With the increasing demand for crypto information worldwide, there is also an increasing demand for crypto exchanges across a number of demographics. This is all well and good, but it does allow a certain type of person to see an opportunity in the flurries of activity: an opportunity to steal money and time from hard-working people.
When considering an Ethereum price chart, you may want to take action. At the end of the day, crypto can be a really lucrative thing to do with your time, not to mention endlessly fascinating from a technical standpoint. So, if you’re hoping to get into the world of crypto without getting scammed, read on to go through a few great ways to spot a scam and avoid it easily.
Why operate a crypto-specific scam?
The question of why scammers would choose to opt for a crypto-specific scam over any number of alternative options available to them is a great one. At the end of the day, it’s a question that very few people will know the answer to unless they are scammers.
The most likely reason scams may target crypto sphere users is the unlikeliness of several success stories. This may sound a little pessimistic, but consider the rise of Bitcoin’s price over time. When Bitcoin was first created, it was something that barely anyone knew about and was little more than a novelty created as an exercise in technical expertise and frustration at the mainstream financial system.
However, despite this lack of notoriety, the price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed over the years. This is a really unlikely sequence of events, which leaves the door open to other unlikely events to occur. This is a key thing that scammers will use to get you interested: a real success story taking the weight of their made-up cryptocurrency or fraudulent exchange.
Key tips to avoid being scammed
Avoiding being scammed wherever possible is something that everyone wants to do. The reason for this is really self-evident: people want to hold on to the money that they’ve worked so hard to earn! As such, here are some key tips to keep watch and stop yourself from getting scammed by a fake crypto exchange.
Are you being told what to do?
This is perhaps the biggest red flag that you’ll see on a crypto site. There are actually a great deal of laws surrounding the language used in different financial contexts, such that you cannot be directly told to do any specific thing with your money. It can be suggested to you, and the benefits of a situation are explained in detail, but a direct command is actually not legal, even as part of a crypto exchange.
Therefore, take the time to evaluate the specific language being used in front of you. No reputable exchange will directly tell you to do any specific thing, so if you’re being commanded, then you’re at risk of being scammed.
Are you being rushed?
Scammers often use different tools to get you to make decisions much more rapidly than you otherwise may. The main reason for this is that they want to take away the time that you may spend considering your options and then realize that the ‘investment opportunity’ in front of you is actually a total scam.
A number of different scam artists in different niches can use different tools to rush you. For instance, scammers commonly put countdowns on their sites to instill a sense of time into you. Often, these countdowns do absolutely nothing and should be ignored. Even if it reaches zero, it will typically just restart.
How old is the website?
Because of the robust financial legal system, monetary scams don’t tend to stick around for long. This means that older websites are actually somewhat more legitimate, thanks to their age.
Obviously, this shouldn’t be the first and foremost thing you base a decision on, but considering the relative age of a site can allow you to understand the chances that any kind of financial authority has ever investigated it.
It’s often a wise idea to google the URL of the site along with ‘analytics’ or a similar phrase. Many websites exist to give you an idea of how much traffic a given site typically gets and how long it’s been around for. If the site is exceptionally young, then it’s very likely to be a scam.
Are there get-rich-quick claims?
This is perhaps the most important tip on the list – if something is too good to be true, it often is. One of the reasons for the unlikeliness of Bitcoin’s rise in price over time, as mentioned earlier, is that other coins haven’t seen that same meteoric rise. Therefore, if someone’s selling you something based on the idea of it being ‘the next bitcoin’, for instance – they’re often trying to remind you of unlikely successes.
The reason for this reminder is simple: it can get you to believe that you may be a part of the next unlikely success. Suffice it to say that this is very unlikely.
Fake cryptocurrency exchanges are becoming more common with time. Consider any exchange you interact with before parting with your hard-earned money.
