How to Avoid Cryptocurrency Scams on Social Media Media

One of the many dangers of having a large social media follower count is that your account is usually targeted by malicious users or poachers. This phenomenon is especially prevalent on Instagram. These poachers just have to create another account with a near carbon copy resemblance with the original and then proceed to use this fake account to contact followers of the original account. 

A popular Instagram crypto investor, Jeffery Tuckers, recently shared his account of such a gimmick. Tuckers, who has not been active on Instagram for a while, log on to his account to find a series of messages asking for follow-up on his Bitcoin investment idea. You can imagine how confused he was to find these messages considering he never gives investment calls or the likes. 

After witnessing this issue repeatedly, the crypto investor finally decided to do what he should have done the very first time he noticed the problem; he reported the fake account. After a week of what was presumably an investigation, the fake account got deleted.

Imagine just how many victims have been ripped off their hard-earned cash by such scams. However, that anyone, especially presumably smart people, would fall for such scams seems ridiculous. 

This scam typically involves the scammer contacting unsuspecting victims and asking them to send BTC tokens to be invested with people in need of capital for one business or the other. These investments then yield meaningful returns, and the company takes its profits and sends the BTC creditor their crypto with significant interest. However, this never happens. Once the victim sends the BTC, the coins and the fake company/account disappear. And because of the permanent nature of crypto transactions, these coins are gone for good. 

How to Avoid These Scams 

Thankfully, Jefferey Tuckers provides some tips on how to avoid these gimmicks on social media. These tips include:

1. Always verify if the product being sold to you has a legitimate profit model.
2. Verify if the project is feasible and sustainable. 
3. Ascertain whether the project is independently verified or has a third-party certification. 
4. Run independent verification of the token or platform being sold to you. 
5. Observe the management structure. 

Finally, it is worth mentioning that greed is a fueling factor for scams like this as most victims are usually in search of a get-rich-quick scheme. Understand that making money in any industry, the cryptocurrency industry inclusive takes time and effort.