With the value of the cryptocurrency at sky-high prices (One Bitcoin is now valued at over $40,000), you can also see an increase of cryptocurrency scams where bad people would pose as “investment managers” who would present a “get rich quick scheme,” and once you have invested your digital assets, they would disappear quickly.
It would be unfortunate if you were scammed out of your hard-earned cryptocurrencies. This is why this article equips you with best practices to avoid being scammed in the cryptocurrency world.
How to Avoid Getting Scammed:
- Do not take things at Face Value
The most fundamental rule is to not take things at face value. Research hard and deep about any investment opportunity that comes your way, especially those too good to be true. Take, for example, the Twitter Hack that happened in 2020. Around 130 Twitter accounts from influential personalities like Elon Musk and Barack Obama were targeted. They changed the email address with the accounts controlled and rerouted them to a dummy address. From there, they tweeted a Bitcoin scam that could amass around $120,000. It is said that the Twitter account @shinji was behind this hacking activity. Twitter has then suspended @shinji’s account.
- Do not trust anyone
Even if you are fangirling over Kim Kardashian-West and she asks you to hand over your digital assets, never give in. Like the Twitter Hacking that happened in 2020, scammers can hack any account they want and pose as a famous celebrity and ask you to invest in their product or service. Think about it. They have loads of money – they wouldn’t ask you for money.
- Never share your Credentials
Some scammers pretend to be coming from a technical support team and would ask for your log-in credentials so they can remote your computer or laptop to “help you out.” Remember that financial organizations or anyone from a legitimate crypto platform will never ask for your password or log-in credentials, which means you should not give your password to anyone. This also means that you should not share your private key or seed phrase with your crypto wallet. Once they have your login credentials, you give them full access and control over your digital assets, which they can steal and store in their own reserves.
- Strengthen your Crypto Security through Passwords
You need to enable your two-factor authenticator password protection for your crypto account if possible. But do note that this method is still prone to scams like when Coinbase was hacked in October 2021. Around 6,000 customers were hacked through a phishing method during this hacking activity.
- Triple Check Website Links and URLs
Speaking of the phishing method, you need to not only double but triple-check any links or URLs that you are receiving in your emails. Scammers are getting very smart with their links and would copy the exact same link but swap out an “I” for the number “1” and “0” for the letter “O.”
