New Face of Crypto Scams
Get generational wealth or rekt'ed.
Hey, friend!
It’s the 11th edition of Gems Corner. Today’s edition highlights new crypto scams, presales hijacking, and many other gems.
Enjoy the gems.
Gone are the days when crypto fraudsters and scammers used to cow in the trenches of unsolicited emails, Twitter DMs, and comment sections of popular handles.
Now, it seems like they’re getting smarter as the world evolves. And recognizing their modes of operation would help you better protect yourself against their gimmicks.
Before we proceed, it is worth noting that I am not an On-chain sleuth or Rug Pull Detector. I’m a DeFi user and researcher aiming to onboard more users to DeFi, a step at a time.
With that out of the way, let’s dive in.
The latest research from Google Ads and blockchain analytics reveals that over $4 million has been stolen from over 3k users that fell for malicious websites promoted on Google.
Scam Sniffer discovers that the main targeted web3 sites are Lido, Zapper(dot)fi, DeFiLlama, Stargate, Radiant, and Orbiter. And what the scammers do it’s to clone these websites and promote them using Google Ads.
When users click on them, they’ll be prompted to authorize their signature on Metamask. Once they do, the rest becomes history.
Aside from Google Ads, they are also big on Twitter Ads, using Airdrop ads to scam users. For instance, something like this screenshot below.
The thing is, knowing these gimmicks exist will save you from falling for them. Here are a few steps you can take to protect yourself from falling victim to scams:
Double-check the URL of every project before connecting your wallet. And if you don’t know their exact URL, visit their Twitter profile or credible sites like Coingecko and CoinMarketCap.
Double-check the username of every airdrop post before interacting on Twitter. As a rule of thumb, big projects don’t run ads for airdrops; 95% of them are scams.
Add an extra layer of security to your Metamask with tools like Revoke Cash, MEV Blocker, & Scam Sniffer.
Don’t click on any suspicious on any online platform promising some shiny APRs.
Lower your expectations and desperation to 1000x your capital.
Presale Scams on Rampage
Moving from Google and Twitter Ads scams, there’s currently an increasing spate of presale and IDO scams plaguing the crypto scams.
Formerly on Arbitrum, but recently common among new projects on zkSync.
The most recent one is that of zkSync-based MerlinDEX, which exploited over $1.82M during their token sale.
Although their audit firm - Certik, is exploring ways to compensate users for the incident, it is expedient to be watchful and diligent with token presales.
Always triple-check before buying into any token sale; even when you do, don’t risk an amount you can’t afford to lose. Ape responsibly.
Chart of the week
It is approximately 365 days to the next BTC halving. Additionally, experts from Bloomberg predict that the halving could push prices up by at least 78%. Winter is coming, anon.
Alpha Drips
Binance launches WBETH, a new liquid staking token (LST) - link
Liquid Staking flips DEXs to become the largest DeFi Category - link
CoinList to list SUI - the native token of SUI blockchain after launch - link
Institutional Investors Shift to Ethereum (ETH) Following Successful Shapella Upgrade: CoinShares - link
Venom Foundation goes live on testnet (interact for possible airdrop) - link
Lens Protocol launches Momoka, an optimistic L3 scaling solution - link
MintDAO is organizing a free mint to celebrate its integration with ZkSync - link
One crypto wallet launched 114 scam meme-coins in two months - link
ShimmerEVM Testnet kicks off an airdrop campaign to reward users and dapps for testing in public - link
Thanks for reading!
Until next Friday,
Viktor DeFi.