How to avoid crypto scam?

Recently, ICO has taken a сentral place in the cryptocurrency market, so there are more and more attempts to deceive people. Figuring the scammers out is not easy, we recommend to observe security measures. This new digital craze definitely needs to be regulated, as the number of scams can quickly get out of control.

Below there are some tips on how to avoid the scam.

Comprehensive legal assessment

The first step that investors should take is to conduct a comprehensive review of the project. Randomly investing in cryptocurrency ICO can pay off in the long term, but it also significantly increases the chances of investing in a fictitious project. One should definitely avoid an ICO, which does not have a white paper, this is the main attribute of a serious project. If the company or project does not name a purpose for fundraising, you should not give them your money.

Any project that does not publish the names of the team members should immediately arouse suspicion. If names and certificates are named openly, read about them in the media. Do not be fooled by the big names of the so-called project advisors. Often they do not have a real impact on the project and its implementation. Fictitious names don’t mean anything these days, because there’s a lot of fake information on the Internet.

Beware of fake wallet addresses

Sometimes fake Ethereum wallet addresses are distributed to participate in a particular ICO. This is mostly done in Telegram, but it is also found in Slack. Never use an Ethereum wallet address sent by an unknown person. Don’t ask for any addresses, it’s a direct road to the scam. Use the information provided by the team itself and the address provided on the legitimate ICO website.

Do not visit phishing sites

Perhaps the biggest threat to cryptocurrency ICOs and potential investors is phishing sites. Very often clones of future ICO sites appear on the Internet. This affects ICO and pre-ICO campaigns, often novice users find it difficult to determine which site is official and which is not. Links to such sites are distributed in Telegram or Slack, of course, in addition, there are valid moderators and team members.

Phishing sites completely copy the ICO site, so investors need to find out the real address before launching the project. And here comes the main difficulty — most of ICO do not publish links before the start of the campaign. To do this, you need to use the ICO aggregators such as Icotracker and others. On these sites, you can find proven information about the project, submitted by the developers.

Don’t trust suspicious resources

Unfortunately, the absence of centralized controlling bodies makes the crypto industry full of fakes, scams and fraudsters. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you do not give your wallet data to unverified sites, transfer money to their account, specify personal information in the registration fields. Remember that cryptocurrencies are not subject to state regulation, and therefore all responsibility for actions lies only on you.

From our side, we add to the coin listing only those projects that have already proved their worth and are not a scam. At ChangeNOW, you can exchange more than 150 coins of verified crypto-projects.

Don't make a digital copy of sensitive data such as a seed phrase or crypto wallet password.

It is not safe to take a screenshot, email a copy, or store your seed phrase on a mobile device connected to the internet since malware can steal this information.

Be cautious when using emails

Never click on links in emails asking for confidential information about a crypto wallet, to visit unknown websites, or to send assets.

Store cryptocurrencies in multiple wallets

Decide in advance what purposes you need assets for, and separate the coins accordingly. Custodial wallets work well for quick transactions, while non-custodial crypto wallets are more suitable for storing crypto.

To secure your assets in a custodial wallet, enable two-factor authentication and verify with a phone number or email.