Topic: Bitcoin tips: Avoiding Scams (Read 183 times)

since time immemorial people have been trying to fleece other persons out of there assets , we shouldn't expect they would not do the same with crypo currencies. Most there scams are old scams with a new twist which is why i always stress the importance of doing your due intelligence. here are a few things to look out for
1. Fake and imitation wallets and exchanges.....a simple way to avoid this is to stay on the path of your fellow "forumers" and use only the biggest and best known services.
2.ponzi schemes............these are basically  the ones that tell you to make an investment and there will double or triple your money in a month or even a fortnight.
3.General malware......not clicking on unknown email attachments. A lot of scammers use bitcoins as bait, very good example i saw somewhere , someone on social media post you can mine bitcoins just by simply downloading a program or a link to some bitcoin exchange , this normally is geared towards the newbies.

 

thanks for this ill gonna bookmark it and it'll help me see if some ico and signature campaign is scam.

Bitcoin been or should I say becoming famous , because of the shocking increase of the value of it , through investment there is a risk , and on the other hand I just want to add some for my suggestion is , just think before you click , and think twice , thrice rather because some is using the name of bitcoin for scam. So always be careful , spread awareness , me too a to be honest , I experienced scam , so I just wanted to spread to reduce this kind of act.

Agree to that, everything should be check before getting involve, you should know every details that are needed if you don't want your money to be on risk.
I was once got scammed by those attracting site that is very presentable with a very nice design. It is really really not about the websites design nor how well it was made.

hyip is not advisable to invest in! Very risky,if you want to invest,make sure that you invest only what you afford to loose! In the world of bitcoin,we have to be wise or else you will be looser and nothing to do but cry. For me, it is Much better to do trading than investing on hyip.

Every investment comes with risks. Before investing, let's think about it. If the return of a project is staggering, then its risk is also high. There is no free lunch in the world. This is what I often remember , Not so easy to obtain high benefits with low risk.

another tip is the know your recipient

if you dont know enough about the person your handing funds to, to be able to later slap them with a wet fish(court order) should they do you wrong, dont hand them any funds.

dont simply trust that because they have a glossy website that they are legit. check the WHOIS of the site. get a real world postal address. then google that postal address and see if its a real office with a company registration of the business you wish to fund.
also check google to see if its a 'virtual mailbox'(unofficial POBOX). this is usually easy to spot if there are loads of businesses linked to the same address.

get details of the CEO. check out if they have company registrations on country/state services. check their social media is not only available but also not recently created. even look if they have family/relatives in their friends list to make sure its a real person.

in short
if you had a suitcase of banknotes. instead of bitcoin. would you act any differently before handing over the suitcase to someone you never met

I think we have to aware about fake website, I suggest to all cryptocurrency users to access website through link in this forum only. For example, if you want to use bitblender then don't type in google search but try to find the ann thread of bitblender in this forum. If scammers try to create fake ann thread rhen other member can give negative trust. That's how we help each other.

Even i have also invested on these type of scams, there are times that i was able to gain profit and many times i lose my capital. It really is a big risk to invest in this kind of program and for me, it is not advisable. So good to be true as what you said.

To be honest, I invested once in a HYIP before just to try if it really works. I have invested $40 just to check if it really works. Well, that's a money that I can afford to lose then. The system goes like this: You invest, then you will get 50% of your money in first week, second week, then third week. In short, after three weeks of waiting, your money will increase upto 150%. I withdrew the money then months later, the site went down. In every investment, the higher the returns, the higher the risk. I am not telling my story in order to promote HYIPs but to give an awareness that the risk is really high. If I was one of those person who invested a week before the site went down, then it is a loss for me. Just remember that "anything that is too good to be true is false."

Here is the list of HYIP Websites for your reference: http://www.badbitcoin.org/thebadlist/

Since the launch of bitcoin, there are many people trying to make a profit through scams. And most of the affected of the scams are the newbies.
So how do we identify if a project of a website is doing a scam? Although this is a very broad topic but i will be only discussing the most famous style of scamming.

The HYIP

Most of us are familiar of this type of program, HYIP is a type of ponzi scheme. HYIP means High-yield Investment program. This is where we see attracting posts like big return of investment for only 10days, double your coin for a week, and many more. Although you will really receive a payment from them BUT you didn't know where that payment came from.

So this is how it works, the first to invest in a HYIP programs are the one who get big shares, and the last to invest are the one who lost shares. It's because they are paying their old investors from the money of the new investors, and once they get enough funds from this program. They instantly vanish like a bubble. That is why most of the HYIP site have almost the same design and concept for it might be the same team doing the same scam again. So be careful where you invest.

If you have more ideas to add in this topic, feel free to share and i will add it in this thread.
Every investment has its risks, sometimes we need to risk in order to gain but also trying to minimize the risk is better.
Be safe and double check when you invest and as usual advice, invest what you can afford to lose.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are some of my threads that might be also helpful to you
Bitcoin Tips
Bitcoin Starter pack:       https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitcoin-tips-bitcoin-trading-starter-pack-2861680
The 10 Commandments: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitcoin-tips-the-10-commandments-2856970
Bullish & Bearish Flag:   https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitcoin-tips-bullish-and-bearish-flags-2843383
Factors that affect bitcoin price: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitcoin-tips-factors-that-affect-bitcoin-price-2867326
Avoiding Scams: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitcoin-tips-avoiding-scams-2874379