What are the 7 most common crypto scams on Twitter?
Unlike other financial systems, there are also bad actors present in the DeFi space. Since the inception of DeFi, Crypto and NFT holders have often witnessed bizarre scams, cyber attacks or exploits of protocols that drain billions of users’ funds along with their savings.
Here are the 7 most serious types of Twitter crypto scams that the DeFi world has experienced and you should be aware of.
- Emulate websites and projects through Unicode characters
As the name suggests, perpetrators trick people by spoofing URLs through Unicode characters, which resemble original letters. This link directs you to fake websites, which again look like the original ones. Such Twitter crypto scams are usually aimed at beginners or those who are dealing with a small amount of crypto and want to multiply immediately.
There are various tools and websites on the internet where anyone can generate fake URLs by replicating original letters with Unicode characters. However, sometimes these Unicode letter URLs mostly come with another hyperlink to hide specific domain names.
Some Unicode letter examples are given below. Here note this, these examples are for educational purposes only.
- Fraud through verified profile on Twitter
In our list, the next popular Twitter crypto scam is the verified profiles scam.
As humans, people always trust big names and authority from certain fields. Crypto and NFT space is not exceptional for this. Usually, crypto lovers and NFT enthusiasts follow large profiles and verified accounts of crypto and NFT projects on Twitter.
Nowadays, it has become a very common step to make important announcements regarding project updates on social media profiles like Discord server, Twitter or other places.
Twitter has an algorithm that verifies the account with blue ticks after checking its authenticity. So people easily trust these accounts and follow announcements to secure their digital assets like cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and NFTs.
But what if these verified accounts were hacked and they are completely under the control of black hats? Yes, hackers are skilled enough to carry out phishing scams after gaining control of these blue cross verified accounts.
Hackers exploit verified accounts to create panic and fear in people regarding crypto and NFTs by making false announcements of possible attacks. Mostly, these announcements direct people to phishing scam websites, which ask them to sign transactions related to transferring all their funds and NFTs to other addresses.
This type of Twitter crypto scam being carried out mostly involves these steps-
- Sparks fear in crypto and NFT holders through false announcements of possible threats of hacking, exploitation or fraud.
- Uses botted accounts to promote their posts on Twitter through likes, retweets, mass DMs or mentions.
- The link attached in the announcements directs people to the phishing scam website.
- The website tricks users into signing transactions that allow a hacker to empty away crypto and NFTs.
- Honeypot account
If you hold up some tokens in your digital wallet and actively trade, you might have received some DMs on social media on a regular basis. Most of these DMs are ignored by people due to their irrelevance. Unfortunately, there are still some who fall into such traps. These Twitter encryption scams mostly target individuals.
Although the majority of these accounts already have some tokens, senders still force recipients to help with withdrawals. Most of these fake addresses will not even be able to cover transaction costs.
This is where the game begins. To cover transaction fees and receive rewards from the sender, users usually add some money. But as soon as money is sent to a fake address, it is automatically transferred back to the fraudster’s wallet.
- Fake Airdrop Announcements
Upcoming Twitter crypto scams are fake Airdrop announcements that drain millions of dollars of crypto funds from the crypto space.
On a daily basis, there are hundreds or thousands of fake airdrops of some random tokens appearing on Twitter or other social media accounts. But this airdrop becomes more dangerous when it is announced from some recognized and verified profiles.
As we mentioned earlier, hackers can compromise and exploit verified accounts to complete their malicious intentions. Airdrops are loved by the black hat hacker after compromising some famous profiles.
They lure some specific NFT holders like Bored Ape Yacht Club, Azuki, MAYC or others by promising to give away some newly generated tokens.
When these NFT holders mouse click on clicks, they unknowingly complete the process of signing malicious transactions and authorizing the transfer of their funds and NFTs to the hacker’s wallet.
- Cheating through games to make money
There is no room for doubt about that P2E games projects are going to take a large share of the pie in decentralization. The GameFi space is still in its infancy and has great potential to grow over the next 5-10 years.
These fascinating GameFi concepts also become another great opportunity for Twitter encryption scammers.
However, on the dark side of GameFi, there are many P2E gaming projects taking shape that could ruin users’ experience in this nascent decentralized space. These games mostly contain malware hidden in their files. This malware is designed to steal users’ browser and extension data.
- Fake art commissions
Twitter Crypto scams target digital artists and influencers involved in digital artwork by commissioning fake work for illegitimate companies. The working file provided by the fake company is filled with malware or a fake screensaver (.scr) file which is an executable file.
These files can steal targeted artists’ important data such as cookies, passwords, extension data, wallet data and more. Thus putting the artist’s future at risk.
- Front Running Scam
If you’re on Twitter, you may have noticed and advanced alerts about being mentioned in random posts. This post contains some tempting clauses like “earn $1400/DAY front-running Uniswap” to force you to click on their links and watch the video. This is nothing but another Twitter crypto scam model.
Front Running Scam
Front Running Scam
The video contains incorrect information related to how the start() and withdrawal functions work. When you call one of these functions to make money, it will transfer all your funds to another contract created by the perpetrator, and eventually your fund will end up at the addresses.
Also read: The 10 most common NFT scams and techniques to avoid them
How to avoid crypto scams on Twitter?
- Avoid unusual interactions with questionable emails, DMs or tweets.
- Don’t trust any click beats or URLs attached to tweets that lead you to scam sites.
- If you are not aware of programming or functions of smart contracts, then please avoid the instructions given by the anonymous as there are high chances that you will end up with zero balance in your crypto wallet.
- Do not share your private keys with anyone.
- Don’t send your crypto to unknown addresses to “double” it. Even if some verified profiles on Twitter ask you to do the same, don’t trust it. There could potentially be a hacker behind that account.
Conclusion:
Apart from this, hackers know the desperation of people who are scammed or have recently been the victim of an attack to recover lost funds. By promising to recover their lost funds, the attackers collect fees in the name of distributing smart contracts on the blockchain and then abscond with it.
With the expansion of defi space, Twitter crypto scams are also promoted due to lack of data security in place. As we surf the internet and social media like Twitter, we should be aware of opportunists out there waiting for your one wrong move.
Here we have also mentioned some tips to prevent you from falling victim to any kind of Twitter crypto scam.
