Cryptocurrencies have become one of the most popular assets that investors resort to, making high profits. However, it is no secret that the crypto market is a very volatile one, and one must conduct intensive research regarding the market and the certain cryptocurrency they intend to put money in. Moreover, this market also witnesses the presence of people with ill intent, as scammers keep devising new methods of scamming people for their money. To avoid scams, you should always buy your cryptocurrency from trusted sources. If you intend to invest money into Bitcoin, head over to a safe Bitcoin payments and purchase the amount of Bitcoin you intend to, without worrying about ever getting scammed.
You should also be aware of certain crypto scams that pose threats to your finances so that you can protect your portfolio and continue to make profits from crypto trading. Studies suggest that scammers took more than $14 billion from the crypto market in 2021 alone. Let us discuss a few crypto scams that are common and are likely to happen to investors in case they put themselves in a vulnerable position.
- Crypto rug pulls: Crypto rug pull is one of the more common scams that affect the market. In this scam, developers and owners of the crypto project tend to run away with investors’ money. Once enough capital is invested into a crypto project, the people behind it cash out the capital and run away with it. The squid game rug pull is the latest and one of the most significant rug pulls that have been pulled off by scammers.
- Fake apps/website scams: It is evident that nowadays, social media and online apps play a big part in our daily life, and scammers often attempt to leverage this trend in order to scam people out of their money. Scammers often create fake websites and apps that look real and convince people to make crypto transactions through their platform, which makes investors vulnerable to losing money, or sensitive data, such as login email and passwords to crypto wallets. Thus, it is important that you only utilize trusted websites/apps.
- Shady crypto-investment schemes: Scammers often try to pull off niche pyramid scheme/Ponzi scheme scams in the crypto market. The scammer tries to get investors to invest in the asset by utilizing the testimonials of famous celebrities to get people to invest money into projects that can prove to be beneficial to them. It is important for you to do your research before you trade crypto or make crypto payments over a platform. In case you do come across a shady platform that is promoting investment schemes that sound too good to be true, you must report it to officials that can take care of scammers.
- ICO scams: ICO scams have also existed in the market majorly and are of various types. Some common ICO scams include the Pump and Dump scam, the securities scam, and the exit fraud. The people behind these scams often portray that they are well connected with celebrities and that their project has a robust plan and vision, which will ultimately lead to huge returns. It is important for investors to understand which projects are genuine and which ones are fishy. If they prove to be genuine, go for them!
- SIM Swapping: SIM Swapping is another technique that is used by scammers to get into your crypto wallet. They pretend to be you while talking to your internet service provider and get them to believe that it’s you so that they can transfer your number to a SIM card they own, giving them access to all your information, allowing them to drown your crypto wallets in mere seconds.
You should be aware of the security vulnerabilities of certain actions taken by you and avoid putting your information at risk, as it can be used by scammers to take your money. To avoid these scams, you need to make sure that you use trusted websites/apps to trade your cryptocurrency. Moreover, you must also ensure that the device you use to access the internet is free of malware so that no one can gain access to sensitive information such as email, phone number, etc.