Overview of types of scam on OTC from BuyWithCrypto
Among crypto-enthusiasts there are often different kinds of transactions with cryptocurrency payments. This is the sale of accounts, tokens, different services. Since there is money here, of course there are scammers here.
I will briefly describe the variants of different types of fraud from simple to complex:
• The most trivial variant is a super favorable offer, usually limited in time and of course payment is asked in advance. They can provide a site where, like, a bunch of known partners, a group/channel in Telegram with tweaked users and there will certainly be a lot of reviews. When the scammer gets the money, he deletes the correspondence and account.
• A more complicated variant — they offer to conduct a small transaction, maybe even several times, and may even warm up the client for several months for a large transaction. Usually the client agrees, because to lose a little bit is not too bad. The scammer rubs in the trust and throws a large sum.
• An even more complicated variant is when the fraudster during the conversation gives some links, files that can be, for example, proof of his reputation or a presentation of his product/service. And these links/files contain viruses/trojans.
• Or even deeper disguised scam, when a person does not sell anything at all, but just wants to help a colleague in chat. Gives a useful article/site, and in the article phishing links or immediately phishing link to the site/service/application. This is harder to recognize, because you are not asked to transfer money and therefore vigilance drops.
• Phishing is the most common type of scam. It comes in different forms.
Can fake username in telegram famous services/chats/guarantors changing 1–2 letters, which without a close look can not see. They may not put username, hide the phone number, but write someone’s username in bio telegram and when clicking on the profile it will seem to an inexperienced eye that the username is exactly the same as that of a known cryptan/guarantor/service …..
• Well, everyone has probably already heard about payment in advance, but I will add for the completeness of the list. Different wallets have different interfaces and there are wallets where you can see the incoming transaction even if it is not yet confirmed in the blockchain. And again, an inexperienced user, can confuse it with a transaction already made, think he was transferred money and hand over goods/services/fiat money/other crypto. Once received, the fraudster cancels the transaction by sending the exact same transaction, but with higher gas.
• The same pay-it-forward technique can be carried out by fake tokens. In some wallets it is more difficult to distinguish them from the real ones. You can create a token with any name and icon, for example, a copy of USDT. And the only difference between them will be the address of the smart contract.
Maybe you missed something. And new ways are being invented all the time. So you should always be on the lookout.
Protective measures:
• Check any links through an antivirus. For example, VirusTotal free online link checker
• Don’t transfer money up front unless you are 100% sure of the reputation
• Stop the transaction if you feel something is going wrong. Never rush your money — over the long haul, you can lose a lot more in a hurry than you can under-earn on lucrative urgent offers. So more often than not, it’s better to skip the deal if you don’t have time to check everything out enough.
• Look for reliable guarantors or use our BuyWithCrypto service.
Good luck with your purchases and sales!
