The world of cryptocurrency investing is growing. We hear more and more talk about virtual currencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. These cryptocurrencies have rising values and are the subject of great profits for investors. That is why the number of scams in the business has been increasing lately.
What are the most common cryptocurrency scams?
Among the most common scams are those known as ‘Ponzi Scams’, ‘Pump and Dump’, the impersonation of celebrities by creating fake accounts, or ‘phishing’.
- Ponzi Scheme: This is a fraudulent operation in which victims are encouraged to invest in a non-existent company or in a scheme to recover money quickly.
- Pump and Dump: According to the American digital media Business Inder, “the objective of a pump and dump is to make money quickly .” These types of scams seek to take advantage of novice investors.
- Identity theft: In this case, false exchanges of information are carried out through emails or posts on social networks. Celebrities encourage their followers to invest in non-existent investment plans.
- Phishing: It consists of receiving emails from supposed banks or bank card providers that request payment in cryptocurrencies and that usually threaten a time limit.
- Cryptocurrency scams on Telegram: Cybercriminals are spreading different techniques and online scams on Telegram forums (a popular application in Spain), where they use phone calls in which they impersonate the platforms’ customer service to obtain access to money.
An example of this that you probably know is the malware called Echelon, which appeared on Telegram a couple of months ago to steal cryptocurrency wallets. But this virus has also accessed the data of other applications such as Armory; AtomicWallet; BitcoinCore; ByteCoin; DashCore; Electrum; Exodus; Jaxx and LitecoinCore.
The trendy crypto scam
Just a week ago, the newspaper ‘Criptonoticias’ (which is dedicated to covering events related to Bitcoin money technology) warned that scammers had now developed fraudulent websites that presented themselves as cryptocurrency mining platforms but in reality, they were looking to steal Tether (USDT) and other digital assets. These scams are becoming so common that the Ethereum wallet team, Metamask, has stated on the subject.
Other types of cryptocurrency scams
1. Cryptocurrency pyramid scam
Over the years, the National Police has dismantled other types of cryptocurrency scams in Spain. An example is what happened a couple of weeks ago with a network that recruited young people with the promise of making them rich by investing in cryptocurrencies through classes on financial transactions that are not permitted in Spain. This is known in the world of cryptocurrencies as a “pyramid scam” since those arrested belonged to a criminal organization that worked with misleading advertising.
2. Tinder cryptocurrency scams
Likewise, on Tinder (a dating and dating application that has become viral in Spain) the number of scams related to cryptocurrencies has also increased. According to the newspaper ‘Criptonoticias’, last year a total of 56,000 cryptocurrency frauds were intercepted in online dating applications. But what stands out most in these cases is that scammers prefer women who own bitcoin (BTC).
The scams on this dating network have become so repetitive lately that Netflix has created its movie: ‘the Tinder scammer scam ‘, which tells the story of a man who posed as a diamond magnate and seduced women on the internet to scam them out of millions of dollars.
How to prevent your cryptocurrencies from being stolen?
The first thing to keep in mind when having cryptocurrencies is that it is not physical money. Therefore, it cannot be kept in a bag or wallet, but rather it contains files that are stored with a key and that we must protect to operate safely. This is essential, since if you use a wallet with an easy-to-guess password, anyone can access and steal everything inside. And in the case of the private key, you should not give it to anyone.
So that your cryptocurrencies are not stolen, remember:
- Use all possible security methods.
- Choose a good wallet to store your cryptocurrencies.
- Be careful with your transactions.
- Don’t trust anything or anyone. When you follow cryptocurrency groups to learn, they usually talk to you to help you. If at any time they ask you for access to your accounts… don’t pay attention, they are scamming you!!!
If you want your bitcoins to be safe, at Novatos Trading Club we recommend the new Material Bitcoin wallet (immune to hackers). This way, your coins will be protected from any cryptocurrency-related scams.