The growth of the cryptocurrency market means that more and more cyber scammers are launching their own currencies to catch the unsuspecting. how to protect yourself
Marcelo (43) is a frequent user of cryptocurrencies. For this, Use Various Non-Custodial Wallets and various networks, such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Polygon, Avalanche, and Optimistic, among others.
A few days ago he noticed with surprise that a New BSC Network token was added to its list without being bought or requested a transfer. Not only that: he has $4,000 in new currency called $GPTCwhich refers chatgptA service that is popular across all networks today.
Emboldened by this “gift from heaven”, he set out convert those assets to usdt: Entered the decentralized exchange Pancake Swap and paid the associated gas (commission) in BNB, the native token of BSC.
but his accounts $USDT and $GPTC were unchangedwhile that BNB waived transaction fees, He was one of the many unsuspecting people who fell into gas scam (fee scam): the smart contract of the coin does nothing other than discount your fee and may robbed her of everything in her purse,
Cryptocurrencies: How Crypto “Viruses” Work
non-custodial wallets Allow direct access to the blockchain using a private key (multi-character alphanumeric string) or seed phrase (Sequence between 12 and 24 words).
These data are encrypted: they must put it on paper and put it in a safe placebecause if they are lost or forgotten, they will be lost They will lose the money and there will be no way to recover it,
in that they differ from exchanges, which provide a username and password that can be retrieved like any other web service. In this case, they open a crypto wallet on behalf of that user and They keep the keys in their possession so that it can be easily operated from their interface,
Non-custodial wallets maintain privacy by not linking identity to funds. In addtion to this Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs) You Can Get Tokens That Have Just Launched and benefit from price growth when listed on centralized exchanges (such as Binance or Coinbase). If the latter happens.
,With a self-custodial wallet, the user has full control over the private keys And be responsible for the safety of your property,” he warns. iProUP From metamaskOne of the most used apps of this type, which proposes the following analogy:
- “An exchange custody solution is like a bank that is trusted to keep deposits safe”
- “A self-custody wallet is like a personal vault that the user owns and is responsible for keeping safe”
Nahuel Burbarch, Argentina Representative of Xerion Non-Custodial Wallet, Alert iProUP He “acquiring property never heard of or participated in it’s a big sign that we’re facing a potentially spam token,
,Before negotiating, it is convenient Check them out by name, ticker or their smart contract like in blockchain explorers etherscanindexing platforms such as kommarketcap Or CoinGecko, and on Twitter”, commented the expert.
Santiago Cristóbal, co-founder of Solo Platforms, highlights iProUP He “The rule is to distrust any gift received And avoid interacting with unknown assets altogether.”
Smart contracts for some tokens have unwanted features, such as wallet access
“If a coin appears that may be from a known project, what i recommend is To verify whether there was indeed a bounty, first visit the project’s official Twitter And then consult with acquaintances who are in the ecosystem,” he commented.
The problem here is more serious than buying shit coin (junk currency) that may not be worth anything over time.
Ethereum and networks that mimic its operations (such as Binance Chain, Polygon, Solana, Arbitrum and others) offer Smart contracts that allow programming actions on the blockchain, Thus, anyone who has some knowledge can make a new token with specific rules Which will be done in case of certain events.
in the matter of $GPTC, your smart contract is designed Not only to keep the commission paid (some savers lost several hundred dollars) without offering anything in return: by accepting a transaction, an unsuspecting user can Enables you to access your funds and lose all tokens, kinda “crypto virus,
Cryptocurrencies: how to protect yourself from scams
Before Investing, Expert DYOR highly recommended (abbreviation in English “do your research“) about the project on which the currency is based. The main tool is Indexers like CoinMarketCap or CoingeckoThose offer – in addition to current and historical value – different data to start an investigation.
People with significant funds can keep them in hardware wallets disconnected from the Internet to prevent hacking.
The first is the simplest: the own comments users, who will indicate whether or not they have a sense fast (fast) or recession (bass guitarist)but mainly will report if this is a scam, “I think the key point to keep in mind is to understand what the project is about: How does it work, does it make sense or is it a real applicationBurback advises.
Christopher says thatIt is important to see how long it has been in the market and its presence on social networks, mainly on Twitter. While there may be artificially inflated accounts, greater presence and seniority often indicate seriousness.”
Thus, when searching for a coin on Coinmarketcap, it is possible to see the official website. If you don’t have it, you already have one. red flag to disbelieve or if it is not offered while accessing white paperA document that is a kind of “constitution”, in which initiatives, objectives, etc. are presented.
In addition, Cristóbal recommends check some data which is usually on the website of each initiative:
- see road map Project and its vision
- It has a higher risk if the founders are anonymous scam
- check if they have partner Important
- Check out the latest release or improvements of the project
simultaneously, Other important points you can check in Coinmarketcap,
- that the smart contracts are verified (usually indicated by the logo of a crypto audit firm)
- Volume transacted in the last three months
Burbarch stresses “not to rely on certain parameters from CoinMarketCap or CoinGecko that can be manipulated by the market, such as capitalization, otherwise you will have to Combined analysis of all data provided by these platforms,
Educate yourself and investigate: Those who want to invest should know how cryptocurrencies work and learn about each project
According to the expert,Another relevant point is to analyze liquidity in decentralized market Like Uniswap, Sushiswap or Balancer, among others”, which would indicate how easy it would be to get rid of the asset, in addition to confirming “when the tokens are being traded”.
Besides, Offering Non-Custodial Wallet Tools to Avoid These Scams, “are of one Block user interaction with malicious domains acquaintances. MetaMask manages this list and many partners in the ecosystem update it,” he explains from the app, adding that he received complaints from 11,512 people reporting 33,478 domains.
“We work closely with Phishfort, which manages the block list used by MetaMask, and we are examining ways to incorporate more proactive anti-phishing measures. Recently, We have disabled the use of the old signature method Used to steal properties”, he finishes.
In the case of Zarian, Burbach indicates that they have “secret filter formula for list token in application, Since there is no 100% infallible filter, each property can be reported by users and based on that, they are removed.”
,We have a verification system for each project: If the cryptocurrency is found on two or more tokenlists.org, get one Blue checkmark to indicate that the information provided by the property is correctIt doesn’t work as investment advice though,” he commented.
From metamask they recommend to connect “to” external hardware wallets for more security Of those who store significant funds, because they keep private keys offline, physically separate from devices connected to the Internet.”
On the other hand, Burbach comments that “there is a tendency find more projects unsolicited email networks with low transaction costs like bsc or polygonAlthough all are given equal attention when looking for an investment project”.
In this sense, Cristóbal assures that the best thing would be to start investing in bitcoin and ethereum, and then explore others as you learn about the subject. as always, Education is the main defense to keep personal finance in “safe” mode,
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