Many online brokers began offering cryptocurrency products to clients as interest grew in the blistering new heights bitcoin and Ethereum were reaching daily and even hourly. However, amid all the excitement, a new danger lurked for investors. Scammers took advantage of the excitement to promote all manner of different schemes aimed at defrauding unsuspecting investors. Due to the nature of cryptocurrency and its built-in complication, finding a way to claim restitution is very difficult. Fortunately, solutions like PayBack have uncovered strategies for recovering lost and stolen funds. Still, it helps to be vigilant and understand the tell-tale signs that a cryptocurrency fraud is being perpetrated. Read on to avoid these nefarious attempts and their damaging consequences altogether.
If you’ve become the victim of a cryptocurrency scam, you probably already understand the complications of recovering lost and stolen funds to reach any sort of closure. You’ll likely encounter many hurdles trying to recoup your money, considering the lengths thieves will go to mask their true identities. Services like PayBack expedite and simplify the recovery process. They understand the tactics and strategies scammers will use to exploit their victims and the swiftest techniques to fight back.
Although getting your money is possible, it’s still best to avoid these situations by understanding the scams fraudsters will attempt and taking the right preventative measures. These are some of the most common scams in the cryptocurrency market today:
Advance Fee & Ponzi Schemes: Advance-fee scams have been perpetrated across the internet for a long time, often taking the form of Nigerian princes seeking money through emails. The other form is Ponzi schemes, which guaranteed returns in exchange for a small upfront payment. These schemes defraud individuals by using very straightforward tactics:
The scheme starts by promising that an important individual is airdropping a huge amount of cryptocurrency, offer a free giveaway, request help unlocking a larger sum of cryptocurrency with the help of your smaller sum, or guarantee a return.
Users are instructed to send a small amount of cryptocurrency to a specified account address with the promise of receiving a multiple of that amount in return.
After sending a small amount of cryptocurrency to a specified address with the amount designed to «verify» your cryptocurrency wallet, the advance scheme promises to return an even greater amount the same day, attempting to take even more funds from users.
The one-way nature of blockchain means that funds are permanently lost and completely unrecoverable
Automated Trading Strategies:
Many people are attracted to the idea that an algorithm or automated trading strategy can do all the heavy lifting while they sit back and watch. These software «solutions» promise big returns for little to no work on the part of the user. Often, it begins with the promise of big returns:
Users are asked to download an application or sign up for a service that can help effortlessly generate money while claiming a high win rate.
After plugging the robot into an exchange platform, it rapidly depletes account values while generating funds from subscribers.
Fake Exchanges: The popularity of bitcoin created a rush of people trying to enter the new market. With promises of buying cryptocurrencies at a big discount, these exchanges enticed people to leave personal information and ultimately parted these unsuspecting individuals from their money. The scheme works as follows:
After signing up and providing personal identification information, users are asked to deposit funds with the exchange platform.
Exchanges subsequently disappear with customer’s funds
Another option is offering the opportunity to sell bitcoin for PayPal funds.
After the PayPal address has been supplied by the user, the exchange asks the users to send their cryptocurrency to a wallet address. After confirmed, the money never arrives at the PayPal wallet address and the exchange will likely disappear from the internet.
With all the news of new coins being created and sold to the public, investors seeking to cash in on the cryptocurrency craze gravitated to these new coin projects titled initial coin offerings (ICOs). Just like IPOs, ICOs were designed to help cryptocurrency projects raise money. These scammers depend on the greed of web users to sell fake coins before disappearing with user funds. They operate in the following manner:
The scammer will lure unsuspecting users to the coin offering website by offering a new solution or product that is designed to change the world.
There will be a gimmick involved or the promise of high returns from the eventual product using complicated language designed to confuse readers.
Discounts are offered to users who buy quickly or above certain amounts.
Users are asked to buy the new coin with their own crypto funds, before exchanging real funds for worthless coins.
The scammers disappear, often removing the websites and scrubbing any existing web presence.
While investing in cryptocurrencies can be lucrative, especially when done with an abundance of caution and care, there are ways to reduce the risk of falling prey to fraud. The key is to differentiate real opportunities from fraudulent and underhanded scams. Here are some warning signs you should watch for before engaging in any cryptocurrency trading:
Unprotected Websites: Although some websites may not promise big returns and seem reliable, it is important to always check for the little lock icon in the address bar of a website. Any website that is missing this or an https:// address should automatically be viewed with suspicion because it means it is missing key security features designed to protect users.
Fake Teams: Especially common in ICO scams is the inclusion of fake team members in the about sections of websites. Although intended to give users a sense of confidence by highlighting the team members behind the product, a quick search over the internet might prove that these carefully curated identities are completely made up.
Promises of Outsized Returns: The promise of huge returns may be too good to ignore, especially in cryptocurrency where coins can move double digit percentage amounts in a single day. These offers should be approached cautiously considering this tactic comes right out of the scammer playbook.
Discounted Purchase Prices: While buying something at a discount may sound enticing, it is often a cover for outright stealing personal information and money from unsuspecting visitors. Although they may seem reputable, it’s important to carefully research these exchanges online before getting started. Reputable exchanges usually do not offer promotions, discounts, or anything for free, so these types of offers should automatically be treated as suspect.
Automated Strategies That Don’t Lose: Even algorithmic trading strategies make losing trades, so any solution that promises it is flawless and capable of delivering small, but regular daily returns should be approached with an abundance of caution.
Cryptocurrencies are a very new and exciting asset class, but they have quickly become a go-to for scammers and fraudsters. With promises of outsized returns and new methods to capitalize on cryptocurrencies rapid ascent, unsuspecting traders have now found themselves the victims of deceptive practices and outright theft. Thankfully, companies like PayBack are joining the mix to help defrauded investors fight back against deception and theft. It always pays to do careful research before getting involved in any cryptocurrency trading while minding the common tactics that scammers will employ to con you out of your hard-earned funds.