Fraudsters rake in millions of dollars through so-called crypto scams.With many investors investing in cryptocurrencies without worrying about security, online scammers have an easy time.How to protect yourself.
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Cryptocurrencies are a popular target for scammers
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Inexperienced investors who are promised great profits are easy targets for crypto scammers.The fraudsters usually focus on Bitcoins and Ethereum.
However, if you know how criminals operate, you can protect yourself.Read what to look out for.
What are crypto scams?
In crypto scams, fraudsters try to present themselves as reputable providers or celebrities in the crypto market in order to take either conventional money (rarely) or crypto coins (common) from investors.
In most cases, scammers use social networks to lure victims, but classic email also works.Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, Discord and blogging platforms such as Medium are frequently used.When investors click on scammers’ links, a website specially prepared for the scam opens, which contains detailed instructions on how the victim should transfer their coins.
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How do crypto scams work?
Scammers try to persuade crypto owners to send them cryptocurrencies in return.Anyone who gets involved loses their coins and of course there is nothing in return.
Inexperienced investors trust that many things are easier to understand in the IT sector and do not understand the background to buying or selling crypto currencies.However, unlike traditional transfers, wallets are not as easily traced as bank account holders.Crypto scammers take advantage of this.
The scams: prominent faces attract victims
Many scammers lure investors with well-known figures like Elon Musk or other celebrities who have already spoken out in favor of cryptocurrencies.As a result, investors are often unsuspecting and trust the offer made by the scammer in the respective scam.
A common scam is for the scammer to ask to send crypto coins to a wallet.Of course, the promise to return twice to ten times the amount of coins is not kept.The investor’s coins are gone.
There is practically no way to get the coins back.
Often, either fake ads or fake Twitter accounts are used.You can’t trust the blue tick on Twitter either.This tick only indicates that the account is verified.Unfortunately, the account is also compromised, which means there is a scammer behind it who wants to rob investors of their money.
In the past, hacker attacks on Twitter have taken over the accounts of Elon Musk, Kanye West, Joe Biden and Barack Obama and used them for crypto scams.
The well-known TV show “The Lion’s Den” is also repeatedly used as a lure by crypto scammers.
Crypto scammers also use phishing emails
Phishing emails have been a popular medium for fraudsters to take money from their victims for years.This is also the case with crypto scammers.The phishing emails look like important messages from well-known crypto sites and provide information about supposedly important news from the crypto world.Scammers often want to give away cryptocurrencies.
To do this, users have to click on a link that displays various instructions that ultimately have only one goal: to steal money or cryptocurrencies from the fraud victim.
The mails often look official and promise high profits.If you receive such emails, delete them immediately.The probability that someone will want to give you money or cryptocurrencies as a gift is close to zero.It is more likely that you will also download a virus onto your PC.
Scam via hijacked Youtube accounts
Also common in crypto scams is the hijacking of YouTube accounts with large numbers of subscribers.
If the scammer has taken over the account, they will try to convince the channel’s subscribers to send money or cryptocurrencies.Live streams from the Youtube channel owner are often abused here.
To do this, scammers bring up discussions about cryptocurrencies and try various ways to persuade subscribers to send them money.The scam is basically similar to the other scams: the scam victims are supposed to send coins to a crypto wallet and then get double the amount or more back.The same result is to be expected here as well: the sent coins are gone.
What dangers lurk?
The biggest danger when sending cryptocurrencies to an unknown wallet: the coins are gone.
Investors cannot reverse the transfer or get the coins back in any other way.If investors also give a stranger access to their wallet, it can be assumed that the fraudster can take over all the coins in the wallet.Here, too, retrieval is not actually possible.
If you click on a link from a crypto scammer, it can also happen that you download malware or ransomware onto your PC and thus lose all data and the attacker takes over your PC, including all login data.
How do you protect yourself?
If you receive information by email, on websites, on Youtube, Twitter or other sites that you should send a certain amount of cryptocurrencies to a wallet with the promise of getting double the amount back, you can assume that it is a scam acts.Delete such emails immediately.On social media, you should report the ads and profiles immediately so security teams can take action.
No matter how reputable the sender appears: Do not send cryptocurrencies to unknown wallets without making sure if they are.Always be wary of unsolicited calls, emails, or advertisements promising you easy money.Only one will make money in this business: the scammer.
This is how security software like Norton 360 protects against crypto scams
Antivirus developers also try to build in protection against crypto scammers.However, comprehensive protection is hardly possible, since the scammers search for victims using all types of communication on the Internet.
It’s almost impossible for a program to offer comprehensive protection.In any case, investors should regularly check their PCs for malware and use spam protection for their e-mail program.
Most mail providers already have such protection integrated.
Norton 360 is a virus scanner that protects PCs comprehensively.With the AI technology in the software, Norton 360 can not only protect against malware and spyware.Fraud attempts coming from websites can also be prevented with Norton 360 software.Although Norton 360 cannot offer complete protection against crypto scammers, the various technologies in Norton 360 can ward off the odd crypto scammer and also protect against ransomware.In addition, the tool knows numerous scammer domains and also addresses of crypto wallets behind which scammers are hiding.
However, there is more software that can protect users from scam attacks.Like Bitdefender Total Security or Sophos.
In the case of Sophos, Intercept X for Mobile can also protect iPhones and Android smartphones from crypto scammers.Avast One, Avast Free Antivirus and Avast Secure Browser are also solutions that are largely designed to protect against scammers..