Security is a complex issue in blockchain-related platforms. Through this loophole, scammers have relentlessly defrauded crypto users in creative ways. One of the newest forms of deception is through Honeypot scams.
Scammers have taken a whole new directive into baiting and scamming their victims off some money, and you will never realize it unless you know what you are looking out for and how to avoid them.
What are Honeypot Crypto Scams?
Honeypot Crypto Scams is a phrase used in cybersecurity and is a metaphor for identifying scammers who set a trap, also known as “honeypot,” for their unsuspecting victims, promising them a reward in cryptocurrency if they can help complete a seemingly innocent task.
Types of Honeypot Crypto Scams
Honeypot crypto scams aren’t just limited. They are everywhere in crypto. They can also be found in NFT marketplaces like Opensea or even pretend to be GameFi platforms.
NFT
A scammer can list an NFT for sale, placing a desirable offer on several listed NFTs. As a crypto enthusiast, you will be lured to buy the listed NFT to accept the high price offered. You may fall for this and buy the NFT at an affordable floor price without knowing it cannot be sold or listed because they are fake. The offer cannot be accepted either. You will encounter an error in receiving the bid or selling the NFT.
Cryptocurrency
A scammer can send their 12-code wallet key to you, pretending to be a novice, and offer a large amount in return if you can log in to their wallet address.
How to Spot these Scams?
These scams come in different modes to deploy their malicious activities; however, we will list the standard methods scammers have often used to bait and rob their victims of their money.
1. Social Media
The scammers often thrive off social media vulnerability, using apps like Twitter, Telegram, Facebook, or Discord to pick their victims. Scammers are unoriginal with their social media profiles, so spotting them shouldn’t be difficult.
Their accounts always involve poorly edited graphics on their pages, random usernames, pictures of women, links to unauthorized websites, grammatical errors in their posts, and action words imploring you to click a link, so you don’t miss out on an offer.
2. Website
Most websites often include ads with malicious intents whose primary purpose is to lure you in with chances of winning a large sum of money or entering into a raffle draw with your wallets address which will inevitably give the attackers access to your wallet, allowing them to steal all you own in your crypto wallet.
These pop-up ads always include honeypot crypto scams, attracting its victims where they participate and lose all they have.
3. Bots on Telegram and Twitter
No crypto coin owner will slide into your dm and tell you to buy their coins or connect your wallet to a sketchy website that links your wallet to their domain; bots will mostly do these on Telegram and Twitter, select their victims randomly and send these risky security texts, suggesting that you stand a chance to become one of the first buyers and winners if you follow specific instructions.
How to Avoid these Scams?
Having understood how these Honeypot crypto Scams can take place and the methods by which they can happen, here are ways that you can avoid these scams and save yourself from losing your NFTs and crypto.
1. Inspect the Social Media Profiles
Before engaging any account on social media, if possible, check for when the scammers created the accounts; most scam accounts have the recency of being made between weeks and a few months. Sometimes, they have little to no followers, and other times, they have an unreasonably large number of followers. The best way to know their legibility is through their engagements on their social media profiles.
2. Spam Texts on Strange Websites
Most websites are in the business of entertaining third-party ads, which can lead their unassuming customers into perilous domains. In most cases, pop-up ads are often by scammers with attractive rewards and requests. To avoid such honeypot scams, always confirm the security of the website. When using a smartphone or a laptop, always notice the padlock icon at the top left of the website link; click it to ensure its validity, and avoid connecting your wallet address to any of these websites.
