How to Avoid Cryptocurrency Scams

The future of cryptocurrency is bright given the consistent increase in its demand across the world. However, the prevalence of scams is currently hindering its widespread adoption. Many unreliable people and criminals take advantage of beginners and unsuspecting traders and flee away with their hard-earned digital currencies.

Here are 5 ways to avoid falling for a crypto scam:

1. Identify and Keep Away from Imposter Websites

Imposter websites are quite common today since scammers understand that some crypto investors and traders do not have enough time for doing due diligence before making transactions or logging into sites. They create websites that look like the original ones and ask users to log in to manage their accounts, trade, or invest.

The goal of these scammers is to have you enter your personal login details into their websites. They then use the stolen details to withdraw your funds from your exchange or wallet.

To avoid this type of crypto scam, you should:

• Understand the goal of these scammers
• Never share your private keys
• Carefully have a look at the URLs, and keep away you notice any incorrect character
• Think twice if there is no ‘HTTPS’ and a small security lock icon near the HTTPS icon

2. Avoid Suspicious Giveaways

Give away scams are also quite common today, and they are mainly on social media. They post alluring, forged messages that they allege are from well-known personalities in the crypto industry promoting giveaways. The statements include hyperlinks to fraudulent websites.

Once they suspect that you are investing in crypto, they reach out to you via fake social media accounts. Some people also make the first step after seeing the promotions.

The scammers can ask you to provide your login details. However, since many people are often hesitant to do this, they have changed tack. They ask you to ‘verify’ your crypto address by sending a specific amount of digital assets to the giveaway. These individuals promise to give you a great reward after following the instruction. However, since their objective is to steal your money, they don’t honor the promise.

The good news is that you or your loved ones can do the following to avoid the scammers:

• Conduct an online search on the identity of the company or group offering the giveaways on social media. If the offer appears fake, it most likely is.
• Never trust screenshots on social media, as they can be forged.
• Don’t send cryptocurrency to giveaways for any purpose.

3. Avoid Fake Mobile Apps

Scammers understand that many investors are currently using mobile apps. Besides, the number of traders who trust the applications is on the increase. So, scammers create fake mobile apps and make them available on Apple App Store and Google Play to take advantage of this. You can find some of these applications on various counterfeit websites too.

Even though many industry experts can easily detect the apps and have them removed from the hosting platforms, that doesn’t mean everyone is safe. Credible reports show that many unsuspecting traders and investors have already downloaded these fraudulent applications. We have established that Android users face the greatest risk.

However, with the advancement of technology, every person needs to understand these criminals’ operations and ways to avoid them.

Some of the standard features of these cryptocurrency scams are:

• Obvious misspellings
• Inauthentic branding with strong logo and coloring
• Low-quality apps
• Low online ratings
• Unknown in the market (Google to see what people think about it)

4. Avoid Scamming Emails

Scamming emails look the same as legitimate ones. Scammers create a website with a domain name that you can easily confuse with the company’s name or URL.

In the email, they can announce initial coin offerings and allow you to make more money. Sometimes, they ask you to log into your wallet or exchange to make some account changes. They also include at least one hyperlink in the call to action section. If you click them, you head to a fake website where they will mine your private keys and use them to steal all your funds from your wallet or exchange.

Some of the most effective ways of avoiding scamming emails are:

• Carefully take a look at hyperlinks
• Don’t click on hyperlinks
• Never share your private key with anyone
• Use an effective antivirus that can protect you against this type of scam

5. Avoid Fake Cloud Mining

This list can’t be complete without cloud mining since many investors have fallen victim to so many fake claims related to cloud mining. Scammers who use this method present high priced computers for rent, and they claim this will allow other users to mine using their equipment.

Some legitimate investors make the same claim. Unfortunately, the numbers of individuals who scam using this technique are more than the success cases. In part, this is because it takes hard work to distinguish ‘fakes’ from reliable offerings.

However, some of the most effective ways to identify and avoid the falling victim to scams include:

• Conduct independent research: Ensure you find out about the enterprise’s age, its computing competency, the deposit and withdrawal techniques, and legal facts about the enterprise and the teams behind it.
• Read user reviews: Read several online reviews on what users are saying about the enterprise
• Understand the activities of the Group: Visit their site, blog, and social media channels and check out their photos, interactions with users, employees, and more

Conclusion

Knowing how to undertake an analysis of a project, or the ability to spot red flags associated with scams can save you a lot of money and stress. Learn about the strategies you need to stay a step ahead of potential scammers. These efforts, combined with information on cryptoanalysis as discussed in this article, are a great way to keep safe.

In short, you should always do your due diligence, question the legitimacy of every website, offering, or giveaway. On top of that, ensure you keep your private keys secure away from potentially prying eyes.