Cryptocurrencies bring a lot of opportunity for investors, and it couldn’t be more true for scammers. In fact, it’s become their favorite space, so expect to hear about them.
They’re everywhere at all times, so it’s a matter of time you encounter one. But are you ready to protect your money?
Someone right now could be promoting a Bitcoin pyramid scheme. People are sending them money that they won’t see ever again.
Maybe a hacker is planning an exchange attack. They’re going to steal millions in funds and leave investors with nothing, potentially sinking the company.
Others promote projects with little to no value, yet millions of people invest in their hype. They get tricked to fomo-buy and panic-sell.
Most scammers use cryptocurrencies just as another channel for old school scams: pyramids, phishing, malware, pyramids. Others see it as an opportunity to try new schemes.
But besides money, why are there so many scammers on crypto anyway?
Why Are There So Many Scammers In Cryptocurrency Space?
While there’s many ways to make money (legal or not), people choose what they believe to be the easiest method.
On the attempt of gaining adoption, cryptocurrencies have made scamming easier than ever:
- You don’t need any identity verification to use most wallets and exchanges
- As a result, it’s hard to report a user that can immediately rejoin with a new account
- The Government doesn’t regulate cryptocurrencies much yet, which is perfect for hiding transactions and laundering money
While the reasons are many, there are three “benefits” that scammers can’t resist:
#1 Most people don’t know how crypto works
As Bitcoin’s adoption increases, so does the gap of people who don’t know what they doing. They don’t understand the tech behind it and only see it as a money-making machine.
Typically, it’s the same people who skip DYOR (do your own research). They are more likely to “invest” in a projects using words such as crypto-fiat arbitrage, cloud based mining, or decentraliced finance (DeFi).
Without knowing what that means.
Someone who uses unfamiliar words may know more than you, so it feels right to trust them.
How easy is it to use euphemisms (e.g., associates business model for pyramid scheme)?
#2 10X returns are the norm
As volatile as cryptocurrencies are, you can find coins moonshooting every week. All you need to 100x your crypto portfolio is market research and some luck.
If someone offers you the same opportunity on any crypto project, people would rarely suspect. Outside the crypto space, by contrast, no fool would fall for it.
It’s much harder to spot the scam red flags when “too good to be true” is actually true. The coin may dump and people will still not suspect, because “that’s how crypto works.”
Especially those who chase the crypto dream will justify anything, rather than questioning the risks.
#3 Payments favor the payee
There are no refunds in cryptocurrency. Except for two cases:
But once it’s confirmed, your BTC is gone forever, like cash. In case of crypto, you never meet your scammer, who may have dozens of crypto wallets.
And if you somehow retrieved the amount, you still pay for the fees.
As for the scammer, they don’t need any credentials to open a wallet. You can’t report, because their address changes every time. And while there’s a transaction history, nobody can prove how you got the money.
What Can You Do About It?
As scammers get more successful, that motivates them to keep doing them. Which increases the chances of you encountering one, and potentially losing money.
You can avoid falling for these schemes with a bit of common sense:
Reporting may help, but knowledge is the best prevention. But rather than stopping scammers, it’s more effective to protect people from them. While fraudsters can reopen their accounts, they can’t scam those who know too much.
And it all starts with educating yourself. Here are the three mayor crypto scam groups and how to spot them:
a. Fakes
b. Social schemes
c. Software scams
Cryptocurrency Fakes
In all negotiations, you need trust before exchanging money. Who you trust is the difference between business opportunities and scams.
Trust takes time to build up. But when it comes to scams, you have to be fast. You can’t waste time on building relationships.
That’s why scammers “borrow” other people’s identity. They open fake accounts or clone entire websites to deceive investors. And while it doesn’t take too long to bust them, it’s long enough to steal thousands of dollars.
Here are some examples:
#1 Fake Exchanges
Ever heard of Binance, Coinbase, or Robinhood? If so, you know that these reputable sites care about their users. For investors, these brands mean: “your crypto is safe with us!”
What would a scammer do?
Security-message scams used to do well (ever heard of “your account is at risk”?) until people got used to them. So instead, they may invent some welcome rewards to lure investors:
The scammer will earn whatever the victims buy AND get their real accounts information. For example, they may request the 2FA address to claim a cash reward.
They could fake coin sales too. But when it comes to withdrawing, it gives an error.
Today, the biggest exchanges have measures to avoid cloned sites/domains. However, scammers can still open new brands and present them as a branch of Coinbase/Binance.
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To learn more, we suggest you check the case of Quadriga CX. Before it went bankrupt, the CEO was running the biggest exchange in Canada, managing $250M from a laptop nobody else could access.
According to the news, he died with all that money locked into cold wallets. But due to the strange circumstances, most believe it’s an exit scam.
#2 Fake Wallets
Cold wallets are superior in security. And you can be sure that scammers will exploit this fact.
Think of reputable brands such as Trezor, Ledger, Exodus, Trust Wallet, Electrum, ZenGo. Just like anyone can clone an exchange, they can launch app clones on iTunes/PlayStore.
They can play a lot of games to convince you to install it:
“Do NOT install the PlayStore version. We’ve received a cyberattack that has removed our app listing. What you see instead is a clone with malware.
We strongly recommend you don’t install it. The only official app is in this [malware] website. While we reinstate the app on the app stores, uninstall your current version and install the one from this link. Otherwise, the hackers may steal your information.”
“We’re beta testing some features for an upcoming mega-update. By installing this version of the wallet, you participate in our focus group and will receive a $200 reward.”
“In this video, I’ll show you how to get Coinbase Pro for free with this crack file.”
In this last example, the conman could create a cloned Pro version. Victims would think it’s real and send their money there.
They’re all malware/phishing attempts. And thankfully, app stores have reinforced the requirements to avoid listing scam apps. Also by default, your phone will block installations from unknown pages.
#3 Fake P2P Platforms
For whatever reason, people find too many complications when withdrawing money. Maybe the exchange requests for more verification, or the network is too busy at the moment.
If you trade on decentralized exchanges like Uniswap, you might be paying $50+ on transaction fees. And if it fails, you lost that money.
It’s much safer to trade with people instead. You find someone who’s willing to buy for cash or a Paypal transfer. So you send the crypto to his address and get the money. No verification, no middlemen fees.
That sounds great when you trust the person. But maybe you don’t know anybody who wants to buy Bitcoin in your area. And that’s why sites like LocalBitcoins exist.
You can choose your payment method: bank transfer, Western Union, Paypal, and cash. You get the money first and then send the cryptocurrency. You don’t need to meet unless you’re trading for cash.
If you don’t meet, you may not know if the person is legit. They might ask for a charge back or retrieve the Paypal amount after receiving your Bitcoin.
Or the entire P2P platform could be fake. The crypto you send could instead go to the scammers’ wallet. And if you’re supposed to receive Paypal money, it may first go throuh the platforms’ Paypal account. And it may not leave it.
But before the traders blame the platform, they’ll probably be blaming each other.
#4 Fake ICOs/Exit Scams
Many traders have earned +50x returns by getting into altcoins early, but not nearly as many as those who lost it all.
Suppose the general crypto market is at a record high, and there’s a new coin release tomorrow for just one cent. Who wouldn’t expect that it will grow just like everything else?
That’s, in fact, what happened in late 2017. Almost every day, you’d hear of some initial coin offering. People wanted to be the earliest investors, so they all rushed to buy.
As soon as the downtrend started, most of these projects were suddenly worth nothing. Not as if they ever held any value though. Back then, exchanges didn’t have strict listing requirements, so anyone could post any coin.
As for ICO scams, they are typically “crypto projects” led by anonymous teams for no more than a week. Once the founders raised enough capital, they’d abandon the project and invent another one. Imagine buying a coin released today and find it removed from the exchanges next week.
Fake ICOs aren’t as effective now that there’s so many choices. In the first iterations, however, scammers earned millions of dollars.
Telegram Crypto Scam
#5 Fake Support Team
If you’ve ever had any account issues, you know how frustrating it is to contact support. If you need help, you might need to message for several days before the support team helps with your case.
As you get impatient, you send as many emails as possible and try different platforms, including social media. If the company has groups on Twitter or Telegram, it might be a good idea to ask there.
And almost like magic, you immediately get answers in private.
“Hi user, how can I help you today?”
So you tell them the situation. They seem to understand, until they start asking for too much information. For example, you need to re-upload your documents, 2FA address, login credentials, or make a test deposit.
If you’ve gone through the frustration of messaging for weeks, all you want is solve the issue. So you do what they say and…
You lose your account balance. You ask them for an explanation, but you don’t get any more replies from the support member. Or was it?
These guys create fake support accounts and always message you first.
Employees may request you to upload information in their platorm. Scammers want you to send to them directly.
How To Recognize Fake Cryptocurrency Websites
No matter how convincing these fakes may look, they can’t hide all the scam red flags:
We suggest you try trading and withdrawing small amounts ($5) first. But if the minimum trading volume is too high, you might risk losing more than what you’ll earn.
Social Crypto Scams
People can be a powerful tool to fake results. It may seem that a project is successful because most people made money.
At least in the crypto markets, only the early investors make big money. So if you’re hoping to profit by buying what’s popular, it won’t work very well.
If the biggest crypto celebrity tells you to buy a coin, will you do it?
Social media scams are on a grey area. These scammers can’t steal money unless you let them, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t losers. Here are four tricks you’ll see a lot:
#1 Pump & Dumps
Have you ever tried to follow someone else’s investing advice? It almost never works, because this news is creating an artificial pump. Here’s how it goes:
Why?
Most people think they’re getting in early by following expert advice. But what they don’t know is that the biggest investors may have bought the coin months ago for cheaper. Logic tells you that the pump will attract more investors.
In reality, it encourages earlier investors to sell, because artificial pumps are exit opportunities.
Maybe the investor sold as well with the massive influx of buyers. And he recommended the coin with the best of intentions.
But hey, it’s not a big deal if the project does have long-term value. If it doesn’t, then you wasted money on a ‘shitcoin.’
While pump-and-dump groups may not be scams, they might share fake crypto news. For example, someone could say that Elon Musk wants to pump DogeCoin next week. Or they open fake celebrity accounts to gather credibility.
Essentially, they’re manipulating everyone’s money, which is a softer way of stealing. Very similar to rogue investing.
The expectations:
Sorry, but P&D groups aren’t giveaway groups. Here’s what it’s really like:
Waiting to sell at the top is a death sentence. To make money, you get in early (never after 300% pumps) and get out after 40-60% profits earned.
The guys who’ve been buying the coin for weeks will use the greedy to sell high.
Better just not to involve at all.
#2 BTC Giveaway Scams
Cryptocurrency often makes us question the value of money. It’s not the same to:
But not everyone is lucky enough to time the market right. Apparently, the biggest celebrities want to give you second chance: a limited-time BTC giveaway.
These guys have billions of dollars, so why not give away ~$300 million to Internet strangers? Sounds more philanthropic than helping charities.
Anyway, there are no giveaways other than the ones you make. You send money to a scammer disguised as a Elon Musk and you won’t get anything back.
It may look obvious right now, but on the first attempts, it was very convincing:
Somehow, hackers can temporarily manipulate big accounts and manipulate social feedback:
Live streams last as long as it takes them to get busted. Exposed or not, they make thousands of dollars from fake giveaways.
Hint: in a giveaway, only the coordinator sends money.
It seems we won’t see giveaway scams for a while now that most people are familiar. Who knows what will be next? Maybe NFT related?
#3 Email Scams
Consider yourself lucky if you haven’t received Bitcoin spam emails before. Some accounts get dozens of these every day, some of which make it into your main inbox.
These are no different from the average phishing scam:
- The scammer will pose as another person or company to gain your trust
- The email will require you to click on a link/button and provide sensitive information
- The website/email promises to solve your problem/offer money in return
- Once you enter your bank details, the scammer can access your accounts, clear funds, and move onto the next victim
In cryptocurrency, these scams are just as common:
Besides phishing, it’s common to find the following:
‘Access all this money by paying only 5% upfront.”Thanks for your deposit. Unfortunately, we just found unexpected fees that prevent us from sending the money. Send another $300 and the prize is yours.’
b. Securities scams:
‘Open an account in our platform. After you deposit a minimum of X BTC, you’ll see a minimum return of 300% every 30 days.’
c. Ransomware:
‘Your computer is locked (or soon will be). After it’s decrypted (look at the timer), we’ll steal all the files and delete the device’s memory. If you don’t want to lose your files, transfer X BTC to this address before time runs out. If you haven’t paid within the last 24h, we’ll double the price.’
#4 Pyramids & Ponzi Schemes
When it comes to investment advice, you’re responsible for your wealth. You decide whom to trust with your money. It’s up to you to do the research or not.
That’s why money-making schemes work so well on crypto. There’s so little regulation that nobody can stop these people. And once you send money, it’s gone, no chargebacks possible.
If I promised you to double every dollar you give me, you wouldn’t believe me. Then why do we do it all the time with crypto? Because people want to believe it.
Cryptocurrency looks like this new technological revolution, a reason to claim that “this time is different!.” Ironically, the less money you earn, the more likely you are to rationalize these schemes.
If you haven’t heard of it yet, here’s what pyramid schemes look like:
Since we’re talking crypto, the coordinators may invent some product/service as an excuse:
More often than not, it’s a social trick with no product whatsoever. Most people just believe it because they don’t consider themselves ‘smart’ enough to understand crypto bots, cloud-based mining, or daytrading.
You’re going to lose all your money. Or in the best scenario, you get paid to scam other people.
If there’s an actual service, rogue trading is another risk:
How To Recognize Social Crypto Scams
Recognizing social scams is easy because you can only make money from actual systems/products. If you cannot verify these, then the offer cannot be legit:
Note that most never last more than a year, it’s hard to find social feedback. The best advice is to compare, see what happened with similar platforms in the past.
Software Crypto Scams
Since cryptocurrencies are 100% digital, software scams couldn’t be missing. It won’t be few the number of websites trying to sell you mining software or trading bots. If everyone is earning Bitcoin after all, why couldn’t you too?
Before you get too excited (because these opportunities do exist), know that most won’t earn you any money. Here’s why:
#1 Cloud Based Mining (Cryptojacking)
Crypto mining is one of those products you buy but never see or touch. And when buying an abstraction, what you bought might be different from what you think you bought. If you ever bought anything.
To put it simply, you’re paying someone who claims to own a program that makes money. They can multiply your Bitcoins quickly, so the more you deposit, the more you make. In theory.
If you ever had trouble withdrawing that money, then there’s a chance that the software doesn’t exist. It’s all an excuse to get your money on the platform (aka the scammers’ wallet).
Until you can retire your investment, you don’t know whether your profits are real or it’s false bookeeping.
At least in proof-of-work models (like Bitcoin) whoever owns the most hardware has higher chance to win transaction blocks and rewards. In cloud-based mining, a mining team receives hardware power remotely from their members (the ‘pool’). When they earn the reward, members get paid based on their contribution.
It’s good that normal people can mine crypto with any device, mostly for free. What’s not certain is how these mining pools are managing them.
You install the mining app in your phone/computer, thinking it will earn you passive cryptocurrency. But most of these platforms have strict withdrawal terms. And if you’re mining an altcoin, withdrawals may not be possible until years later.
All the proof of income you have is your verification and the account balance. Here’s what could happen instead:
In the end, the project may close for whatever reason and you didn’t lose any real money. But the founders mined a lot with your device, and they still have access.
They used it for mining, but it could be anything:
#2 Cryptocurrency Malware
Most people think of hackers as computer geniouses who can access anything. But cryptojacking has shown us a simpler version: a user grants device permission to get something free, such as crypto-mining. The hacker waits until he gathers enough accounts and then uses them all at once.
A 51% attack, for example.
While you could see the permission requirements, it’s only informational. The app can ask you for other features once opened, or it could turn them on automatically. You don’t know how much you’re sharing, so the best way to be sure is to know your download source.
Most programs come from app stores, some from file sharing platforms (Mega, Mediafire). The most dangerous sources are email and social media links.
Not that different from phishing. Except that instead of entering your password, the scammer wants you to install something:
That is if the scammer wants your money. Typically, they’ll target exchanges and money pools. You’re more likely to find issues with your exchange account than with your cold wallet.
#3 Bitcoin And Money Laundering
Making money can be hard. Partially, because the governments own it. While the economy gives it value, they choose how much to print and how to regulate it.
But cryptocurrencies are decentralized networks, which can’t be controlled (unless you own every single node). Now, people can trade with less regulation, at least outside exchanges.
Some just like the idea of avoiding taxes. But others use this opportunity to launder criminal money.
If delinquents can easily cash out their earnings, that will motivate them to keep their activities.
Thankfully, exchanges have identification measures against this. But still, scammers get away with other means:
Don’t be fooled to skip this scam just because it doesn’t affect you. Money laundering facilitates criminals to commit any fraud, so there’s more chance that you’ll get scammed in other ways.
As for money laundering, criminals will lure you to get their black money. They may sell you Bitcoin for $2,000 under the market price. Or maybe they want to meet in person to buy your 5BTC in cash.
It couldn’t be more suspicious.
How To Recognize Software Crypto-Scams
Cryptojacking uses your device to mine free crypto without your consent. Bitcoin malware manipulates your devices to get your money. And money laundering attracts more scammers into the crypto space.
How do you protect your crypto from these threats?
Well, if a company claims to earn you free passive income, you might admit that it sounds too good to be true. Only then, you’ll stop rationalizing and start verifying:
The scariest scams are those that cost you nothing. For example: download a program to mine crypto passively. If they earn nothing and you make money by pressing a button, why would they share it with you?
Maybe you’re secretly allowing the program other permissions. In cryptojacking, you’re giving your processing power.
When it comes to malware, you can avoid 90% of the attacks by picking the right sources:
Say you get an email from Coinbase. It’s a security alert with a button to update your password. What you should do is type Coinbase.com on the search bar, log in, and update from there. If you instead pressed the button, it could be a phishing scam.
Scammers Never Sleep!
Nothing new is going on with cryptocurrency. Scammers never stop innovating, and they’ll continue to exploit whatever new opportunities come up.
Bitcoin has been the most popular one. But we wouldn’t be surprised to find scams about the next big trends. DeFi? NFTs? Gaming altcoins?
Whatever it is, remember what you’ve learned here. Think twice: this time may not be different.