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Topic: Officially visit websites & download apps, not fake ones. (Read 914 times)

hero member
Activity: 1722
Merit: 801
This is exactly what I have been doing in order to avoid getting scammed or ended up being tricked. I have never experienced getting my funds hacked or compromised (except forgetting or lost the mnemonic phrases, private keys, etc.) ever since I’ve entered the crypto world. I am extra careful when it comes to dealing with those sites. I double or triple check them before engaging myself to create account or import existing wallet. I never fell for those fake apps because I dig down deep and researched to see if it’s legit or not.
You made a big quote (entirely quote my OP). Could you edit your post and skip the big quote, please.

You are lucky (no hack, no compromise) and you do a good practice with double or tripple check with the crypto app you are finding.

I will like to ask a question about this topic, for someone who doesn't know about this forum how will such person know the real link to a particular crypto website? As for me I can tell the difference even without knowing the real link, I've been using Google search for a long time now and I know original or official websites from ad and phishing links, before I find my way to this forum most of my research are through Google, that was how I knew binance exchange
In crypto, there are some big and trusted sites and you can find what you are looking for with them. Use them but don't trust them, and always do your checks.

Google search can help you to do your check (double check) with Google and tripple check with other search engines: Duckduckgo.
https://coinmarketcap.com/
https://www.coingecko.com/en
member
Activity: 224
Merit: 18
Sovryn - Brings DeFi to Bitcoin
I will like to ask a question about this topic, for someone who doesn't know about this forum how will such person know the real link to a particular crypto website? As for me I can tell the difference even without knowing the real link, I've been using Google search for a long time now and I know original or official websites from ad and phishing links, before I find my way to this forum most of my research are through Google, that was how I knew binance exchange
hero member
Activity: 2282
Merit: 659
Looking for gigs
It is not an advanced tutorial but not all crypto enthusiasts have good knowledge and experience enough to avoid downloading fake apps which will help bad people steal their money.

Easy tutorial to download official applications (of wallets, exchange softwares in crypto, and can be expanded to any other applications in other industries).

- Visiting official websites
- Scanning official websites to find section for apps that is given by the official companies.
- Click on it and download it.

Don't:
- Google to find official websites because you can find phishing sites.
- Don't search on Google Play or iOS store to find applications.
- Don't click on links that are sent by anyone to install any application.



Examples
You should not trust on links are given by me. Visit the official websites by yourself.

Binance
Official website: https://www.binance.com/en
Where to get their applications: at the left bottom corner.

Huobi
Official website: https://www.huobi.com/en-us/
Where to get their applications: at the left bottom corner, click on Download APP or visit the page: https://www.huobi.com/en-us/download/#exchange


OKEX
Official website: https://www.okex.com/
Where to get their applications: at the right side you will see the section like the image.

Myetherwallet
Official website: https://www.myetherwallet.com/
Where to get their applications: https://www.mewwallet.com/
See images.

It is enough for examples. You can get more tutorial for your security and privacy in Good topics on security and privacy

This is exactly what I have been doing in order to avoid getting scammed or ended up being tricked. I have never experienced getting my funds hacked or compromised (except forgetting or lost the mnemonic phrases, private keys, etc.) ever since I’ve entered the crypto world. I am extra careful when it comes to dealing with those sites. I double or triple check them before engaging myself to create account or import existing wallet. I never fell for those fake apps because I dig down deep and researched to see if it’s legit or not.
hero member
Activity: 1722
Merit: 801
Fake apps are uncountable and please apply my tutorial to be safe. You can scroll the Beginners & Help first 3 pages and see reports on fake apps.

- They are uncountable on Google Play.
- They usually appear on top of Google Search, with the Ad tag.
- If you search for the app you want to download, you might be phished with fake apps.
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18771
we can't avoid googling for the website or an address, but mostly there if you will see a legit website they are using HTTPS  and not HTTP
HTTPS only prevents a third party from intercepting your communication with the website in question. It says nothing about whether the website is legit or a scam. Indeed, the majority of scam sites are using HTTPS. While you should always use it and install the HTTPS Everywhere extension, it protects you against a different attack, not against scam sites.

And don't use Google. If you must use a search engine, use one which won't serve you ads for scams like DuckDuckGo. Ask a trusted source or this forum if you are not sure if a site is legit or not.
sr. member
Activity: 1106
Merit: 310
Don't:
- Google to find official websites because you can find phishing sites.
- Don't search on Google Play or iOS store to find applications.
- Don't click on links that are sent by anyone to install any application.


we can't avoid googling for the website or an address, but mostly there if you will see a legit website they are using HTTPS  and not HTTP
at the same time if you are not sure about the website surely we can ask our friends or even here in bitcoin talk to be sure
mostly in google play, we may encounter bugs, like for example in android, I encounter some issues
Clicking on email or links from someone, I agree with this one, you see a company encounter this problem wherein
after clicking the link the hacker send emails to their clients, in a wallet they may get hold of your keys, and even all the pieces of information
in your laptop or phone
anyway great post and helpful
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18771
most of the top sites that is appearing when you are searching appplications such as binance, it will most likely to appear on top because google already have looked into all sites and checked its legitimacy so don't worry about clicking the top of the google searched
This isn't accurate.

If you browse without an adblocker,* then the first three or four results on Google are going to be ads. Since Google happily accept ads from scammers and happily boost them to the top of results without doing any investigation or due diligence, you absolutely cannot trust the top results on Google to be legitimate.

Second, even if you block or skip the ads, there is no guarantee that the top actual result is going to be the real site. Google do not check the legitimacy of sites before returning them in search results, and SEO can be exploited and manipulated to put malicious sites higher up the rankings. Blindly putting your faith in some random Google algorithm is a sure fire way to lose your coins.

*Side note: The best adblocker and the only one you should be using is uBlock Origin. Download it here: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock
jr. member
Activity: 96
Merit: 3
Don't:
- Google to find official websites because you can find phishing sites.
most of people first time visit website is do Google first. most of adversited website is always on top in google search, we don't know if that website is official or fakes. So we must be careful to visit website.
this isn't mean we must don't google to find official websites.

Okay so google have the SEO or the search engine optimization and there are factors google are looking for a certain website to be on the top of search list so most of the top sites that is appearing when you are searching appplications such as binance, it will most likely to appear on top because google already have looked into all sites and checked its legitimacy so don't worry about clicking the top of the google searched, but of course be sure to search for the right domain name because if you manage to searched the wrong domain name you might be in trouble but teach yourself to analyze the website yourself, in my opinion you can easily tell if a website is a legitimate one or not, just explore the website and check for yourself.
sr. member
Activity: 554
Merit: 271
Don't:
- Google to find official websites because you can find phishing sites.
most of people first time visit website is do Google first. most of adversited website is always on top in google search, we don't know if that website is official or fakes. So we must be careful to visit website.
this isn't mean we must don't google to find official websites.
sr. member
Activity: 1666
Merit: 426
Don't:
- Google to find official websites because you can find phishing sites.


I actually do google for official website when I want to get the site or install some software, but I don't just click on the first google result, instead I look at mentions of it from multiple sources and check that they all lead to the same address.

It's actually easier to verify the more popular sites, because they will be mentioned by other sites a lot, so despite all the phishing, you'll easily find the real one, but with some less obscure things, it's hard to find even the references to them. For example, it's hard to find a legitimate cracks for software by googling and nearly all results will have malware, and you'd need to get to some specialized forums to find links to relatively safe cracks.
I do also use google to search the official website and use google play to download thier apps. However, before clicking the link I do check first and for some reason I can identify which link is legitimate and what is not perhaps because I am computer literate. Back in a day my friend was almost got signed in on fake Bitcointalk forum luckily I was there and prevent him before he could do it. The lesson here is that you can do use google to find the website you were looking for but verify it first for your safety.
hero member
Activity: 1722
Merit: 801
hero member
Activity: 1722
Merit: 801
What OP say is not always work. For example there is a topic "Opps, Google did it again" - where first google link lead to fake ledger app, that asked for secret phrase. Of course google fixed it, but there are people who downloaded it and got tricked.
If you go to official websites to get official links to apps on app store or Google play, you will not be trapped by fake apps like what the topic you quoted warn. You should never pay your funds on the carefulness or responsibility of Google or Apple to check and 100% prevent fake apps to be listed on their stores. They should do because it is good for their app ecosystem, and their reputation but you in your own side has to be responsible for your fund's safety and security.
Quote
Official websites are not a panacea against scam. Check everything two or even three times before you type your personal info in it.
Official websites are good places to start but sure official sites can also be compromised. It rarely happens but there is probability for compromise on official websites. If you care careful, you can verify apps if possible.
sr. member
Activity: 1624
Merit: 315
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
What OP say is not always work. For example there is a topic "Opps, Google did it again" - where first google link lead to fake ledger app, that asked for secret phrase. Of course google fixed it, but there are people who downloaded it and got tricked.

Official websites are not a panacea against scam. Check everything two or even three times before you type your personal info in it.
This is true, you can fake an official website and make it at the top of the search engine via search engine optimization, many scammers are paying for these so that they can be the top search but this is not that unstoppable, there are red flags for people if you do not know if that is the real website, one good example is using an extended domain name like adding a country prefix (com.au, net.ru, com.us), you can also check if the site is secure by checking the lock icon next to the website, this one is tricky because they can buy it to make it look legit, the fake websites can only fake their apperance but the website name will never be faked, each name is unique so you better pay attention to that because that is the biggest nope flag that can help you avoid this malicious sites.
member
Activity: 564
Merit: 50
What OP say is not always work. For example there is a topic "Opps, Google did it again" - where first google link lead to fake ledger app, that asked for secret phrase. Of course google fixed it, but there are people who downloaded it and got tricked.

Official websites are not a panacea against scam. Check everything two or even three times before you type your personal info in it.
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 1655
To the Moon
I reported several fake applications recently, and as I saw many people installed then sadly.
People need to open eyes and make triple check if they are on official website.
Better to have official websites bookmarked in your browser than to search on Google.

This is the right decision to download the app from the official website. But in this case, you need to be sure that you are really not on a phishing site, but on an official website. And if you don't have this site in your bookmarks, then it will be really difficult for you to determine what you will download.
member
Activity: 266
Merit: 88
Fake apps have become part of fraud. When searching in the store or Google, we will find many similar applications that belong to one name, some of them modified or unofficial, and hackers can access our data, so it is better to work with your advice and enter the official sites first and see if there is an official application for the site and download it.
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18771
from their tg/discords
Telegram and Discord are a scammer's paradise. It is trivially easy to impersonate someone else, including a service or an admin or mod from that service, and direct people to fake websites, fake apps, fake bitcoin addresses, and so on. I definitely wouldn't be using either to try to find a genuine URL.

some newbies must understand that good URL starts wiht "https"
If you are manually checking whether or not the site you are connected to is using https or http, then you are doing it wrong. You should install HTTPS Everywhere, open its settings, and check the box "Encrypt All Sites Eligible", which will automatically block any unencrypted traffic and requests. Relying on yourself manually checking that every page you visit is using https will fail almost immediately.

However, this is one of the bare minimum things you should be doing to secure your browsing activities. As DdmrDdmr has pointed out above, this only protects against man-in-the-middle attacks and says nothing about the legitimacy or otherwise of the website you are connecting to.
legendary
Activity: 2338
Merit: 10802
There are lies, damned lies and statistics. MTwain
<…> newbies must understand that good URL starts wiht "https" <…>
Not any more … The "s" part will ensure that the traffic between you and the site you connect to is encrypted (meaning that a sniffer should not be able to make heads or tails from it), but it does in no way mean that the site you are connecting to is safe:
PhishLabs, the data source behind the link in the OP,  has an update report, and now places the mark at 68% for phishing sites using SSL (see https://info.phishlabs.com/blog/apwg-two-thirds-phishing-sites-ssl-https). Although their data for some Quarters decreases in percentage, it’s fair to assume that SSL certificates is a non-trustworthy indicator on its own, and that the assumption needs to clearly be demystified.
sr. member
Activity: 1232
Merit: 379
Anyone can notice a fake site as long as they pay much attention, especially when trying to visit a new one. Also, search engines aren't fake, and most results would probably result in the official site first before the phishing sites. Additionally, if you were to look up using search engines, you may chance upon a phishing site and an official site, with a bit of a good eye, you can notice the difference and see which is fake or not. Most phishing sites just adjust the name to MAKE it look like the original.
Not every newbies are aware of this, 80% of newbies still fall victim of this as when Google Search something, phishing sites also appear, some newbies must understand that good URL starts wiht "https" but the main solution is what op has said, going through official website and click on app you wish to download and will redirect to playstore.
hero member
Activity: 2520
Merit: 952
I search Google (of course with ads disabled, just disabling ads can save you from many phishing sites), Going from official website and you can find official websites from their tg/discords.. see where I'm going? It's a rabbit hole and everything can be compromised.
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