When you become a part of the new digital monetary system called Cryptocurrency, it wouldn’t take long for you to recognise the risks and threats involved in every transaction. Scammers and victims are common online, and Cryptocurrency is no exemption! Before you engage and start investing, you should be aware of the possibilities of being scammed and prevent losing your funds to scammers.
If you’ve done your research about digital Cryptocurrency companies and startups, you probably know that they’re blockchain-powered, which means they track detailed transaction data. Before engaging in companies that support Cryptocurrency, it’s wise to perform research if this has rigid business schemes that tackle real-world problems and consists of real people working behind the company. If the startup organisation you plan on investing do not possess some of the important characteristics of a crypto trading platform, you might need to reconsider and give your determination to invest a second thought.
To avoid falling victims to the hands of scammers in the field of Cryptocurrency, it’s important to instantly recognise the red flags! To help you, we’ve compiled the four main Cryptocurrency scams that you must watch out for.
Top 4 Tips on How to Identify Cryptocurrency Scams
1. Fishy Emails
Nowadays, emails are used as one of the most powerful tools that take any business to the next level. In the marketing world, emails are known to be a trusted form of communication and are used by some companies to engage or invite potential customers. However, even if you receive an email from a legitimate Cryptocurrency company, you must think wisely before investing.
Is the email address used perfectly the same? Are the logo and branding used exactly similar? Is there anything that you can do to verify if the email is really from the company? There have been cases of scammers using fraud emails to target victims and ask for their wallet keys, so the opportunity to check these factors is one of the most important factors to determine that you’re choosing a company with real people working for you.
2. Fake Mobile Applications
Another way that scammers engage their victims is through creating fake mobile applications that can be downloaded through the Apple App Store or Google Play for Android users. While stakeholders have taken action against these fake apps by eliminating them from the store, the apps have already affected several startups. There has been a case of sneaky utility apps stealing $260 to $2500.
To avoid being part of the list of users that have been scammed, investors should be open to the possibility of fake mobile apps emerging and must know how to easily detect fake Cryptocurrency mobile applications. To identify, make sure to check for the tricky misspellings on the name of the application, the branding’s inauthentic looks by changing a shade of the colour used and logos. If you suspect any of these, you should reconsider downloading the mobile application.
3. Fake Websites
Even if you have carefully followed a list of advice and tips from experts in the crypto business or you’ve done extensive research, the possibility of you being a victim just by clicking and landing on a fake website created by scammers is high. You may not believe it by there’s a surprising number of websites that have been set up to closely resemble the original website of the original trading platforms such as Bitcoin Era.
When visiting a website, you must know what to look for to identify if you are on a valid website or a fraud one. The first thing that you must do is to look for the small lock icon near the URL bar and if the URL of the site does not start with “HTTPS”, as these may be possible reasons of lack of security, in which most fake websites don’t have.
Being scammed by fraud websites is not as simple as just visiting the site; even if the fraud one looks similar to the original, you might find yourself being directed to another platform and asking you to pay a certain amount. For example, you may have pressed a fake website, but scammers have already made a fake URL that replaces all letters ‘o’ with the number zero. To avoid this, type the exact address into your browser and don’t forget to double-check.
4. Poor Social Media Updates
Following crypto enthusiasts or celebrities on social media does not guarantee that you are not following a fraud account. This same method can also be applied to Cryptocurrencies as well, where malicious fake bots are common. In the online world, fake accounts are everywhere, so make sure not to instantly believe messages or offers that come from social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, especially if the promise seems impossible.
If these platforms ask for a share of your Cryptocurrency, don’t give your money away, as there’s a huge possibility that you can never get your money back. Just because these platforms reply to your messages or offers does not guarantee that they are not handled by robots, so make sure to be extra careful.
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