Recently there has been an increase in crypto-scams. Some of these scam attempts are new and some are old. We decided to write about some of them, to prevent our community from falling into these traps.
Usually, crypto-scam attempts are primitive, but unfortunately, the statistics say that some people still lose their money.
Cardano Shelly hard fork will be initiated 29th of July and on August 18 staking rewards payed out. We can assume that the period when some people move their ADA from exchanges (or wallets that don’t support staking yet) might be also the period when scammers become more active.
We can remember recently that after Cardano Virtual Summit, there were a lot of scams on Youtube.
We’ll provide one example. Users watch Cardano-related content, (like Charles Hoskinson’s youtube channel as in this example) and they see scam advertisements or suggestions on the right side which shows “Live”.
After clicking the video they see the livestream video which broadcasts older Cardano-related videos, but also shows you scam-information — suggestion to send ADA and to receive a bigger amount. Scammers use chat to “say thanks” and to add the impression that this is something real.
Of course, if you are an active Cardano community member, you will already know that Cardano summit happened weeks ago. Moreover, you will know that such a scam exists.
But for some people who have either not so much experience or time, we came up with some easy to remember points.
There is no free money. Nobody will want to multiply your assets, scammers just want to take them away.
When you need to transact online, always double check (if the site, community channels are legitimate, if it is a person you know — you can speak by phone). Always use logic and common sense, as these days even official channels might be hacked
Cardano staking is secure. You ADA never leaves your wallet. You just choose stake pool operator from your wallet (Daedalus or Yoroi) and start delegating from there
Neither Cardano community members, nor staking pool operators won’t ask you to send your ADA.
Your wallet recovery phrase secures your wallet. Never share this information, either online or offline, and store this information in a secure place.
Other possible scam options include Telegram scams, where you might be added into a fake “Cardano” group and you might be contacted by a fake moderator. Similar scam is present all the time in other crypto communities.
For more information on this topic, you can watch Charles Hoskinson’s video, called “Scams Scams and more Scams!”
You can also watch this edition of “The Cardano Effect” show, where scam and scam prevention are discussed. James Kelley explains some aspects of the nature of the latest Twitter hacks. It’s interesting to hear his expertise.
I think it's horrible enough that YouTube is choosing to do nothing about the rampant rise of scams there that use that livestreaming bullshit to lure others.
Seen videos from just about everybody, Vitalik, Justin Sun, CZ Binance, and even Charles Hoskinson's. It's sad but people should really be smarter than to fall for them.