How to identify and avoid scams in the Crypto Universe ?

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Hello, good evening to all!

We all know it, especially you who are reading this article. The world of Cryptocurrencies has radically changed the way we see and understand the world of finance.

It has opened up to billions of people around the world, a world that was initially reserved for a privileged elite who were the only ones with a chance of making money.

But like any new innovations, this one is also accompanied by new scams, taking advantage of people who are credulous, misinformed or naive.

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We have all fallen into a scam at least once, because it goes without saying that financial science is not innate to us, this ability is acquired over time. There is a popular saying that says "We learn from our mistakes". So YES, we 'necessarily' have to make at least one mistake (the one who tells you he has never made one, is a liar, NO ONE is infallible), to question ourselves, and thus have a different point of view on our future investments, and thus avoid being scammed again. For the luckiest, these losses amount to a few hundred dollars, and for the less fortunate, it can go up to several thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Far from this alarming observation, we have all understood that investing in Cryptocurrencies can be a great adventure, both human and financial.

But in order to prepare for this new world, without borders and without limits, there are a few rules, and a few pieces of information to respect, to minimize the scam and the loss of your funds (For your information, in 2019, all Crypto scams combined, accentuated by the movement of the DeFi, amounted to 3.1 billion Dollars stolen).

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The first thing to do is to learn about the Project, check the sources that mention it, go to the official website of the Project, and don't forget to take a look at their Roadmap. The next step is simple reflections :

• Is this project viable?
• Is the team behind the project known? Personal pages on social networks, references and past experiences? ...
• Is there a real need for the proposed service? Or is there something similar already in place?
• And last but not least, 'Can this project bring something to me personally?

Then there are some things that might give us a clue:

• New Cryptocurrency that suddenly appeared...
• The value of the Crypto which increases by 5% (or more) in a few minutes (and then collapses even faster).
• The Return on Investment : It is true that it makes you dream to see "Invest 100$ and earn 1000$ in 2 months" it is a Utopia, a Phantasm ! No one can ever predict that, and what assures you are 'LIARS! and especially people who want to extort money from you!

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This kind of scam is also very present on the Social Medias, in particular Telegram and Discord, from where the fact of being very vigilant on the Pseudos, because it is easy to usurp the identity, the Pseudo, or the photo of the founder of a project, or that of a member of the administration team of the project. The good thing (on Telegram anyway) is that usernames "@*******" have a unique spelling, BUT the scammers have found a way around it, take these examples :

• u/Wilhelm
• u/WiIheIm

Have you seen the difference? Technically only one person can use the pseudo "@Wilhelm", but another person can use "@WiIheIm" ... you found the differences? in the first example I used 'twice the lowercase "l", and in the second example I replaced the 2 lowercase "l" by 2 times the upper case "I" (i)! So if we don't know the trick we can think that the 2nd pseudo is the same as the first one. Do you understand what I'm getting at? We have to pay special attention to the details, because it is these little things that can tell us whether or not the information is real or not

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Another thing, very important, if not the most important! NO, when I say none, it's NEVER, NO PERSON from the project development team will ask you for your Private Key, same for support, if you have a problem and the Support Team asks you to pay some ETH to put your request first, NO PERSON from the Support Team will ask you to pay anything, to solve the problem you are having.

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And last but not least, when you receive an email, which may look authentic to you, don't click on the links until you have a few simple checks;

• Start by passing your mouse over the link, without clicking on it, and look at what the address that appears at the bottom of your screen looks like, if it seems incoherent, too long, or if you don't see the name of the project from the beginning, don't click on it.
• You can also right-click on the link, copy it, and then open it in another browser (browser on which you have never logged in any of your Wallets, no password saved, or no sensitive information, which can easily be stolen if you have inadvertently clicked on a link.)

As you can see, Scammers and Hackers know how to mislead you and you will also be surprised by the ease of the lawsuits used to try to (or) scam you.

In case of doubt, do not hesitate to ask your questions on the public channels of the project on Telegram, and never answer a person who is going through a team member in a private message, as long as it remains on the public channel, it ensures an additional level of security.

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The key Words if you want to invest in cryptos, or in particular projects are :

• Pay attention to the details
• To incoherencies
• To spelling mistakes in texts

If you scrupulously respect these things, you drastically reduce the chances of losing your investment(s).

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There is an adage says "The Devil is in the Details!", keep this little phrase in mind, it will be of great use to you, now, tomorrow, and in the future.

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Thank you all for reading this article, See you Soon

Christophe WILHELM