4 Ways Crypto Scammers Attack ICOs

Published in

FinanceX

4 min readOct 23, 2018

In the electronic money market, frauds and scams are no longer new to investors. The most famous cases in Vietnam are from iFan, Skymining, Pincoin... on the world scale, BitConnect's unexpected death also infuriated many people. In order to avoid the unfortunate consequences, knowing scam patterns and taking precautions against fraudulent activity is extremely important for players in the crypto market. Here, we point out how to stay safe when investing.

1. Imitation on social media

A trick of this form is the creation of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube pages etc. impersonating the official site of the ICO. From there they offer an Airdrop program or an attractive deal with enticing invitations to investors. However, they always come with a condition to transfer assets to them first, such as the image below. FinanceX, a crypto-fiat trading platform, noticed an identical Facebook fanpage announcing a new partnership deal and promoting an imaginery Airdrop program that requested investors to send from 0.5 -1 ETH to confirm the account.

Never trust messages with wallet addresses

2. Impersonating admin on Telegram

We categorized Telegram separately because almost all ICOs use this channel as the main medium of interactive to provide and receive information from the community. Scammers create fake accounts that are identical or similar to the administrators on Telegram providing false information to persuade the user to transfer a fee in return for support.
Investors should note that those who are legitimate admin have a small “admin” badge at the top-right of each message. This is the simplest way to identify fraudsters on the Telegram.

Look for the admin badge in the top-right corner of each message

3. Malware, spyware, phishing

On ICO community pages, there are always those who seek to steal information as well as the property of true crypto investors. They also participate in telegram group chats, and social media fanpages ... then offer phishing links containing malicious software with attractive invitations such as:

Click here to know “How to double the value of FNX tokens when listed!” or “How the security of the EZT never fails.”

Following the click, the malicious code will immediately enter your computer and send personal information such as passwords, phone number, usernames ... to the perpetrator’s server. Unknown to you, your assets could quickly disappear.

The way to avoid this type of fraud is to NEVER click on strange links, unclear links, or shortened links (bit.ly, goo.gl). For all official announcements, admins leave the original link clear and complete repeated on many community groups.

- DO NOT click this link: goo.gl/JW3NYE
- CLICK links like this: https://support.financex.io/faq/huong-dan-rut-coin/?lang=en

4. Stealing by email

For the most part, stealing crypto via email is no different than the above, except for the means of use. The scammers claim to be a CEO, Marketing Manager... of the ICO and deliver what seems to be a professional and credible message. That leads the user to their trap.

For example, "Your ICO is being threatened by a hacker, please transfer your coin to this ETH wallet and specify usernames and passwords so that we can secure your property."

These scam emails are often similar to real emails that the investor has received before: "no-reply@financex.io" to "noreply.financex@gmail.com" or uppercase, lowercase, and digit.
The way to prevent that is to bring those emails to the community or admin of the ICO media. Keep calm and evaluate the situation.

CONCLUSION

Electronic money scams are much more difficult nowadays as investors are more alert and equipped with strong knowledge. However, all the scammers need is for one or two investors to let their guard down and they have reached their goal. So the best way is to protect yourself is by staying watchful, and always keeping in touch with the admins and official channels of the ICO.

Wishing you a fun and safe crypto experience.

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Don’t forget to grab FNX tokens before the Presale ends!

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