Every now and then, we hear about a crypto project that vanished after making millions in profit. Investors who partook in those projects are left crying in public forums, wondering what went wrong. In reality, crypto scams are somewhat easily noticeable. A few simple checks are enough to determine if the project is worth it or not. In this article, we are going to talk about those essential checks that investors need to do before partaking in any crypto project.
Fake accounts from Famous Influencers
A phenomenon that has been getting worse in the last few weeks is the fake accounts of prominent influencers. The famous Twitter account Plan B addressed this topic lately in a tweet:
Beware of scammers impersonating me. This is a very nasty one, you can hardly see the difference in name: his second l is a capital i (you can see it when you copy paste his name in a text editor). Note he has only 113 followers. Scammers ask you "send me a DM".
I NEVER DM !!! pic.twitter.com/7CkEUxG4do
The number of fake accounts that ask fans of real accounts about cryptocurrencies to invest is also increasing on YouTube and Instagram. Some of these accounts are very similar to real accounts. Fake accounts are now one of the most widespread crypto scams.
Blackmail Emails
More and more crypto scams are also occurring in which you receive an email claiming that data has been collected about you. The emails ask you to transfer Bitcoin to a specific wallet. Otherwise sensitive data about you would be published or your bank account would allegedly be emptied. Make sure to ignore these emails!
Dangerous face-to-face Meetings
Some of these crypto scams are already serious criminals. There are certain groups of criminals who target owners of bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. In some cases, they even want to gain access to the portfolios of crypto owners by force.
Pay particular attention to your safety if you are invited to face-to-face meetings with people you do not know! In addition, never give your address or your whereabouts to an unknown person online!
Ponzi schemes
The classic among the crypto scams is the so-called Ponzi scheme. You are promised that you can earn high returns by investing your bitcoins. With Ponzi schemes, however, returns come from other people’s investments. This usually only earns the very first investors and the majority of them lose their coins. Ponzi schemes are not only present in the crypto area and unfortunately, work again and again.
Fake Bitcoin Exchanges
The fake Bitcoin exchanges are among the most cheeky crypto scams. These pretend to be a large Bitcoin exchange that attracts you with extremely low fees. Their only job is to get your FIAT money out of your pocket. These scam exchanges often look very professional at first glance. Therefore stick to reputable crypto exchanges. These include Binance , Coinbase , Kraken, and Bitfinex .
