It’s understandable that people would want to invest quite heftily in cryptocurrencies. Sometimes, though, it is rather ill-advised. Take for example all those home-owners who are only half so after they have decided to mortgage their properties in the hopes of crypto riches.
Not surprisingly scammers will come rushing in trying to wheedle money out of gullible souls. But most of those scams are badly cobbled together and you can see through those quite readily. Let’s see what the most common ones are:
- Stealing your private key through phishing;
- Offering illegitimate service;
- Running Ponzi schemes and similar;
Phishing Through E-mails
So what are these? Phishing scams via e-mail usually make their objective to target a trader’s crypto key and use it so that the perpetrators may gain a complete control over the owner’s crypto fortune.
They are easy to spot, though, and usually come into your mail from someone whom you barely know or have no reason to have heard of before.
How does it work?
First, you will get a link from a similar website. It’s almost an identical to the real one with only a slight variation in the domain name, for example. Then you will be offered to do something in order to protect your account or improve your security. Either way, at some point you will be asked to enter your private key.
That’s why you should always read any piece of text you receive regarding your account, especially if it contains the words security in conjunction with improve. Those are red flags for everyone out there and it means that it is time to read the fine script more carefully. But there are some practical steps to undertake as well.
Want to Stay Safe? That’s Really Easy!
Don’t act on an impulse:
If you see something regarding your account’s security cropping up in your e-mail you will be understandably alarmed. But instead of acting out on a hunch you will need to sit down and peruse the mail carefully.
Remember that if you keep your wallet safe, there is almost no reason for concern whereas if you choose to open, download and log into everything on offer, you are effectively endangering your crypto investment.
Double check the website
A single plural form may mislead and you will do well to ensure that the URL is genuine. Also, you may want to bookmark the website – this way there is no way you will hit the wrong address, and that’s a bit of a relief.
Illegitimate services
Recently, a whole bank shut down in the United States. It was accused of running a Ponzi scheme or using its customers’ funds to run its own investment without accountability.
If you want to ensure that you are pinning your money at a respectable source, you will need to do some research. The easiest way to do so is by checking out if your exchange or bank has been talked about in the news.
Make sure to visit any respectable news outlet or simply run a Google Search. When I want to find out something about a company, I usually go to The Wallstreet Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times or a similar well-established outlet.
Remember to:
- Establish the credentials of your service provider
- Look for any negative reviews in the past
- Has your stock exchange been targeted by hackers attacks
All of these matters and all of them will help you rid yourself of future mishaps. The simplest way to go about is to stick to credible sources. Avoid immediate promises for riches and don’t trust big and alarming e-mails.
A genuine service provider would want you to stay calm even on the offchance something big and potentially bad has happened to your account.
Comments (No)