How To Identify And Avoid Common Bitcoin Scams

Yes, you can get SCAMMED with Bitcoin. This is because Bitcoin is attractive to scammers for the same reason it’s attractive to you: it’s fast, it’s international, and it’s irreversible. So as Bitcoin usage has grown, we have seen more and more Bitcoin scammers disappear with user funds. That is why it is your duty to protect Bitcoin wallet against botcoin scammers.

The following are some of the most persistent Bitcoin scams.

Bitcoin Phishing Scams

Phishing scams is when a scammer creates emails, messages, login pages and/or websites that resemble a legitimate company. Once users enter their information (like login username and password) on the fake website, the scammers have access to the users’ accounts. If it is an account where Bitcoin is stored, the scammers can easily make off with the money.

How To Prevent Phishing Scams

  • Don’t click on suspicious emails
  • Ensure the correct spelling of the website address
  • Use a unique, strong password for every website account
  • Use a reputable password management tool
  • Enable two-factor authentication on sites that support it
  • Report suspicious emails to your email provider (as phishing)
  • Report suspicious websites to the respective web hosting company

Bitcoin Mining Scams

By now you should know that Bitcoin is generated through the process of mining, which confirms Bitcoin transactions on the Blockchain. Mining requires great amounts of energy, expensive equipment and upfront capital. Bitcoin mining investments emerged out of this need, whereby many users can invest in a mining scheme and get a percentage of future mining proceeds.

There are some legitimate Bitcoin mining schemes, but there are far more mining scams than legitimate outfits. Since it is difficult for most investors to confirm if a mining scheme actually owns mining gear (or does any mining at all), there are many websites that claim to mine but simply take investor funds, pay high returns for a while to build trust and then simply disappear.

Avoiding mining scams

These are some of the things to be on the lookout for:

  • Inability to see or verify the proof of ownership of any mining equipment
  • Inability to see or verify their public mining address and ownership
  • New website (look it up with org)
  • High referral commissions
  • Guaranteed profits

There are some websites claiming to be wallets meant to store Bitcoin. Others claim to be exchanges, where one can trade Bitcoin. Others yet claim to do both, but many of these are in fact scam sites.

They simply get users to sign up and deposit Bitcoin or local currency for a while to build trust and then after a while make off with the money.

 Avoiding mining scams Bitcoin wallet and exchange scams

  • Only deal with reputable, registered companies
  • Make sure you can verify the identity of the employees/owners
  • See if they are mentioned in reputablelocal or international news publications
  • Treat anonymous and new exchanges, apps and browser extensions with caution

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