As crypto is becoming an increasingly popular method of storing and managing finances, safety in crypto is also an increasingly important topic. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again as it feels like it can’t be said enough times; When you’re having fun in web3, keeping your crypto safe is alpha omega. 

There is nothing worse than waking up one day and realising that you’ve lost everything you’ve built in one single transaction. Be it your amazing collection of 1/1 NFTs you’ve accumulated from your favorite artists, your recent PFP scoop you know will be worth a lambo one day, or your hard earned crypto made from selling 100’s of NFTs; in the wild west that is crypto, it only takes one bad faith actor with the right information to leave your wallet empty. 

The world of crypto is complex, and being aware of the risks and potential scams is just as important as the number 1 rule of keeping your seed phrase to yourself. On enter.blog, we’ve previously spent a lot of time preaching wallet security, safety measures when doing token swaps, and uncovering how to avoid some of the many scam techniques that exist out there. Today, we’ll direct our attention towards four of the more recent crypto scam models out there, so that you’re up-to-date and know what to watch out for. All on board, safety first! 

4 scams to stay clear of

Customer support posers

One of the most common scams targeting crypto users, is customer support posers. Here, the scammers pose as support for exchanges, crypto wallets or NFT marketplaces, and target desperate users who may have voiced that they are having an issue with a platform. Look out for fake DMs and ticketing systems, typically created using Google forms. Scammers lurk around larger Twitter pages, like Trustwallet or Binance, looking for people seeking support, or in the chats of crypto Discord servers. These scammers are often triggered by keywords from people seeking support publicly. 

Impersonating ‘famous’ people and team members 

Another bad faith group on the rise is scammers impersonating people that are well known in the crypto and NFT community, like Elon Musk, crypto founders or big influencers. They will pose as members of specific teams by copying their PFP and name in an attempt to gain trust. Giving you the notion that you’re getting support from a trusted person in the space, they will ask you for money, personal information, or make you click suspicious links. These scams typically always play out in private DMs on Twitter, Discord or Telegram. 

“Send me x, I’ll send you 100x” AKA advanced fee scams

This is crypto’s equivalent to the good old “Nigerian prince” scam that’s been used as an e-mail scam for years. Here, someone that may look like a regular investor will boast about how much money they make. They will then proceed to ask if you’d like to help them out with promises of a much greater return. They’ll request you to send them x amount of crypto and promise to return a massive amount within a very small time frame (usually hours). Of course, they will not send the promised crypto in return, but wander happily off to their next victim with some extra coins in their wallet. These messages often contain a WhatsApp phone number or a request to DM.

“Help me manage my crypto” 

This is a particularly creative one, where scammers will offer you login details to their “very loaded” crypto accounts, asking you to help them manage or look after their money. They do this for several reasons. 

1. The link they provide for you to log in might be dirty and they may be able to hack you through the link they’ve sent.  
2. They may also ask you for your own seed phrase or information to “make the process easier for you”, read: They’re planning to drain your wallet.
3. They include their wallet balance claiming to have a lot of money, hoping that you might ask how they’ve acquired it. In turn they will offer to do the same for you, you just have to provide them with your seed phrase or login, again planning to drain the wallet.

Tips to help you stay safe

Ok, now we (hopefully) know who to watch out for, but how can you stay clear of them and secure your funds in the best possible manner?

Always check for verified accounts

Most “celebrities” and big names in the crypto community will have verified accounts with a large amount of followers; If they don't, it’s probably fake. Doing a quick search on the person in question is a good idea, as most will have specified on their official pages where and how you can follow them. Always double check their @ handle. Scammers will often adjust small details like a letter in the handle so that the user looks practically identical. 

Check for official customer support

Most companies that offer support will mention the link or profile of their official teams in their social media bio, resources or website. Check if teams specify that they will never DM you first, a common practice a lot of companies apply to protect their users. Most companies specify this in their rules or screen names, “will never dm first”. This way you instantly know it’s a scammer.

Don’t be afraid to ask publicly

If you received a private DM on Discord, Telegram or a similar site, go into their public chat and ask for confirmation from the team that the person messaging you is really who they say they are. If it is, cool! If it’s not, you may have helped protect both yourself and others who might be approached by the same scammer.

Be weary of DMs when it isn’t necessary

If you’re chatting with someone in an open chat and they insist on taking it private, be mindful that they may be trying to seclude you so they don’t get called out for being suspicious. Usually this happens if someone starts out offering real help/suggestions in a public chat, and can often be triggered when you’re seeking support on a matter. 

Never give away your seed phrase

Whether it be in DMs, a Google doc, a support ticket - nobody with good intentions will ever ask you for your seed phrase, nobody! They might insist they need your phrase or to go into your wallet to help with your issue. This is never the case. If this happens, you are being scammed!

Browser plugins

You may have heard of smart contracts made specifically to drain your funds as soon as your wallet interacts with the contract. Today, you can find several browser plugins and other tools that will alert you when a smart contract requests your approval to spend any of your tokens. This can be added as another layer of security, as you will get a pop-up every time a new protocol requests approval. Particularly in the NFT space, a lot of misfortune happens when users unwillingly and unknowingly approve a contract to spend all the tokens in their wallet. Browser plugins like revoke.cash and walletguard are a solid second-layer defense against this.

Wallet security

With so many people making a living off of others’ misfortune, and the increasingly advanced and creative methods scammers have up their sleeves, the most important thing you can do to protect yourself is taking the time to do your research on wallet security. We can highly recommend taking a moment to dive into our previous articles on the topic, where we’ve compiled all the fundamentals like wallet splitting, keeping a hardware wallet and what may seem obvious, not leaving your wallet open on a computer.

With the recent happenings in the crypto sphere, like the collapse of FTX where millions of users lost their funds, you might also want to think twice about keeping all of your funds on a centralized exchange. Always keep the fundamental saying “not your keys, not your coins” close to heart, and be mindful of how you store your crypto if you're not actively trading.

With that in mind, you might also want to check out our most recent article covering secure wallets for NFTs, where we’ve laid out what factors you should take into account when choosing a wallet, and some of the most trusted wallets out there. However, no matter how secure your wallet is, keeping it safe is still your responsibility; Manage it wisely. 

Brush up on the basics and stay up to date

Like we’ve now discovered, keeping an eye out for changes in the landscape and refreshing your knowledge of crypto security regularly might save you a lot of tears, money and frustration. New methods of scamming are popping up left and right, and when the coins have left your wallet, the chance of getting them back is next to null. 

Stay Safu & Take Care!