Scammers have some new tricks to get to your cryptos + how to combat them
Good morning world and TGIF! I hope everyone made it through the week in one piece! Before we start putting the beer in the fridge, let's review some things that are happening around us.
Scammers, scammers and more scammers!
If you've been into tradiṇg forex, indices or cryptocurrencies or just HODLing, you probably are aware that wherever you look, there is always someone who wants to take your money.
Recently i took part of a token crowdsale and was looking for up-to-date information in their Telegram group, as most people would. The group was riddled with scammers, DM-ing users to make traṇsfers to an updated ETH address. Last minute address switches, better deals, selling account, anything goes. As the cryptocurrency world is mainly anonymous, it's a good place for criminals earn their bread.
What are some of the recent trends? As a person with a good common sense, i haven't fallen victim to these clumsy scammers, why should i? When it comes to my money, i can make perfectly rational decisions and every new piece of information is treated with suspicion and dissected before my wallet opens. But some of these new scams make me shudder and i could imagine falling for these if unlucky and not careful.
Take a look at the following photo.
If you are like me, your monitor might not be the cleanest and free of dust all the time. Should someone, who you have grown to trust or have no reason to suspect, link you to this page with an announcement of an airdrop of free tokens or a neat referral bonus program, you might miss the two tiny dots below the letters "n" and end up on a phishing site instead. Trying to log in with your proper Binance credeṇtials would probably end up in quick depletion of your wallet balance on the correct Binance website.
Doṇ't believe me? I did it to you multiple times in this post, switching "n" for ṇ in a few places. Maybe some of you sharper guys or girls noticed, but i read fast and could have easily missed those.
Want to see something even more subtle? Sure:
Replacing the "r" in bittrex.com with an "ŗ" which has a small comma underneath it (it's called cedilla and is used in some countries - while added under specific letters, it is meant to change the pronounciation of these letters).
But the cedilla underneath the "ŗ" is so subtle, should you end up on a brand new phishing site, you could easily be tricked. Luckily, search engines and browsers act quickly and warn us when entering such sites, but there could be new ones popping up quite often.
How to combat this? Step 1: be vigilant. When something is off, take a minute to think it over, before you act. Step 2: look for tools to aid you. Cryptonite, a Chrome addon, available at the Chrome Store, warns you when it feels that you are visiting a site with suspicious content, however, when visitng a verified crypto website, it's icon in the toolbar will turn green. Strangely though, it warned me at the Twitter link above too, where the user is exposing these scams.
Note: I have installed the addon, but haven't tested it yet thoroughly. Grab the free extension here on the Chrome store.
Read the original article here on Business Insider
Let's end the week with a lighter & humorous note, yet in the spirit of this post.
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It's still the Wild West in crypto land, never a dull moment lol
No one can find that 🤐 thanks for sharing
We live in days where security is very important. It's crazy how similar websites look when they're spelled "differently." Gotta really start paying attention to the names to ensure the best protection for yourself.
If you are unsure you can also enter a wrong password as a test, if no error pops up, you are wrong! It can not be said often enough. Activating 2FA or even 3FA is a good choice.
In fact, I did only recognize the different "n" the moment you mentioned it!
I just posted following comment on a different post; I believe it even fits better here, so I repost it for you:
It lies within the nature humans to destroy everything they love over time. Greed and hunger for more than one can eat will once destroy humanity, and it seems nobody can prevent us from this.
The internet was a great invention; today you need to watch every step since if you are not, you will be robbed.
Blockchain, even though the technology is supposed to be safe, is going the same route. Fake ICOs, stolen wallets, hacked exchanges, robbed passwords and identities it all happens again and people are wondering why adoption is not moving faster. And those are crying that governments are aiming for regulation.
Damn, that's smart.
What I usually do is type the address myself. I don't usually click on links. I just take my time and go the paranoid way. So that, I guess, eliminates the possibility of a scam like the ones you described. Right?
Yes it does. But with so many sharks trying to get to us, eventually one moment of letting guard down could be disastrous
Uhmm....these guys are really dangerous. We should all be careful and be vigilant. This a big threat. Look at how they can change the website. I actually took sometimes to notice the difference.
Thank you @furious-one. I hope that people will consider this threat and take action
Such weasels.. tbh I used to think only complete idiots will ever fall into these scams, but the quality and scale of these highest level scams is getting ridiculously hard to note for the average person. But I agree that all the different loopholes help the developers to improve their projects as well.
OMFG these scammers are now upping their game.I would have fallen victim to binance website above.
I have been receieving emails of late from binance and bittrex scammers of how i have to verify my account! I do not click on thier links hehehe.
Hahahah i like the meme especially the reaction of the kid and dog at the end!
If we put it into context, scanners actually help push the developers as well. Because take it or leave it as much as they are not desirable they can't be totally eradicated either. Thanks
Damn! These scammers are getting really creative. They not only make fake websites, they make websites of known exchanger. One slip up and you would get your account compromised and your funds stolen. Seriously, if one doesn't look carefully at the link, we can easily fall for it. Thank you @furios-one for alerting us from this. Next time I use any of this exchanger I'm gonna check not twice but until I'm sure there is no weird periods or commas under the letters. Keep up the great work and have a pleasant day.
Thanks, have a pleasant day too!