Topic: How to avoid scammers (Must read for newbie) (Read 304 times)

Major scams happen most on the use of social media. It was easy for scammers to change their identity, images, and to get another victim. Ignoring their offers is the best way to avoid scams but to unfortunate that not all have that kind of thinking, instead, they even have the courage to risk their money when someone makes a very attractive offer.
Ponzi schemes, received your profit every day, double your money in 24 hours...oh, there's a lot of sweet offerings we heard from scammers and of we are not familiar how the market works nor being stupid and greedy of money it definitely we fall in them.

You make some important points but using a recommended trusted exchange site doesn't prevent people from getting scammed if the person is not well informed and has an adequate understanding about how crypto scammers operate not even these days that CoinMarketCap experienced a data breach and Binance going through backlog issue.
This reminds me of when some Binance user was scammed through telegram, as they said knowledge is power and this is what's needed to thrive in every setting.

Messaging people from instagram and facebook should be avoided too. If you followed/liked some crypto (famous) related pages/account, you will be receiving PM from these accounts, so just ignore them, mark as spam and delete it for good.

One of the best pieces of financial advice is don't ever let your money out of your sight (your wallet). That means unless you are 100% positive you know who you are sending funds to, don't do it. I would only recommend trusted exchanges (watch for fake exchanges that someone can randomly DM you about on Discord), and a wallet that you own the private keys to!

In fact, I've often received messages like you said. When I have very free time then I try to make him dizzy but if not I will ignore him. I did it just for fun, because from the first I had telegrams a lot of similar messages. So one of my ways, if there is an investment offer or a request for help from people I don't know, I will ignore it.
Is it possible like this,

Don't trust someone whom you have not met yet especially in the internet, that's the best way you will be safe from scammers. Never make a deal with them. You should only do it if you knew the person personally since this will make a 100% success rate of trading/transaction.

I think there's a plenty of reminders out there on the internet that newbies should start to search first before asking how to earn Bitcoin. Guidelines are on the sticky if they want a quick access of the do's and don't. Newbies should make reading as a habit to be aware and knowledgeable enough in crypto space.

This thread is very helpful for those who are new to crypto. We can see so much fraud going on in the crypto world that many victims are tricked and generally beginners are the most cheated.
If you want to dive into the crypto world, you should be more careful and read often about how to avoid fraud in the crypto world.
Now that there are various ways that people do to get profit without thinking about the suffering of others, these tips are very helpful for many people to avoid being scammed.

One thing to guide yourself with is the fact that, the world is a cold world, its every man for himself and everyone has got a taste for what you've got that means a thing. It's the way it is and as such, you've got to guide against it. How?
You have to know what you've got and then, learn the pros and cons of it along with a conscious sensitization on the current happenings about it.  Know that, scammers are the once that seek you out most times and some times, you be the one to jump unto them because, you've been presented with a jackpot opportunity or you happened to come by it own your own. Always avoid such and keep your sensitive details private.

Apparently, YES and it gives some tips for the newbies to avoid this thing but I don't know if they were able to read this or they just jump on the market without reading, without any knowledge about crypto as this is very common. And the fact that scammers will find a way on how to get someone to become their victim, I'm for sure that these newbies will still fall into their traps and get scammed.

Well, maybe at least we are able to decrease newbies that have become their victims and are able to learn their previous experience especially in dealing with someone on the internet.

Thanks for the post atleast it will save lot's of people from been scammed, seriously scammers are really coming up with new strategies just to scam people of  their money which is very bad so we have to be very careful most expecially people that are just joining cryptocurrency and they don't really know much about cryptocurrency make sure you follow all the scam threads on the forum to have knowledge about different pattern which scammers use to  scam people so that you won't endup falling victim thanks once again.

Do you know while people easily get scammed to unknown people, the truth of it, is that some elements or caliber's of people are desperate of making profit or gain for a minor investment, so immediately they received notification from or this scam companies or platforms they will be as fast as a rocket to invest without proper investigation. So to isolate your self from trap of scammers immediately you received a notification that you are not expecting then you can as well ignore, because immediately you respond to a chat definitely they have win your soul, i dont compromise to any unknown message from social media, except it's a situation i have unfinished transaction with somebody then can unveil and message that come's to my inbox.

I think you are implying that people who got scammed are borderline 'stupid', which is not a good thing to generalize people of. Instead of seeing them as such, it is more appropriate if you could refer to them as 'misinformed'. Remember that all of us were once newbies. Though not all of us experienced getting scammed, there is at least one point in our careers that we made mistakes along the way.

With this kind of setting, scammers would always choose to take advantage of the people who are misinformed. They tend to create fake giveaways that are pleasing to the eye, fake accounts, etc. Though this may seem obvious to experienced users like us, it may not to newbies.

Honestly, telegram groups are a nuisance. They will sometimes add you even if you have left the group multiple times. Scammers are finding smart ways to scam us. When I trade, I am very careful who I connect it to and I think we all should be skeptical when someone approaches us or  sends us something.

This is the most common trick that we usually encounter. They use known personalities in order to gain trust from newbies and greedy people. As the technology continue developing, it was easy for them (scammers ) to hide their faces and replace by known faces and social media influencers. They are not just smart, but their level of intelligence brings something unlawful in a way that they use other people to scam in front.

It becomes frustrating that despite the awareness we spread on the social media platforms, and also in the forum, still a lot of people getting scammed. I don't know why, maybe these people are desperate enough to make money and so they wanted to get scammed as well

This is very informative. Thanks for sharing. Though I know greed is the number one reason people fall for their traps. I just hope I get to learn more of these scam tactics in here 

The only thing i noticed that always push people to fall victim to scammers is profit, so majority today have be victimized because they are inquisitive to have extra profit, many investment platforms today that indicates or showcase that investing in their platforms will enhance for huge profit is a scam organization or platform, so the only remedy i portray from my perception is to avoid their inbox, because scammer always look for who will patterner or patronize them seriousness via any social media group, and they have different dimensions or strategies to deserve people, so the only way out is to isolate their pm.

This type is called “Nigerian Rich Scam” and it may not be your money but your personal data or any type of fraud that someone needs your help to withdraw money.  Nigerian prince scams still rake in over $700,000 a year

Greed is what drives people to provide such services for free in an attempt to get a higher return.
Sometimes software, locked coins or any kind of gifts are sent.

All the profit that can come to you from a random person on the Internet is a scam.

Yes impersonating us doing wonders for scammers because most of users are in so much hurry to get rich quick they don't bother to validate when they receive a message or response to their post from an imposter and moreover I have seen many youtubers literally begging people not to pay anything to them as they will never request for money still users end up scammed. I think we should create more awareness of such techniques used by scammers because now crypto has become mainstream and so the scammers are trying all the possible way to squeeze as much as they can due to lack of validation from users.

What I mean about the article I shared even if it is old is the psychological reasons on WHY people fall into their trap not HOW they scammed them. And what I refer to about the pointers are the lists of advices written by Kentrolla  that at least helpful to us, newbies.  Scammers being smart is as you said they are becoming more modern as they adapt to new technologies and target their victims.   Sorry, I don't want to look smart it is just that I relate myself to that article because I was once a victim of scam because I listen to my heart more than my head if you know what I mean. I was scammed by my own kin and that was hurtful.

Most Telegram Scammers are absolutely senseless.. They use same tricks .I once told a scammer on Telegram that i used dextool.io as investment platform and he/she didn't even know what dextool is. The next question he/she asked is.. How is it going for you?
 

Recently i had read about "how to avoid scams" many times with different threads. I am grateful that the seniors are thinking a lot about us newbies who are unexperienced in marketing and trading.

The experiences you shared helps us to learn more about scams like how they uses tricks to win over us. You taught us how to determine a scammer by creating this thread. This will serves us guidance in the future if ever we came across scammers and then at that time we knew how to avoid it as we've gain knowledge about scammers because of seniors like you whom shared their experiences and knowledge to us.

Lastly i wanted to say thank you for sharing your knowledge.

I have experience facing numbers one and two, but I do not follow what they want and delete the email because I know that is part of scammers trying to seduce people to help them.
But the most thing that still happens is the investment programs that will tempt people to join with them because if people hear about the investment thing, they will directly get "AHA" that is my way to make money and start investing in that programs.
The key here is how we can be careful to research and find more information about the offers and if those offers look good to be true, then that could be a scam, so we need to stay away from them.
Our job is not to follow them because we need more time to know about them so we do not get a scam.

You contradict yourself. Write that the methods of deception are becoming more modern with every year, and even scammers are getting smarter, but you yourself offer an article that is more than 4 years old. Trust me, there is fresher information out there if you want to look smart.

And if on the subject, everyone should ask themselves why the hell is this person writing to me? Why is he inviting me to participate in his story? Are there really few in the world who could also receive such letters? Asking yourself, you should think that you are not unique, which means that this scammer is looking for another sucker to steal his money.
There is no need to create the illusion that there are kind people on the Internet who are ready to share their property.

I have experienced #1 and #2. Mostly #2. For #3, it is seldom to see and receive messages from someone who can be impersonating someone. But you should always be careful and check the telegram username and the connected profiles in it. It's pretty apparent for sure.

For the messaging of China regulations, I think it's not just there. There would be someone in your DMs that is offering something, and I have tried to "converse" with them, and they just gave me a link with a "satisfactory" looking website that is copied somewhere on the internet to look legit. And I did a couple of steps and did encounter that deposit. It's too apparent just to think that I would risk my BTC to withdraw more. And I just played with the scammer that I said that I already deposited ^{and of course I didn't} but convinced him that I did and just circling until I was bored.

It's pretty obvious because if you have like 2 BTC in the exchange and still need a deposit of 0.01 or any other amount to take it out, why not withdraw it whole and deduct it, right? That's just common sense and a scam.

The telegram messages, that, I get a lot. It's super freaking annoying because it's too obvious, but there are a bunch still going there. I know I can turn off the PMs and ignore non-contacts, but since I'm included in sales, I can't help wonder that they might be a client, so it's a risk, but I immediately block them if it's evident that they are just phishing or scamming lol.

Remember, "If it's too good to be true, it probably is." Just don't go and depositing and putting your seeds somewhere, hoping to connect your wallet or something.

It is not only in China actually. There are people out there claiming to be United States as well, but sometimes they are either from Spain or India. I have been watching scambaiters trying to waste these scammers time and that is from what I heard so far.

These pointers are helpful, everyone should take time to read this as this could help to avoid to fall for a scam. Scammers are getting smarter and taking advantage on everything that will make you fall into their trap and take part with your money. It is important to be always suspicious and take some time to do a bit more research.

I have read this article that states the five psychological reasons on why people fall for scams and how to avoid them, here is the link. https://theconversation.com/five-psychological-reasons-why-people-fall-for-scams-and-how-to-avoid-them-102421

Random messages are mostly from scammers. And if they send you random messages just to ask for personal information or give you offers that are too good to be true, they are definitely scammers.

You don't have to care of where are they from, China or not, it is not a matter.

Again, stay away from offers that are too good to be true.

It is similar scam approach when scammers try to impersonate famous people. Again, the protective key is avoid offers that are too good to be true.

Crypto transactions are irreversible so scammers will abuse it, ask you to send your crypto first. Then, it will go forever.

You don't know who they are, and crypto transactions are irreversible. Remember that.

Yes it is true, it seems very stupid and too good to be true but somehow people wanna try their luck and some are just credulous. In my case, I was once a victim of a scam because I fully trust my close cousin that he will not betray me but blood is not always thicker than water. At first, he persuaded me to invest just a small amount because I was skeptical. Initially it was good, my money grow and he always assure me that this investment is legit, showed me some evidence and it was pretty convincing so I invested more. Then one day, he was gone and all my money. I managed to contact him and he said it was a scam, there were lots of complaint filed against that company but the odds of getting our money back is so slim. Lesson learned.

When someone message me through telegram and convinced me to invest, I automatically blocked it as I don't wanna fall again into the scammer trap.

A house of a lot of scammers is here, I think if you're new in the crypto world maybe you must avoid using this social media platform if you don't know how to verify legitimacy.  It's better to avoid dealing with people using this platform because it seems a bit annoying when there's someone who will offer you investment and sweet promises that you will earn after putting in investment.

In addition, these threads are related to your thread too that newbies would aware.

• Frequently Ask Questions(FAQ) & Answers about cryptocurrency scam.
• Types of Scams in Crypto - Awareness

Anyway, thank you for sharing this.

These are all common methods, but rather than making a list, anyone who visits the internet should consider everything to be a scam until proven otherwise. Scammers can come up with multiple different tactics to weasel someone out of their assets, but if you start every discussion from the standpoint that it is a scam, it would take a lot for a scammer to convince you otherwise.

Cryptocurrencies are largely unregulated and you act as your own bank, more reason to be extra skeptical. Do not trust, verify.

Same way people fall for giveaway scams, it's either out of ignorant (in the sense that, they're not educated/inform on this tricks used by scammers) or they fall because of greed. Humans are greedy naturally, they fully know such offers are unrealistic but their greed will overshadow their reasoning and they'll fall victim. Scammers aren't innovative anymore, they just wait on this two factor to play on their favour, either the victim is ignorant or greedy.

This Chinese scams aren't restricted to only Chinese as any region with restrictions on crypto can be used and most times those behind the mask at the other end aren't really Chinese, they are scammers from all part of the world in disguise and this is sending a wrong impression about Chinese same as it's for other regions that get profiled due to story of scams online.

To protect yourself from all scams, stay updated/informed and most importantly be skeptical about everything except the Bitcoin in your personal wallet because if it's too good to be true then it usually a scam.

Thanks for sharing these tips. So far I haven't faced scame related with Chinese regulations. But in general, most of scamming methods are old and don't change much throughout years. Some are very primitive, while others is more complex.
Telegram investment is another type of HYIP. Previously HYIP websites were quite big thing, but it required scammers to put some investment to create website. While scamming through Telegram is free.
Impersonating is probably most effective scamming nowadays. There is so many fake Twitter or Youtube profiles looking like real. You have to pay attention to small details to spot fake profile. Unfortunately, many people don't notice these things and fall into scam.

Some of the scams seems very stupid i just wonder how they really fall for it 

This is to create awareness amongst new members to avoid getting scammed.

I am going to list down a few of the tactics used by scammers to scam newbie as well as other users by luring them with huge profit scheme or some sort of plan which is difficult to refuse at times.

Tactics #1: Chinese regulation trick
You will receive a message from a random person stating he is from China and he has close to 1 BTC into his wallet but is unable to withdraw it due to some restrictions in their country and share a fake exchange link asking you to register there and he will transfer the amount to you and then you can transfer it to his another wallet wherein he will pay 20% of the amount as a gesture, sounds good isn't it? Once you log in to the exchange he will transfe3r the amount (just a digital value on fake site) but when you try to withdraw it the site will says it's a new account and you need to deposit some BTC in order to verify which will make you eligible for withdrawal and once you transfer the required BTC it will ask you to deposit more stating this account is froze and it will keep asking you to deposit the amount until you give up and reach out to their customer support agent who will say there is suspicious activity with this account hence you have to deposit but if you question them stating you wanna withdraw the amount which you have deposited they will threaten you stating you are involved in money laundering and block you from chatting, the random guy who messaged you will also block you.

This is a planned method to rob our money which we deposit in part to withdraw a huge amount.

Tactics #2: Investment plans through telegram
This method is not new and most of you would have experienced it wherein you will be added to some random telegram groups and where you will find people from different nationalities praising and thanking the admin stating they have earned a lot and it has changed there life, wherein they will ask you to buy a plan and state you will 200% of return on your investment withiin 3 days or a week.

Most of us might get convinced since people from around the world are endorsing it but these are all fake profiles and bots which has been created using profile pictures and DPs stoles from social media to make it look like genuine.

Tactics #3: Impersonating a crypto influencer of Youtube(Especially crypto analysts)
A genuine crypto analyst (youtuber) will never ask you to pay them and even if they ask they will share the details over video itself but there are imposters who have scammed so many people. When you watch a youtube video of crypto analyst and make a comment or ask for their contact details you will get response from imposter with same profile picture and ask your to transfer minimum amount to trade on behalf of you and assure you weekly or daily payout. these are scammers who barge into comments section of youtubers and whenever they find a comment from any user asking for youtuber's contact details or appreciate these guys trap the users by replying to their comments share a contact links of themselves to scam them.

I have encountered these situations and lucky to stop myself at the right time, I hope this was helpful article not only for newbie but for other users as well and save atleast someone from getting scammed.