Scams around crypto assets are on the rise due to lack of regulations, market interest, high crypto prices and social media helping to amplify rumors, real or fictional, the security company warned. ESET computing.
However, for ESET the common rules for fraud prevention apply here as well, everything you read on the internet should be carefully scrutinized and verified, and if you avoid believing the hype you have a great chance of staying safe.
Between October 2020 and May 2021, nearly $80 million was lost in the United States as a result of thousands of cryptocurrency-related scams; and in the UK, police say victims lost more than £146m in the first nine months of 2021.
The most common scams are Ponzi schemes, Pump and dump (buying crypto assets from little-known projects, based on false information), fake celebrity endorsements, fake exchanges, fake apps, fake press releases, and phishing/phishing.
“In general, the affected companies promise to reward their innocent clients, but there are no such guarantees for the victims of crypto fraud,” explained Camilo Gutiérrez Amaya, head of the ESET Latin America Research Laboratory.
To avoid being scammed, the company advises never to provide personal data to an entity that is contacted without being requested; treat any investment schemes with suspicion, enable two-factor authentication, rule out any investment “opportunities” that require upfront payment, and never download apps from unofficial stores.
“It is important to keep a cool head and see beyond the trend; the best weapon to combat fraud is disbelief; Unfortunately, we live in a time when not everything we read on the Internet is true and much of it is explicitly designed to deceive us,” said Gutiérrez Amaya.
For the specialist, “education and prevention are key allies to keep information protected.”
