The world of cryptocurrencies is full of people who want to scam you. In reality, the real world is like this, but the crypto world as it made, makes scams much easier, faster and above all painful. Like any other user, you have to protect yourself and the best thing to protect yourself is to know everything about scams, so you can recognize and avoid them.
Below you will find a list of typical scams that see innocent and sometimes inattentive users lose money.
Cryptojacking
Let’s start with cryptojacking or crypto mining.
Cryptojacking is a type of cyber attack that uses the computer of users infected with malware to mine cryptocurrencies without their consent and without their noticing.
Due to high processor usage, computers infected with this type of malware tend to run slowly and overheat.
It is a threat that can compromise all types of devices, from PCs to smartphones and even network servers.
Instead of creating mining farms with their own machines, in this case the hacker creates a “clandestine” mining farm by exploiting and stealing computing power from infected users, at no cost to the hacker. In fact, mining brings a strong stress to the machines used for m in addition to high energy costs
One of the most popular ways of infection is through phishing emails with malicious links or attachments that install malware, or through infected websites with malicious scripts: when a user connects to such sites, they start undermining without realizing it. Many adult sites have these malicious scripts that allow cryptojacking.
At the moment the threat is recent and not all popular antiviruses are ready to fight it are protected.
Among the most well-known malware, PsMiner, a malware for Monero mining designed for Window and CookieMiner devices, which was in turn designed for mining Koto, a Japanese cryptocurrency
Some of these malware then manage to steal user data, so they can have access to your access to wallets and exchanges. Try to prevent getting infected with these malware with basic behaviors such as not opening suspicious e-mail communications that carry fraudulent links, or visiting sites whose safety has not been verified. In short, no more porn.
The fake broker.
It happens to receive unwelcome phone calls from people we do not know, from strange call centers who would like us to invest in bitcoin or ethereum. Generally the people on the other side of the phone know less than we do but they know how to hit our ego by promising staggering returns with virtually zero risk and no bureaucratic problems since they would take care of every aspect of the investment. It’s just a question of making a money transfer, and seeing the value of your investments grow dramatically.
Let’s assume that our friend Luca falls into the trap and decides to trust this broker. He will begin a process in which all documents will be requested to start creating the account on a trading platform, based abroad in countries such as Romania or Cyprus. The anti-money laundering procedures will be serious and tight, convincing Luca that the broker is serious.
Luca makes the first deposit of $ 20,000 by wire transfer or credit card and within a few weeks the coins are purchased. The platform issues all the purchase tax documents to luca, so as to be in perfect order with taxation burocracy. But suddenly, the broker asks Luca for another $ 10,000 if he wants his previously paid $ 20,000 back.
Luca refuses and the trading company disappears.
Luca tries to recover his money through the trading platform but here he understands that he is not the owner of the crypto. In fact, the fraudster Broker has deposited the coins, bought with Luca’s money, on his own proprietary wallets. Basically Luca gave money to the scammer.
The money is lost, the broker is unable to do anything as the scam has been well researched. Luca feels the pain of being scammed. He hasnt done the right research.
False identity
The crypto community mostly uses telegram and discord. This allows you to contact anyone in this world, managing to have contacts with programmers, influencers, CEOs and traders. And this allows anyone to contact you too.
It often happens to be contacted by people who are famous in the environment or who boast of working for very famous start-ups or crypto companies. I warn you, if you have not known them personally, all of these people are scammers, who have stolen the identity of people in the environment and who sooner or later will ask you for money or to reveal the private keys of your wallet.
It takes little to create a fake profile on telegram, a photo copied from the correct profile and a similar username. And that’s it.
Never send sensitive information to anyone, information such as passwords or private keys, or make coin payments. If any of these villains contact you, block them mercilessly.
Do you want to discover some new scam? Go to the second part of our guide!