Investing in Crypto? Learn About These 4 Types of Scams

Learn how to best avoid cryptocurrency scams with these helpful tips!

Cryptocurrency is an incredibly speculative investment. Help decide whether cryptocurrency suits you by measuring your risk appetite to judge whether you can stomach the volatility.
Before investing, educate yourself on the risks involved, such as scams, environmental fears, potential regulation, pump and dumps, consumer protection, and volatility.
The decentralised nature of cryptocurrency means that there is no centralised body to provide consumer protection against fraud or scams. Scammers are always finding new ways to exploit the vulnerable using cryptocurrency.

As the popularity of cryptocurrency has risen, so has the number of cryptocurrency scam victims.

The younger generations are most at risk, which is no surprise given their inexperience in avoiding other financial scams at that age. According to the FTC, those aged between 20 and 49 are over five times more likely to fall victim to cryptocurrency scams than older generations. Over half of the money lost in investment scams by those aged 20-39 comes from cryptocurrency scams.

The FTC also reported that the median individual loss from a cryptocurrency scam in 2020 was $1,900, a 1000% increase from 2019.

Social Media Scams

This scam frequently involves scammers creating advertisements indicating crypto to be a get-rich-quick scheme or scammers directly messaging targeted victims stating that they (the scammer) are using crypto mining rigs to provide instant returns.

The bottom line is that any social media post asking for cryptocurrency to be sent attempts to scam the user.

Advertisements mentioning sending cryptocurrencies to certain wallets, with links provided in the descriptions, are also scams. As you can see from the picture below, a scam can even appear to come from somebody famous, in this case, Bill Gates. It simply means that their account has been hacked.

Tip! Report suspicious activity to the social media company immediately.

Bill Gates impersonator's tweet on Twitter attempting to scam users

Did you know? To maintain privacy using cryptocurrencies, wallets change addresses after each transaction. The currency would be lost indefinitely if money is sent to these wallets.

Impersonation/Imposter Scams

This scam features the scammer posing as a reliable and trustworthy source to lure victims into sending them cryptocurrency. What or who they pose as varies, from banks to government authorities, service providers, or even celebrities. Their method of communication also varies but is often via email.

Tip! If the payment request is urgent, it is almost certainly a scam.

Investment/Business Opportunity Scams

This scam usually starts with an unasked-for opportunity to become a cryptocurrency investor and thus quickly become financially independent. You’ll be invited to a fraudulent website where you can learn more about the offer. From there onwards, pressure is applied on you to immediately take up the opportunity and get involved with this get-rich-quick scheme.

Tip! Look out for fake endorsements and testimonials.

Under this type of scam, you’ve got to pay to play. Except, your money’s gone once you pay to play, and the investment opportunity is non-existent.

Tip! If an offer seems too good to be true, such as promising free money or guaranteed returns, it probably is.

Blackmail Scams

This scam involves receiving a form of communication (e.g. email) whereby the sender claims to hold confidential information against you. The sender (scammer) will usually claim to release such information unless you meet their payment demands (in cryptocurrency). Report such activity to the relevant authorities.

KEEPING SAFE FROM CRYPTO SCAMS. COMPLETED. ✅