The Telegram Messenger is quite popular in the crypto space. Scammers are using Telegram to reach out to you directly. 

Noone is 100% immune to these scams but you can do your best to avoid them. You can avoid becoming a victim of scams on Telegram by knowing them and understanding how they work.

 

Fake Crypto Groups

One of the biggest problems on Telegram is fake crypto groups that were created just for the purpose to scam you. They are full of fake users, mostly bots. At first glance, they appear to be real but they are not.

On the picture below, you see a screenshot of such a fake group on Telegram, in this case, a fake Loopring group.

This group is completely fake and very dangerous. As you see on the screenshot, they want to guide you to a malicious pishing website. If you connect your wallet there, you can say goodbye to your funds.

There is an effective way to avoid landing in such a malicious fake group. Do not search for crypto groups in your Telegram messenger itself. Instead follow the links to the social media on CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, or from the official website. This is the only way to be sure that you have entered the official legit group.

Sometimes, users from legit groups are added to these fake groups without their consent. You can avoid being added to fake scam groups by a stranger when you go to settings/Privacy and Security/Groups and Channels. There you can and should change the settings so that not everybody can simply go and add you to a group.

 

Fake Admins

There are not only fake crypto groups on telegram but also fake admins. Fake admins are lurking from outside the public official crypto groups so they can not be banned by the real admins.

In most cases, these fake admins are impersonating the real admins by simply copying their profiles.

When it comes to scammy fake admins, there is a Golden Rule that you should always keep in mind: Admins will never send you a private message first!

If you consequently stick to this Golden Rule that a real admin will NEVER direct message you first, then you are on the safe side.

Here is an example from the ChangeNOW chat when I was asking for the T-shirt that I had won but never received.

 

Random Private Messages

Fake admins sending you a direct message on Telegram leads me to direct messages in general. 

If you receive a random message on Telegram from a person you do not expect to receive a direct message from, you should be very careful. In most cases, the intentions are not good. Keep in mind that it's the wet dream of every scammer that they can reach out to you directly in a private message.

My advice is to block and report anyone immediately who randomly sends you a direct message without your consent.

Another point is that these random messages are also annoying and impolite. A user should have asked you first if he can send you a private message. For this reason, Telegram offers you the opportunity to block and report these users directly as it is also against the Telegram rules to send direct messages to other users with their consent.

 

Love Scammers

Then there are also these Love Scammers. They typically have a fake profile pic from some hot girl and just enter the chat to leave a "Hi everyone" or some other irrelevant and insignificant message. 

Why are they doing this? Well, in every crypto chat, there seem to be desperate guys who are losing their rational thinking when seeing the pic of a sexy girl. Love scammers usually do not write first. They are receiving the first message from a desperate user looking for some contact with a girl they cannot meet in real life.

You can also search for messages from one specific user in a group. When you do that, it mostly gets obvious that you are dealing with a love scammer.

Look, all that this fake hot girl is doing is writing "Hello". Now honestly, is this normal behavior? NO!

Anyone who sends this person a private message for whatever reason is trapped. Do not get blinded by hot profile pics on Telegram cause otherwise you are lost.

 

I Lost My Password

There is also another scam that is really tricky. The scammer posts a message in a crypto-related group on Telegram like this one: "Hey guys, I am already older and I lost my password to Trust Wallet. All I have are these 12 words: ..."  Then he shares his 12-words backup phrase.

As I already highlighted this scam in one of my previous posts, I don't need to repeat myself in this post. If you like, you can read the whole story here: I Lost My Password And All I Have Are These 12 Words ...

 

My Final Conclusion

Scammers are very active on Telegram and unfortunately, they never rest. Most scams are always the same. As you know and understand the methods that scammers are using on Telegram, you can avoid them and keep you and your crypto safe. 

Please keep in mind that the best scammers are those who are constantly improving and evolving their methods.

However, I hope that now, after reading my post, you are well prepared to spot and avoid scams on Telegram.

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Stay safe in crypto space and thank you guys as always for reading, liking, following, and tipping 👍

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