Ever since bitcoin blew up and made people overnight millionaires, the interest in digital money has surged. People don’t want to miss out on another opportunity.
Regrettably, the number of scammers has also increased; they want to take advantage of desperate investors.
To avoid getting conned, use the following tips.
1. Research until You’re Satisfied
Don’t rush to buy cryptocurrency. If it’s your first time hearing about digital currencies, find out all you can about the subject. Contact your financial advisor and ask them questions. Read online articles and journals. Go to the local library and read books on cryptocurrencies. Do as much research as possible until you’re satisfied. Since it’s your money, you can’t afford to lose it.
2. Protect your Information
When you sign up to Bitcoin exchanges like OKX, you will be required to use a strong password to secure your information. Follow the guidelines and use a password with more than eight characters. It should have special characters and numbers. Moreover, employ a word that’s not easy to guess. Avoid using the same password for all your online accounts because they can be hacked.
3. Keep Track of all Accounts
Assuming you have multiple trading accounts on different websites, you have to maintain all of them. If one account is compromised, it will only be a matter of time before the rest are hacked. Review your emails regularly for alerts from your account.
Also, don’t open emails without confirming the recipient. Cryptocurrency sites usually have a secure web address. That should be the first thing you confirm. Is the address coming from a secure protocol? Opening emails from unknown recipients will expose you to hackers. Scam emails contain a link to a corrupt webpage. Once you open that link, the spy malware infiltrates your system. The virus steals all your passwords and login information without you recognizing it.
4. ICO scams
Cryptocurrency startups use initial coin offerings or ICO’s to accumulate capital for their project. They give out free cryptocurrency as a token of appreciation for investing in their company. The firm with the ICO has a target amount. If it can’t raise what’s needed, it has to return the money to the investors. That sounds like a prudent investment. Unfortunately, it is not. There are loopholes scammers use to defraud people of their hard-earned money.
Scammers will set up a fraudulent website and a poorly written whitepaper before offering ‘free’ cryptocurrency to those that invest in their idea. They hype the website on social media platforms and host events to get more people to sign up. Then, they close down the site and disappear after stealing people’s money.
To safeguard yourself from scammers, read the white paper thoroughly. If you find any typos or financial information that doesn’t make sense, that’s a scam. Next, navigate the website and acquire information about the founders. Then, carry out further investigation to know more about their background. Visit their social media profiles and look for inconsistencies.
Finally, if the offer is too good, think twice. Exercise caution when investing in new cryptocurrencies. In addition, diversify your investments. Don’t place all your trust in one cryptocurrency because it can go badly for you. When the market becomes flooded with that currency, its value goes down, and you lose your investment.