Top 9 Crypto Scams List, Don't Be Fooled!

Unfortunately it can be hard to spot a scam as there are numerous tricky ways for scammers to lure out cryptocurrency from their victims. In this article we will discuss different scams and how to avoid them, we will provide you with a list of the most well known crypto scams to watch so that you can be prepared and recognise and prevent them from being successfull in time.

Ponzi schemes are well known across many sectors including traditional financial instutations and the cryptocurrency industry, the scam itself named after Charles Ponzi, who became infamous in the late 19th century for defrauding thousands of people with this particular method, and therefore the scam was named after him.

In a Ponzi scheme, the system or service promises high returns on investment to attract new investors in. The returns that are paid out are done by using the money invested by newly recuited investors instead of a legitimate business activity. As time goes on and the scheme grows bigger, the scammer needs to attract more and more investors to keep the scam going. Eventually, it all collapses, leaving most investors with nothing.

Crypto Ponzi Schemes work in mostly the same way basically you will be promised high returns on investment through fake businesses disquised as a legiminative online service like a:

• Investment Platform
• Interest Services
• Trading Platform
• Mining Services

The platform or service may claim to have a secret trading strategy or an algorithm that can guarantee profits. In reality, they are simply using an illusion of high returns on your crypto investments to make you hooked and to keep you interested. This will make you want to invest more and not wanting to make a withdrawal for longer.

Some signs that could be an indication of a Ponzi scheme include:

• Promises of high returns with little or no risk
• Pressure to invest quickly, before the opportunity is gone
• Lack of transparency about how the investment works
• Reliance on recruiting new investors to sustain the project 
• When you want to withdraw you will have to pay even more money

If you're considering to do investment through a new platform it is essential that you do your due diligence:

1. Research the project and their social media profile, if they have little to no activity or is newly created it might be a warning sign
2. Check their reputation on platforms like Trustpilot or ScamAdviser, and look for independent reviews and analysis throughout the web.
3. Check that the platform has valid customer service and the platform provides contact details

A common crypto scam is the pump-and-dump scheme. In this type of scam, a group of people buy up a large portion of one or more digital assets and then artificially inflate the price of a low-value cryptocurrency by promoting and shilling it through various social media channels like Telegram, Discord, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, TikTok and Instagram. While the prices are rising due to FOMO and hype building up, the initial group starts selling out, at a certain level, the fraudsters have all sold out and the hype is beginning to lay off causing the price to crash heavily and leaving the bag holders with significant losses.

The pump-and-dump trick is a classic example of market manipulation. The swindlers usually target new or naive investors who are not familiar with how the market works and are blinded from the big opportunity they are presented with.

To avoid falling victim to a pump-and-dump scheme, you should be careful when investing in low-value cryptocurrencies. Do your research and only invest in projects that have a solid foundation, a good team, and a clear roadmap. Avoid investing in projects that promise unrealistic returns, have no clear use case or are suddently popping up everywhere online.

You should also be wary of social media posts and online forums that promote a particular cryptocurrency. These posts are likely being posted as part of a pump-and-dump shilling campaign, effectively you could end up losing your whole investment.

The Double Up Scam is one of many crypto scams, this one involves a promise to double your investment in a short period of time. The swindlers will typically ask you to send cryptocurrency to a specific wallet address and in return they promise to send back double the amount recieved within a few hours or days.

However, once you send the cryptocurrency, the scammers will disappear, and you will never receive any funds back. This is because the address is not owned by a legitimate business or individual, but rather by swindlers wanting your Bitcoin or another asset or token.

To avoid to become a victim to this scam, it is important to remember that no one will send you free cryptocurrency and everyone trying to convince you otherwise is most likely a scammer, always do your own research and be skeptical of any promises that seem too good to be true.

Some methods through which these fraudulent activities are being carried out on the internet are as follows: 

• Impersonating/Faking a public figures social media statement to promote the scam
• Message or Email outreach guaranteeing money in return if you do a first transaction

The Double Up Scam is a tactic used by crypto scammers to steal funds from unsuspecting individuals and never have to pay anything back. If you receive a message or email or see a post online of some famous person promoting a wallet address asking you to send cryptocurrency to in return get even more cryptocurrency, it is likely a impersonation scam. Be sure to verify the identity of the sender and never send anything to an unknown address.

Trading platform scams are one of the more advanced scams where the fraudsters has setup a fake trading platforms that looks excatly like a real trading platform in every possible parameter, they typically offer high deposit bonuses, lucrative packages or special refferal deals to earn a commission which all ofcourse are fake and made to lure unknowlingly people to send crypto assets or money. These platforms often use fake reviews and testimonials to gain a fake image online to create the impression that they are a legitimate business. This is done to more easily lure unsuspecting investors to deposit cryptocurrency to the fraudster.

Once you invest your money, you will eventually find that you cannot withdraw any of it and that it is an impossible task getting your money back. The scammers will most likely ask you to deposit even more crypto assets or fiat currencies to allow the withdrawl proceed, which ofcourse all is a scam to get the most money out of you. 

To avoid trading scams, it is important to do your research and only invest with reputable trading platforms. Look for user reviews from trusted sources and check the platform's credentials and reputation. Also, be wary of any platform that promises high returns on investment it is highly likely that the platform displays fake crypto returns. In addition, be cautious of any random email or text about trading opportunities. Scammers often use these methods to lure excited investors into their scams.

The crypto phishing scams are very common in the crypto space, it involves fake websites or emails that are legitimate-looking to trick you into giving them your private information such as your login credentials, credit card numbers, and crypto wallet keys.

These scams can be difficult to spot because they often look identical to the real website or email. They may use the same logos, colors, and fonts as the legitimate website or email. They may also use urgent language, fake situations like threating to close your account if you don't act immediately.

To protect yourself from phishing scams, you should always verify the website or email address before entering any personal information. Check the URL to make sure it's the correct one. If you're unsure, type the website address directly into your browser instead of clicking on a link in an email, never give out your private information to anyone, especially if they're asking for it over email or chat. Legitimate companies will never ask for your private information in this way.

It is important to stay aware and cautious when it comes to cryptocurrency, always double-check the legitimacy of any website, email post or message before giving up any of your personal information. If you do suspect that you've fallen victim to a scam, immediately change your passwords and contact the company to report the scam.

Another fraudulent crypto scam is the giveaway or competition scam which typically promise a chance to either win or get free crypto, products or services in an exchange for a small fee, this is usually excused to be used to cover fees or taxes related to the giveaway or competition. The scam may claim to be an event established and backed by a well-known crypto exchange or celebrity, but in reality the association has never been real and the event has been fake all along only created to lure money out of people.

It is important to keep in mind that legitimate crypto companies and celebrities will never ask you to send them money to a private wallet addresses or bank accounts in exchange for any service, crypto or product. If you see a post or advertisement promising free crypto be very vary of the offer before taking any action.

Here is a list of some red flags to watch out for:

• Requests for payment upfront
• Suspicious URLs or social media handles
• Promises of guaranteed returns or profits
• Unsolicited messages or emails

Investment scams are commonly promoted and often begin on social media. The swindlers will often begin the scam with a random person contacting you with a special story and an offer, the offer is typically to become a cryptocurrency investor like them to earn a passive income. What they hope is that it will catch your attention and make you want to learn more about the opportunity. Once you're on the site, you're encouraged to begin investing and make money quickly. Basically they are trying to put you into crypto romance blinding you with quick gains. However, the investment platform is all fake, and you will end up losing all the money you might send.

These scams can be very convincing, with lots of fake reviews, a good looking fake website, some will even do fake video chats as agents representing the platform, to make you feel comfortable putting money in. The scammers will often promise high returns with little to no risk, and may even use fake celebrity endorsements to make the scam seem more legitimate.

Be wary of random offers and messages from people on social media or email. Scammers often use these social media channels to target potential victims. Always verify the identity of the person or platform before investing any of your hard earned money.

Fake software is when scammers create software that looks like a legitimate piece of software, that could be a fake crypto wallet or immitating an known exchange platform. The scammers trick people into downloading and using the software through various tricks like Phishing Emails and Google Ads where the scammers make ads targeting real software, but instead of visiting the real software they visit the fake software website.

Here are some of the most common fake software scams:

1. Fake Wallets: The fraudsters will create fake crypto wallets that look legitimate and convince users to download and use them. Once installed, these malicious wallets steal the user's private keys, allowing the scammers to gain access to the users crypto funds.
2. Fake Exchange: Scammers create a fake cryptocurrency exchange that look like a legitimate exchange and convince users to make deposits. Once funds has been deposited, there is no way to withdraw.
3. Fake Websites: They will develop fake websites that resemble popular cryptocurrency exchanges or trading platforms. Unsuspecting users may enter their login credentials, unknowingly giving away their account details to the scammers who can then hijack their accounts.
4. Crypto Mining Malware: Scammers distribute malware disguised as legitimate mining software. When users download and install this fake software, it secretly uses their computing power to mine cryptocurrencies for the scammer, allowing them to profit at the expense of the victim's resources.
5. Fake/Malicous Plugins: Some plugins have been caught in doing malicious activities such as modifying copied crypto addresses or stealing information allowing access to wallets. 
6. Fake Apps: Scammers will develop fully functional apps that looks identical to other popular apps, when users use these apps they will be scammed for all crypto payments and deposits mades

One scam that has been causing a lot of heat is the eSIM Scam. This scam involves a fraudster convincing your mobile phone provider to create a eSIM and provide it to the hackers control. Once the hacker have control of your phone number, the hacker can reset passwords and gain access to the platforms where you have registered an account.

To protect yourself from SIM-swap scams, you should take the following steps:

It is important to activate two-factor authentication (2FA) that does not rely on SMS messages. Instead try to use an authentication app or a security key generator that is not tied to your phone number.

You can contact your phone service provider if you suspect that your phone number has an active eSIM, usualy you can find this information on the profile section of your phone service providers website.

You should avoid sharing any personal information online or over the phone. Scammers will be able to use this information to impersonate you and be in a better position when trying to convince your mobile phone provider to create an eSIM.

Be cautious when you receive random phone calls or messages. Scammers will often use social engineering tactics to gain your trust so that they can convince you to provide them with as much personal information as they need.

It is worth using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) when accessing your accounts. This can help protect your information from hackers or scammers who may be monitoring your internet traffic and habits.

By being carefull when using your phone number to login or recover accounts related to your crypto stash you can help protect yourself from eSIM scams and other types of crypto scams.

To be better prepared and guard yourself from being a victim of scams in the crypto industry including phishing, pump and dump and ponzi schemes it is important to be well informed and aware of the methods that is used by the scammers.

Here is a helpful list of tips and tricks that can help you avoid being scammed:

Do Not Trust Random Messages: It is important to stay critical when being contacted by strangers online, through emails, or social media posts usually it is to entice you to invest in a fraudulent business. Do not send any money or cryptocurrency to people you do not know.

Do Not Share Your Private Keys: Private keys are used to gain access to your funds therefore it is important to never share your private keys with anyone, it is also important never to store them in raw text files or in services like your email provider as if they will be available for hackers to steal all of your assets.

Verif Legitimacy: Before investing with a platform or taking part in any service it is adviced that you do your own research and verify that the platform or service is a legit and renoved business. Check if the platform or service has a good reputation and is known within the community.

Be Wary of Phishing: It is a commonly used practice to use fake emails or websites in the attempts to obtain login credentials or personal information. Therefore be very cautious of any product or services that ask for your login details or other imformation that can be classified as sensitive.

Avoid People Who Ask You To Send Cryptocurrency: It is often seen that swindlers will ask victims to send them assets or money in exchange for a promise of high returns. Do not fall for these tricks and remember to never send or share anything with people that you do not know.

Blackmail Scams: Impostors will create fake legal claims and threatening to reveal personal information or sexual explicit photos, it is important to stay calm and not to give in to the demands instead you need to report the incident to the authorities.

If you ever encounter a scam it is important to react quickly and take the right action and report crypto scams as you encounter them, you might save other people from major cryptocurrency losses. Informing people about potential dangers can prevent them from engaging in the most common scams like Fake Software, Giveaway scams or rug pulls or just make them think a little more when encountering other new cryptocurrency scams.