How to Prevent Common Scams on Telegram
Telegram is one of the most used social media apps in the internet space. With over 550 million users monthly, this placed Telegram as one of the top 10 most popular social media networks in the world.
The advent of Blockchain has increased the usage of Telegram, as several blockchain projects use Telegram as a support chart group, community building, AMAs and also marketing purposes. Almost every serious brand has a telegram presence in order to increase its visibility.
Like most social media platforms, scammers are looking for ways to scam people of their hard-earned money, and telegram is not an exception. As a crypto user, your prevention of being scammed is better than going through the agony of retrieving your funds, which most times is a fruitless effort.
Common scams on Telegram
The scams explained in this section are common on Telegram. You might have experienced them before. Included are tips on how to protect yourself against it.
Customer Support Scam
This is likely the most common scam you’ll experience on Telegram. It is predominant in channels with lots of community members.
Once you ask a question to the group, scammers come straight to your DM and ask for private details to help solve your issues. It usually occurs when the admin or support team takes time to respond to your request.
Tips on how to avoid Customer support scams
One of the ways to avoid this type of scam is to pay attention to details.
Firstly there are certain tips you must keep in mind on Telegram:
- The support staff will never send you a DM first.
- Do not release any sensitive information such as seed phrases and passwords to anyone.
Always pay attention to the names of the admin of your group. Scammers have a way of cloning the username of the admin to deceive you that they are the support staff of that telegram channel. For example, if the name of the admin is “Jared”, they’ll clone it as “Jarred” or something similar.
Romance Scam
A romance scam is an Age long trick scammers use to lure people into their nest and scam them of their hard-earned funds.
While trying to be in love on Telegram, as love can be found anywhere, try to make sure you are talking to a genuine person.
Some of these scammers are actually “one of the most active members” and sometimes “One of the most docile members” of the communities.
The active ones are mostly very knowledgeable about the projects, and actively drop tips and help with support tasks. They use this to gain trust and penetrate people who they see as naive and can fall into their prey.
Another trick is using fine lady pics and dropping word lines like “Hi”, “hello” and sexually persuasive Emojis. This is done in order for people to come into their DMs and have sexual conversations.
Tips on how to avoid Romance scams
It is better to avoid having private conversations with people that have the characteristics above in other not to fall for their scams.
Another thing to avoid is tp never disclose your personal Wallet details to anyone whether you met them physically or online.
One of the traits people that engage in romance scams exhibits are:
- They promise to visit in person but never show up,
- They are inconsistent with their words.
- Always make the conversation centred on money.
- They are always in need of one help or the other.
- Always pushy about your personal details.
- Always avoid video calls.
Once you spot this traits, be careful, you might be about to be scammed. You can watch the movie Twitter swindler to understand the psychology of a cyber-scammer.
Fake Telegram group
You can be added to a random telegram group that might be cloned like the original group that you belong to.
A lot of activities are usually done in this group in other to try and convince you to part away with cash, activities include but not limited to trading tutorials. Shilling projects that are pump and dump.
These groups sometimes contain clone Admin username, and pinned messages of the group you are a participant.
Tips on how to avoid being added to a fake Group
The best way is to avoid being added in the first place. This way you won’t let your guards down.
The following process will ensure you don’t
- Click on settings. (Image 1)
- Click on privacy and security. (Image 2)
- Click on groups and add only your “my contacts” to ensure only trusted people can add you to a group. (Image 3)
Conclusion
There are many ways scammers can scam you of your hard earned crypto, however, the ones outlined here are the most prominent.
However to avoid losing your Telegram accounts to scammers and use it to hurt people who trust you follow the steps outlined below:
- Go to settings. (Image 4)
- Click on privacy and security. (Image 5)
- Click on 2FA. (Image 6)
- Activate 2FA. (Image 7)
Tip
Having a cold wallet like AirGap will ensure that your funds are safe, and will provide an extra level of protection as long as you don’t compromise your seed phrase. Learn more about AirGap and how to set it up:
Download AirGap
AirGap Wallet
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📱 Android — Google Play (GitHub APK)
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AirGap Vault
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📱 Android — Google Play (GitHub APK)
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