Beware of cryptocurrency fraud

The cryptocurrency universe is full of traps, scams and dangers that you should be prepared to deal with in the best possible way. Some of the common problems are phishing, seeking to steal your identity to use your funds; there are also misleading offers promising unreasonable astronomical profits…

So try not to put “all your eggs in one basket” and research a project thoroughly before investing in it. If something is too good to be true, it will almost certainly be a scam.

The strength of crypto-assets lies in the decentralisation of global technology, but basically point-to-point negotiation means there is no third party watching over you, meaning you will always be fully responsible for the security of your investment.

The crypto space is often referred to as the ‘Old West’, where the potential for fraud is high, and there aren’t many technical support services or guarantees. With this in mind, be well informed before making any investments. And if you have doubts or don’t know how any tool works, it’s better not to use it.

Participate in communities of projects you know

When you decide to invest in a crypto asset, actively participate in the communities of projects you know, especially those that are developer-oriented, such as slack, telegram, betnero, reddit, medium, etc. Many projects are open source, so you can check for software code updates. Even if you are not an expert, you can also check that the code has recent and numerous updates. If a project has been around for a couple of years without updates, this may be a warning of fraud.

One of the most common scams is phishing. Be suspicious of all kinds of messages that reach your email or your social media accounts, especially if they are messages offering free cryptocurrencies in exchange for logging into an online exchange or wallet.

These messages are almost always fraudulent, which lead you to an exact copy of the exchanger’s website, but with slight changes in the domain name, for example betnero.it is a phishing site betnero.sc. If you put your data in the wrong place you may lose your data. Remember that transactions are irreversible, so make sure you have the right recipient address.

More cautions

If a website offers you a money-back guarantee in a very short time, with no effort and huge profits, it could be a scam.

Keep in mind that digital currencies are less than 10 years old, so we are still at an early stage of understanding them, they are experimental projects and should be treated as such, in addition to their prices fluctuating by 30% or more in a matter of days.

As a general rule, it is not advisable to invest more than 10% or 20% of your personal savings in this type of business, besides, the rule of ‘not putting all your eggs in one basket’ applies perfectly to this type of investment, and a balanced portfolio of investments can provide a higher probability of profit.

You can also, according to your preference, devote some free time to mining.