Okay, so you now you should have an understanding of the fundamentals of basic personal security within the digital Web3 and NFT spaces. Next, we will unpack a few examples of suspicious activity, explain the red flags, and how to respond. Let's dive in.
Advanced Phishing Scam on Discord
Red Flags:
🚩 Unknown sender contacting us on behalf of a major blockchain project called Enjin.
🚩 ‘Randomly Selected'
🚩 Stating we have ‘won’ Bitcoin and have a ‘limited’ amount of time to claim
🚩 Claim the Bitcoin via following a supplied link and to do so within 48 hours
🚩 Curated message to appear ‘Official’
What to do:
✔️ Report as spam, block and delete message
Example:
Twitter Profile - Imposter Scam
Red flags:
🚩 Major Twitter profile followed without context
🚩 Misspelt Twitter handle - @Baeniemaxi instead of @beaniemaxi. Looks similar, right?
🚩 0 Tweets
🚩 Inconsistent followers vs following compared to original profile
What to do:
✔️ Always cross check the profiles that follow you
✔️ Block, report and delete fake profiles
Example:
Twitter Response Comment - Imposter Scam
Red flags:
🚩 Misspelt Twitter handle - @Zssbecker21 instead of @Zssbecker. Looks similar, right?
🚩 Requests to ‘Send a DM” / “I've got pump recommendations”
🚩 Inconsistent followers vs following compared to original profile
What to do
✔️ Always cross check the name handle @twitterhandle against the confirmed page
✔️ Ignore, do not respond
Example:
YouTube Response Comment - Imposter Scam
Context & What to do
🚩 Misspelt Youtube profile handle - “Pinned by Eric Krown Crypto'' is designed to look like “Eric Krown Crypto.” This can easily deceive the untrained eye.
🚩 Requests to text an obscure Whatsapp number
🚩 Refers you to contact another obscure person who can ‘teach, trade for you, hold for you’
🚩 Look for verified ✔️tick if the original profile is verified on Youtube, Twitter etc
What to do:
✔️ Always cross check the name handle @youtube handle against the confirmed page
✔️ Ignore, do not respond
Example:
Deepfake Video Scam
What is a deepfake?
Deepfakes are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else's likeness. This scam aims to trick you into believing the person is referring you to a ‘new’ project or website that ‘gives you high returns’ or ‘dividends etc’.
Check out this example of a deepfake video depicting Elon Musk urging investors to purchase a scam token. These are deceptive and will become increasingly more frequent. It is important to always remember, public figures will never give you financial advice or advise you to buy a project or token.
Red flags:
🚩 Unnatural facial movement
🚩 Choppy audio and poorly synced audio to mouth movement
🚩 Rushed video
🚩 Look for verified ✔️tick if the original profile is verified on Youtube, Twitter ect.
What to do:
✔️ Always cross check the name handle @youtube handle against the confirmed page
✔️ Ignore, do not respond.