“EDUCBA Cryptocurrency Scam: How to Spot and Avoid Fraud”

Introduction

The Rise of Crypto Scams: Protect Your Investments

Get this: very nearly 18 billion dollars— indeed, with a B — has been taken by crypto scammers over the most recent two years alone. Crypto tricks are more broad than any other time, and since I’ve been in the space for some time, I’ve seen endless unfortunate tricks where individuals lose terrible measures of cash. Thus, I’m here to assist with ending that. In this article, we uncover the most widely recognized crypto tricks, look at certifiable models, and make sense of how you can keep away from them.

Real-World Example: The Telegram Scam

This first story comes from a viewer I’ll refer to as T for privacy reasons. About a year ago, T received a text from someone on his Telegram channel. He didn’t know the person, so he didn’t respond immediately. This is the first major red flag. If someone you don’t know sends you a direct message out of the blue, especially on Telegram, where scammers often operate, assume they’re a scammer and block or ignore them.

Scammers often prey on people looking for personal connections of crypto currency, using this to their advantage. They befriend you, build trust, and then proceed with their scam. The day after the first message, T responded, and they started chatting. A month later, this new “friend” began talking about crypto and how much money they had made.

T wasn’t really into crypto but was curious about how his new friend made his fortune. The person guided T to a legitimate-looking website, complete with a registered company certificate, physical address, and white paper. However, upon closer inspection, the company certificate was fake, the address was a residential house, and the white paper was only two pages long and written in broken English. These are major red flags, but to the untrained eye, it might look convincing.

It turns out that the person who contacted T was running the fraudulent website or was collaborating with the scammers. T created an account, deposited crypto, and even brought in friends who invested as well. Over 12 months, T kept investing, eventually putting in about fifteen thousand dollars, which appeared to have tripled to forty-five thousand dollars. Notice how I said “investing” and “tripled in value” in quotes. The scammers were likely not investing anything and simply pocketing the money while showing a fake dashboard.

The Fake Dashboard Scam

Remember, it’s all fake—those numbers on the screen have no real value behind them. There’s no way for you to verify that the investment is real. When T tried to withdraw his funds, the scammers refused, giving a variety of bogus excuses. T realized he had been scammed, especially after his “friend” and the fake company ghosted him. He demanded his money back but to no avail; the money was gone.

Sometimes scammers let you make small withdrawals to build trust so you’ll invest more and even encourage friends and family to do the same. They might demand additional fees to “unlock” withdrawals, further exploiting you. Once they have enough, they vanish, leaving victims high and dry. With blockchain transactions being final and the crypto space largely unregulated, there’s little chance of recovery.

Outside of crypto, this type of scam also occurs with bank transfers, which can be irreversible. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that T only lost fifteen thousand dollars—not the forty-five thousand he thought he had. Given the market volatility, even legitimate investments might not have fared much better.

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Impersonation Scams: Fake Support and Community Members

The second scam involves scammers pretending to be official support from a platform you’re using or a helpful community member. Fortunately, this one is a bit more lighthearted. A Reddit user baited some scammers just to mess with them. If someone DMs you on Reddit, Discord, Twitter, or any social media, assume they’re trying to scam you. Do not click any links or respond.

Scammers often prey on users seeking help, directing them to fake websites. In this example, a Reddit user posted on the Solana subreddit asking for help, aware of the scams. Sure enough, he received two scam messages, with one claiming that the transaction was “stuck” due to an error with the manner API node block.

The scammer’s jargon was complete nonsense—words like “desegregate the API node using the web3 block reset repository interface” meant nothing. The user played along, pretending to be confused, until the scammer gave up. Remember, crypto can be complicated, but if advice comes from a random social media user, they’re likely trying to confuse you into compliance.

Danger Zone: Phishing Scams

Now we’re entering the danger zone—do not try this at home. Clicking suspicious links can expose you to scams. These links often lead to forms asking for your seed phrase, which grants full access to your wallet, even if you’re using a hardware wallet. Some sites use Wallet Connect to run malicious code, giving scammers wallet access. Always be cautious online, especially in crypto, which is still like the wild west.

Airdrop Scams: Too Good to Be True

The last scam involves airdrops—receiving free tokens for holding another coin. While some legit airdrops exist, like those on the Cosmos Network, most are scams these days. For instance, my Polygon Network wallet is full of scam airdrops. I’ve only ever sent Polygon (MATIC) to this wallet, yet two other worthless scam tokens appeared.

Interacting with these tokens in any way can execute malicious code, giving scammers access to your wallet—even with a hardware wallet. The best way to avoid this scam is to ignore unexpected tokens. If an unknown token shows up, search its name plus “scam” on Google for warnings from others.

Stay Vigilant and Protect Your Investments

Crypto tricks are all over, however you can safeguard yourself by remaining watchful. Never trust spontaneous messages, be careful about unrealistic offers, and consistently confirm the authenticity of sites and stages prior to financial planning. By sharing these accounts and tips, we can help each other stay protected in the always developing universe of crypto.

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