Is This a Scam Coin? Exploring the Warning Signs
Wondering if a crypto coin or company that someone is recommending to you is a scam or legitimate?
Follow along in this video as I take you through an exploration of four different websites. I'll show you some of the warning signs I look for when I'm trying to decide whether a company is safe enough to invest in or whether I should take a pass for now and check back later. (Also see the checklist below the video link!)
I also discuss my favorite method of investing (hint: it does NOT involve cryptocurrencies!), how I started investing in crypto, and my favorite way to invest in crypto that lets me always be in full control of my money at my exchange instead of needing to trust some other company to take care of my money for me.
Disclosure: You should assume any links in this blog post are 1. affiliate links, 2. links to our own products, or 3. links for your convenience. We only recommend products that we whole-heartedly endorse and any commissions earned from your purchases do not increase your costs.
New crypto investors usually have a lot to learn about how to be safe when investing in cryptocurrencies. It’s important to be smart so scammers don’t steal your hard-earned winnings!
After someone messaged us about a new coin to invest in, I decided to take a look around and see if there’s any obvious signs that a coin might be a scam. Follow along in the video as I explore four different possibilities: one that we were messaged about, two that were reported as a problem for someone’s mom, and one that I’ve been hearing about in a Facebook group.
In general, here’s some tips to help you decide if something is a scam or legit when you are doing your own research before investing.
1. Did someone message you about the coin?
Facebook and Youtube in particular seem to be rife with people who have no qualms posting links and sending messages about coins you’ve never heard of. Be careful!
2. Click on everything!
Legitimate coins have fully functioning websites with social media links that work, links to white papers that explain their philosophy, ways to contact real people, and much more. If you’re clicking around and a lot of links take you nowhere, I’d look elsewhere for a good investment.
3. Do they have social media?
If a coin says “follow us on social media” but their links to their social media aren’t even hooked up correctly, I’d be very suspicious.
4. Do they have Privacy Policies?
Legitimate companies have robust, long policies regarding privacy, terms and conditions, risks of investing, and more. They are very interested in protecting their legal rights and you should be too. Stay away from sites that have non-existent policies, short, non-comprehensive policies, or links that don’t work correctly.
5. Can you contact support?
You should be able to contact someone about your investment. A lot of these sites will have an instant messaging service set up, but that doesn’t mean you are talking to a legitimate company. Companies with real physical addresses, emails that work, and actual support departments that respond to queries are much safer for your investments.
6. Are they mimicking another legit site?
Hackers and scammers are incredibly good at stealing a legitimate website, changing one letter or number in the address, and then tricking innocent investors into sending money. Nexo actually points this out on their sign-in page: always be sure you are signing into the correct website.
7. Bonus: are they pushing for you to send your money to them?
Personally, I want to maintain control of my money at all times. This means my money is either in my own crypto wallet or on an exchange or platform that I’ve vetted as legitimate, such as Kraken, Gemini, Kucoin, Celsius, or some of the other platforms we’ve written about in our articles here on SaferCryptoInvesting.com. I would NEVER send money to a random coin or deposit money into an unknown platform. I also would test any new coin or platform with a very little amount of money. Of course, scammers can be patient and run quite a racket: getting a little of your money, making themselves act like a legitimate company, convincing you to send more money, etc. Best way to protect yourself is to stick to well-known platforms and do your research!
In Conclusion
Scammers are tricky. They’re very good at going after your money. Make sure you take every precaution to deflect their tricks and protect your investments!
Read our previous article about this subject:
How To Spot Crypto Scams
To get started more safely in crypto and download our checklist, go here:
Investing in Cryptocurrencies? Use these Basic Tools
Write to us at Safer Crypto Investing ([email protected]), if you have any questions or come across anything suspicious.