Hello HODLers!

According to a report by data collector Chainalysis published on January 6, 2022, $ 14 billion in cryptocurrencies were stolen through scams in 2021, mostly due to rug pull. This figure has almost doubled compared to the previous year, the growth of scams coincided with the development of the sector and the boom in interest in cryptocurrencies.
In fact, scammers, or scammers, take advantage of the bull market periods to act by leveraging people's optimism towards the markets. When there are economic interests at stake, scams sprout like mushrooms and the same happens in the case of cryptocurrencies. Crypto scams are unfortunately very widespread but with small tricks it is possible to learn how to recognize a crypto scam.

And you, are you sure to know how to recognize a scam? Today I share with you some tricks to unmask scams and keep your crypto safe!

Red flag: the identikit of the scam
Before analyzing the main crypto scams, I would like to share some "red flags" or suspicious characteristics that could report a scam:

- Someone asks you to share your private keys or passwords;
- Someone sends you a private message proposing an airdrop or giveaway;
- Someone contacts you posing as a trader or employee of a crypto project such as an exchange;
- The messages you receive, or the websites on which you browse, contain typographical or spelling errors;
- Someone promises you to multiply your money or get free earnings;
No one, not even crypto project employees, is allowed to ask you to share your personal data, and often when something is too good to be true in most cases it isn't!

1. Phishing
Phishing is a scam typical of the entire internet universe, not just cryptocurrencies. Phishing consists in the sending of messages or emails by criminals who pretend to be services or sites you have used previously (banks, e-commerce, social networks ...) that invite you to open some links or to communicate personal data. As for crypto, through phishing scammers could steal passwords or seed phrases from your wallets and consequently steal your crypto. Phishing messages are usually recognized because the profiles that send them show inconsistencies with the services they try to imitate. Even if scammers are able to create communications and sites very similar to the original ones and therefore to be convincing, some details such as the presence of syntax or grammar errors are signs of a possible scam. It is always a good practice to check that the URLs of the sites or email addresses match those of the official sites, even just one character more or less can make a difference.

2. Fake Customer Service Officers or Traders
In this type of scam, there is someone who pretends to be a representative of a crypto organization or company and asks for sensitive information such as the seed phrase, under the pretext of solving phantom technical problems. Once the private key is obtained, the scammers drain your wallets. In this case, scammers can also ask for money to be sent in exchange for a higher value. Usually these requests are made with a sense of urgency, alerting people concerned about the safety of their possessions. Remember that all official communications are always and only done in official channels, do not trust too much rumor or speculation. If you have any doubts, contact Customer Service from the official website.

3. Fake exchange apps
Among the most common scams are a number of fake apps that pretend to be the mobile version of web services related to cryptocurrencies, such as exchanges or marketplaces. If you come across one of these apps in an app store, remember that the official ones are always downloadable from the reference website and therefore you can easily check if the two versions coincide. You can also check the number of downloads of the app: if it claims to be that of a reliable service, the downloads cannot be few.

4. Rug pull
In a rug pull, the scammers propose a new project, obtain funding, and then disappear with the funds raised. A recent example of rug pull was the Squid Coin scam, the token that got its name from the Netflix series. Those who bought the token, in the grip of the hype of its price growth that quickly went from 1 cent to 90 dollars, lost everything when the founders of the project stopped the business making the money disappear completely, about 3 million. dollars. To defend against rug pulls, it is necessary to consider the project to be supported from different points of view such as its solidity, the content of the white paper, the presence (and feasibility) of a roadmap and a business model, identity and curricula of the founders. If any of these are confusing or suspicious, you are probably facing a scam.

5. Scam on social networks
Social networks are a channel often used to implement crypto-related scams. As already mentioned, on Youtube there are comments from fake traders who promise easy earnings or “fake” live earnings who ask to send money to receive a larger sum. During this kind of live, scammers are likely to pretend to be industry leaders willing to share their wealth with users. In this case, make sure that the channel from which the live is broadcast is official. On Instagram and Telegram, private messages are widespread that dispense alleged financial advice and offer you unrepeatable deals. On Twitter and Instagram we can also find posts that promise fake gifts or non-existent giveaways or even fake profiles of projects or personalities from the crypto world that try to deceive people. The most famous and widespread ones in the last period are those that promise NFT airdrops but that only end up with the theft of your personal data.

In short, as you may have noticed, even in the crypto world there are many different types of scams and scams. It is natural, given that in the growing sectors where there is potential for earnings, there are often many scammers who try to take advantage of the naivety of those who approach the sector for the first time.
This is why it is always good to study before moving on to operations and I hope that this post will help the whole community to distinguish a valuable project from a scam!

My Favorite Earning Opportunities:

1. Torum – The #SocialFi ecosystem for crypto enthusiasts where you can earn everyday!

Torum is the world’s largest SocialFi ecosystem (Social Network + NFT + DeFi + Metaverse) that is specially designed to connect cryptocurrency users.
The Web3.0 ecosystem is built on a social media platform, integrated with a yield farming platform for DeFi investors (Torum Finance), an NFT marketplace for crypto artists and Avatar NFT for Metaverse enthusiasts.
You can earn XTM daily on Torum Social Network completing missions like "write a post", "like 5 posts", "daily login", "interact with the platform for 7 days straight", "accumulate 50 followers" and many others!
XTM is the multichain utility token (Ethereum + Binance Smart Chain + HECO Chain + Polygon) of Torum ecosystem and it's now listed on Kucoin, Huobi, Uniswap and Pancakeswap.

✅#SocialFi Metaverse Pioneer;
✅Backed by Huobi Ventures & Kucoin Labs;
✅Big community of more than 200,000 users;
✅Earn XTM everyday claiming Missions in the Social Network;
✅Sign up with my referral link and complete the verification to earn 7,5 XTM airdrop: https://www.torum.com/?referral_code=makeitreal

2. Earn crypto by walking and not only... Young Platform Step is going to be huge!

What if I told you that you can earn crypto by walking (#Move2Earn), answering to crypto quizzes (#Learn2Earn) and playing #Play2Earn)?
Thanks to Young Platform Step you can accumulate crypto without investing money!
The Italian exchange Young Platform is growing fast and is going to be one of the next giant in the crypto space. That's why I'm accumulating free YNG on Young Platform Step by walking, learning and playing.
You will thank me during the next bull run because these are free tokens and the young platform project has great potential in my personal opinion!

Link Download Young Platform Step App: https://youngplatform.page.link/1kzW1WT6QEKe1CR8A