John 
Scams are unfortunately a fact of life, whether its the traditional confidence trickster or of the online type they are everywhere. Everyday inboxes are inundated with some great scheme or opportunity to make millions for very little effort. In fact I have heard that there are people who are literally giving millions away in return for your bank details and passport details.
The cryptocurrency world is in this respect no different, a few well chosen words, a great looking website a persuasive line in patter are the hallmarks of all great scams. Now in fact the opportunities can be legitimate but how can you spot the scam from the real opportunity.
A little bit of common sense can go a very long way. The phrase “Caveat Emptor” or Buyer Beware is the best starting point.
If a scheme seems too good to be true it probably is.
Due diligence, do your own research, don’t just rely on what you are being told do your own research and make it thorough.
A sales person that seems over keen to sell and is asking you for an investment in excess of you risk threshold.
These are all indicators in the offline world, but when we go online these sensible precautions seem to take to the wind and the same due diligence is seldom applies to online “opportunities.”
So how can you tell an obvious scam, well fortunately there are more bad scammers than good and so there are some fairly easy tells here are just a few.
The Website
Most will use a website, these maybe excellent but a giveaway is the lack of an SSL certificate. No certificate beware, no matter how good it looks. The problem now is that you can easily add an SSL certificate to websites using WordPress and there will be plenty of other ingenious ways to circumvent the problem so an SSL certificate may not be the definite indicator that it once was.
There are many different kinds of cryptocurrency scams that are victimizing people who are new to the crypto world. Con artists prey on those who don’t know the difference between a legit crypto platform and a fake one, who don’t know a Ponzi scheme from a legitimate affiliate program. These scammers fool people into thinking that their well-designed websites give them a semblance of legitimacy, but on closer inspection, these sites won’t pass muster. Here are some giant red flags you should be aware of:
The Offer
As stated if the offer seems too god to be true then it probably is, things to be aware of, if you are buying cryptocurrencies or even Fiat currencies most exchange sites will quote you a very similar rate. If you find one that is offering amazing rates of exchange particularly if you have to exchange a lot of currency to get the great rate, then that should be another red flag moment, a pause for thought, is this too good to be true?
Ponzie Schemes
These can be very clever, you can spot a Ponzie scheme if it’s only been around for a few weeks or months. The scheme works by offering extraordinary returns on investment. This often includes recruiting others to the scheme. It’s not unlike a pyramid selling scheme where the money is made by those at the top of the pyramid who got in first (the organisers). Those closer to the base of the pyramid never receive any patent as it becomes more difficult to recruit new members to the scheme. The scheme folds and you never see you cash again.
Now none of this is intended to put you off investing in cryptocurrencies, these same guidelines apply to any area of business or investment, it is because cryptocurrencies are such big news at the moment that we will see more of these potential scams about.
