Scamming is an intricate method of taking advantage of uninformed individuals or organisations and profiting from their ignorance. Wherever money or wealth is involved, scamming has always been a problem.
Scams are highly common in the crypto market as well. In the crypto industry, there has been a long list of scamming tactics over the years. Since the field is new and, sadly, complicated, it is easy for a few to mislead the masses by making a variety of false promises. Scamming tactics vary, but they all aim to steal money from unsuspecting investors looking for a fast buck. The following is a list of some of the most common and well-known scamming techniques currently available.
Wallet hack
Cryptocurrency wallets can be hacked if attackers find an internal way in, despite how difficult it is. Internal methods include obtaining your phone's password, cloning your computer, learning your backup expression, and so on. Wallet hacks are uncommon since they are usually stored offline and protected by strong encryption. When a wallet is hacked, it is normally due to the wallet's creators' incompetence, as has been the case in the past.
Fake social media influencer
Many influencers and celebrities on social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and others are sometimes active in supporting ventures for which they are compensated. The majority of the time, the promoters have no idea what they're trying to sell. Celebrities such as 50 Cent, DJ Khalid, and a slew of others have been known to endorse crypto ventures and initial coin offerings (ICOs) that were almost certainly scams or false projects.
Cryptojacking
Cryptojacking is, in several ways, a way for cybercriminals to make free money with little effort. With only a few lines of code, cybercriminals can take control of another person's computer. As a result, the victim is responsible for the expense of the computations and energy used to mine cryptocurrency. The crooks make off with the tokens.
Telegram Scams
Telegram scam groups and Telegram chatbots are two of the most popular forms of scams these days. People are persuaded to join telegram groups or influencers who promise to make money for their followers. They create flashy displays that show you their cryptocurrency balance, trade snapshots, and customer feedback, all of which are typically fake. When a potential victim is persuaded and sends money, they close the show and change their credentials, searching for a new victim.
Dusting Attack
A Dusting attack is carried out by sending small amounts of cryptocurrency to hundreds or thousands of wallets, as the name implies. Scammers discovered that cryptocurrency users don't pay much attention to the small amounts that appear in their wallets, and they've been taking advantage of this since then. Hackers make a note of the wallet ID they send to with the small number. Following the dusting of several addresses, the next step in a dusting attack is to merge the analyses of those addresses to see which ones belong to the same wallet.
Fake ICOs
Scamming has never been simpler since the launch of the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) concept and the continuous changes in the Ethereum Ecosystem. Scams involving initial coin offerings (ICOs) can be the most difficult to detect because they often resemble legitimate offerings. The projects have a flashy website, a large and unfeasible whitepaper, and claim to address a variety of issues. Newcomers to the market are quickly influenced by the fake project's glamorous and aesthetic appearance, and they send money to them in the hopes of a massive return. The developers take the money as soon as the time limit expires. According to some figures, approximately 1/3 of all ICOs in 2017 is fraudulent. One of the most significant disadvantages is that most investors have no direct interaction with the project's developers.
Fake Airdrops
An airdrop is a basic term. It entails a company “dropping” small quantities of free crypto to individual wallets in bulk. To participate in an airdrop, you must first register using a Google form, a Telegram bot, or directly on the project's website. The aim of a dump airdrop is to create short-term hype about a token so that people will be willing to buy it when it becomes available on exchanges. Airdrops are another scamming tactic that involves following the accounts. Sending an airdrop puts one's account in the spotlight. After that, you can use regular dusting attack techniques.
