make everything look legitimate, then they ask you to make a video call
From there, they can do a few different things, but the idea is to make it seem like something is wrong with the video call and get you to download a “plugin,” which is a program that will capture your data
Or they may send you a link to download a supposed program for making video calls

They act according to the user, so if your wallet has been drained, you probably clicked on a link or downloaded a program for that to happen, right?

I hope you haven't lost too much   

[Emjay24]

Anybody trusting any transaction from a random telegram user or anyone recruiting through telegram is just setting themselves up. Telegram is a scam hub, I've got many offers there but took it as cruise, most people have offered they're services even without asking over there but I don't even read their messages. People use there to obtain from others by false preference steadily so transactions there should be out of the question. I don't even trust their P2P, so I don't see what would get me serious over there. I once got a software which was promised to get seed phrases of forgotten wallets from the Blockchain . Installed it on my laptop and ran for several hours only to find out it was a scam app, that was prior to my getting involved here and got to know that it's not possible to search the Blockchain for seed phrases.

[Asiska02]

You left lots of gaps in your story. According to you, you did not provide any of the personal information that was asked and then the deal broke through, how then were they able to steal your alt coins?

What wallet are you using?

How his tokens got stolen was not in connection with the story at all, and what I think is that he must have done something for them to have had access to his wallet or maybe the hack wasn’t even from the person he claimed to be. The story is a natural one and no doubt, such can happen to a freelancer but your funds can’t just be stolen when you didn’t give out your personal information.

Even when personal information are been given out, if you don’t provide details of anything that could allow them have access to your wallet, there is no way they can access and steal from you. Then again, a phishing link sent to fill out details which he never mentioned in the whole story. Being security conscious and private minded is important, it can help secure your wallet from scammers.

[BitHodlers]

You left lots of gaps in your story. According to you, you did not provide any of the personal information that was asked and then the deal broke through, how then were they able to steal your alt coins?

What wallet are you using?

The story is probably fake, many people try this to earn merits but still it does not matter. The overall message is correct. All those crypto jobs on Telegram and Discord are scam. I see them frequently when we are a bit bullish. They also often offer pay that is well above average for those positions. That is the first major red flag!

[Darker45]

Did this really happen to you or this is just a made-up story? How come you were only chatting with a prospective client and later in the evening some of your coins disappeared? And why only some and not everything in your wallet? And what happened to your medical consultation; what did the doctor say?

I used to be a freelancer as well and my employers would also ask for personal information like my name. I don't think it's necessarily a red flag. You'd be working for them. You'd even send them your comprehensive résumé.

It looks to me you're trying hard to come up with an interesting topic to discuss.

[Marvelockg]

Did this really happen to you or this is just a made-up story? How come you were only chatting with a prospective client and later in the evening some of your coins disappeared? And why only some and not everything in your wallet? And what happened to your medical consultation; what did the doctor say?

looks so much like a make up story. i was waiting to see the part he gives a particular information about himself to the person that gave that person the ability to get access into his device or so...

on a normal day, hackers will not waste there time asking for your phone number, what is the use of a phone number in a crypto related conversation. except the person in question is from your country and works with the security and exchange commission, then it becomes understandable in that regard that the person might just be doing that to know your real identity. anything short of this possibility brings a lot of question mark to the story.

[Ojima-ojo]

This story doesn't add up, because you haven't shared with your perspective clients any of your personal details and no where you mentioned that you give him you wallet securities or connect your wallet with any of their contracts addresses.

So why and how then are you accusing them of stealing your coins from the portfolio, from all indications you don't have to accuse them yet unless there is something you have not mentioned yet on this thread.

[aylabadia05]

<snip>

Not to belittle your narrative, OP, but there's nothing specific about what you wrote. Just so you know, Telegram is a wild place, as someone has said.

Previously, I thought your point was a good one, and that point is in the statement "be careful with your work" and point number five, "protect your personal information very well." These points are one way to prevent malicious acts by people who habitually commit malicious acts against others.

If I say your narrative sounds fabricated, don't be offended because you disappeared after creating this thread without responding to anything you deemed relevant.