The Most Common Online Scam in Crypto World

Never click links without verifying their truthfulness, on website, DM, emails, and social media.
You can be hacked if you follow fake Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram accounts that use the names of prominent crypto enthusiasts like Elon Musk.
You can be defrauded if you download a fake mobile app or visit an imposter website.
Cryptocurrency itself is not a scam but the people around it are.

Crypto scam activities are everywhere on the internet and most often come directly via your email. It doesn’t happen often to meet a fraudster in person on the street to scam you in the first place in the crypto world, but on the internet, you can be swindled easily if you are not careful.

You can be scammed at any time if you are a fan of clicking suspicious links you don’t check the source. Don’t trust easily. Apart from your email, sometimes, the hackers can tag you to click on links in the comments of prominent figures you follow on social media platforms. Let’s see the most common cases.

Bad Tweets and Social Media Comments

Scammers are now using social media platforms like Meta (Facebook), Twitter, and crypto-friendly apps like Telegram as their new means of scamming people. The imposters create fake social media profiles to represent prominent personalities like Elon Musk, Michael Saylor, and other celebrities and ask crypto lovers to send for example 0.001 BTC with a false promise that 1 BTC will be returned. Sometimes, they do this by creating fake ICO event and crypto referral program that ask investors to contribute a portion of their Bitcoin holdings with the false promises that they will receive a higher yield. They end up running away after they accumulate a certain amount of BTC from the victims.

Also, hackers create bots to automatically hype crypto projects with false comments to attract crypto lovers to their scamming projects. They even promise crypto believers to use their services and become a billionaire in the next few years, meanwhile, all are fallacies. An unknown number can message you via social media channels that they know a potential crypto project that can change your life. Just know that any legitimate company will “DM” you first.

Fraudsters can think of catchy brand names, or mimic prominent brands such as Binance exchange and sauce it with their keywords that could let crypto beginners think it’s related to a legitimate counterpart. As a result, the crypto market is flooded with tokens that have no connection with the brand they bring to mind.

This type of scam attempt happened to LYOPAY on Facebook. An imposter created fake pages named LYOPAY with the same profile picture and cover and commented on our page hoping someone will believe they are the real author page. We highly recommend our audience to always report these imposters if you feel suspicious. Keep in mind that, LYOPAY will never ask you to send a crypto to an unknown wallet.

Fake mobile apps

Fake mobile applications available on Google Play and Apple App Store are other common ways hackers trick crypto investors. More than thousands of people have been impersonated by downloading fake crypto apps. Most of the scammers mimic brands of popular apps, logos, names, and colors just to trick people into downloading. It is advisable to take note when downloading crypto apps online to avoid being defrauded.

You can easily identify fake apps by researching whether the developers behind them are real humans or not. Doing this can be time-consuming but it is going to be worth it in the end. In addition, it is advisable to check the release date of the app and how the app is rated on the internet. Review the Permission Agreement of any app you download. Putting all these aspects of the aforementioned into consideration will be of greater importance to avoid being scammed.

Imposter websites

Undoubtedly, regardless of how you become educated about crypto or get trained with crypto tips from someone with a lot of experience, you can still become a victim to scammers by accidentally visiting a fake website. There are surprising forged websites created to function as original. You have to think twice if you have been visiting a website that has no small lock icon indicating security near the URL bar or the “HTTP.” Also, check the domain of the sites you visit carefully. The imposter misspells domain names of an official “website.com” as “websiite.com” representing the theft form. Always be vigilant not to click early but find out the legitimate websites, especially in the fintech space.

Scamming emails

Hackers often announce fake Initial Coin offerings (ICO) via email as a way to steal substantial funds from investors. If you doubt an email asking you where you work, your bank details, and other confidential information, don’t rush to click any link, take your time to check the email and do the needful. There are several different ways hackers perform scams via email. Some scammers ask you to send money to a wallet via email. Others also ask you to click on malicious links containing malware with the intention of scamming you.

You should not rush into cryptocurrency and financial-related projects. Instead, take your time and do more advanced research before investing your hard-earned money in cryptocurrency.

Conclusion

Despite your little knowledge about cryptocurrency, you can still become a pro and identify scammers. Don’t trust any word of mouth by people who give false hopes and promises of a higher return on investment (ROI) of crypto projects. More importantly, do not be too greedy to become a billionaire in a shorter possible time with cryptocurrency.

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