Scam Alert: How to Protect Yourself from Fraud
The crypto world is exciting, but unfortunately, it's also a magnet for scammers. With a little knowledge and common sense, you can protect yourself very well. This guide shows you the most common scams and a checklist to stay safe.
The Most Common Scams
- Phishing: You receive an email or a message (e.g., on Discord/X) that looks like it's from an official site (e.g., Ledger, MetaMask, OpenSea). It asks you to click a link and enter your details or your seed phrase. **Never do this!**
- Fake Airdrops/Mints: Scammers create websites that promise an exclusive airdrop or NFT mint. When you connect your wallet to claim the "reward," your wallet is emptied ("wallet drainer").
- "Support" Scams: You ask for help in a public channel (e.g., Discord). Shortly after, someone messages you privately, pretending to be "support" or an "admin" and wanting to help. Sooner or later, they will ask for your seed phrase or send you to a site where you are supposed to enter it. **Real support will NEVER message you privately and will NEVER ask for your seed phrase.**
- Pump-and-Dump Schemes: A group of people (often in Telegram groups) coordinate to buy an unknown coin en masse to artificially inflate the price ("pump"). They then lure unsuspecting buyers. Once the price is high enough, the original buyers sell all their coins at once ("dump"), causing the price to crash and leaving new investors with worthless tokens.
Your Security Checklist
Go through these points before investing in a new project or interacting with a new site:
- **Is the promise too good to be true?** (Guaranteed profits, 100x in 2 days, etc.) -> Red flag!
- **Who is the team?** Is the team anonymous or known and trustworthy? Anonymous teams are a higher risk.
- **How is the community?** Is the talk only about the price ("wen moon?"), or are there genuine discussions about the project and the technology?
- **Is there a whitepaper?** Does the project have a clear goal and a plan to achieve it?
- **Is someone rushing you?** ("Only 1 hour left!", "Last chance!") -> Classic pressure tactic by scammers.
- **Google before you click:** Before connecting your wallet to an unknown site, search for `[Project Name] + "scam"` or `"wallet drain"`. You'll often quickly find out if it's a known scam.
- **Do you have to enter your seed phrase?** -> **ABSOLUTE NO-GO!** Never, under any circumstances.