ETH Giveaway Scam plaguing Twitter — Part 2
Part 1 in this series can be found here.
How to avoid being scammed
One of the most important things to remember when dealing with people and offers online is: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Scammers utilize the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) to manipulate people. They will offer a giveaway in limited quantities, only available for a short period of time, hoping that people will be too worried about missing out to think through what they’re doing. If you feel rushed to have to do something, you’re less likely to critically think through all the steps and more likely to miss any warning signs that might be there.
Here are some tips to follow when considering giveaways online:
- Thoroughly check out the person making the offer. Has their account been compromised? Is it their official account? If you don’t know the person, try doing a quick online search on them to see if any red flags jump out. Check to see if there are any reviews concerning the person — although this also needs to be looked at critically as it is far too easy these days to obtain false likes and reviews for people and/or products online.
- Check the address that you’re required to send funds to. If it’s from an official company, chances are they’re not going to have a brand-spanking new wallet that only started yesterday.
- Do an online search on the offer itself. If it’s a popular scam, you should find evidence of it very quickly.
- Be extremely wary of anything asking you to pay/offer money upfront. The majority of the time this will be a scam; scammers will offer you anything in the hopes of getting that initial fee/deposit off you, that’s how they make their money.
- Consider the amount of personal information you give out. If you have to provide a lot of personal information for a giveaway, there’s a chance it’s just a ploy to obtain your details and either use them fraudulently or sell them to scammers. Consider if the giveaway is worth potentially opening yourself up to identity theft?
- Check for any spelling or grammar mistakes. These are quite often a red flag. If an offer this amazing was really being offered by a well known personality or business, you can guarantee that they would have a dedicated team checking and rechecking all publicity pieces for errors.
- Ask your friends or community members. There is a great chance that if it is a scam, someone will know.
If you see these giveaway posts on Twitter don’t interact with them, it just gives them more comments and bumps them up the chain. Report it for the scam it is and please make sure you keep your friends in the loop. By looking out for one another we are raising awareness of issues and educating those who may otherwise have fallen victim without your warning.
It may only seem like a small amount to lose, 0.2 ETH, but when you get enough people falling for the scam, the scammers are just making more and more money from it, and as long as they keep making money, they will keep doing it.
Natmin Pure Escrow is running an in-depth series concerning Online Frauds and scams to help keep our community informed and safe. To read the rest of the series or to keep up-to-date with our news please head to our Medium page.
To find out more about Natmin Pure Escrow, please visit our website: natmin.io.
