Crypto Scams: From DeFi Wallets to Honeypots and Phishing Attacks - Most Common Frauds

Cryptocurrency has revolutionized the financial world, offering decentralization, transparency, and fresh opportunities for investors. However, this booming sector has also attracted bad actors aiming to scam unsuspecting individuals. In 2023 alone, over $2 billion has been lost to various crypto scams​. Protecting yourself is crucial.

This blog post examines the most widespread crypto scams in-depth, including DeFi wallet scams, honeypots, and phishing attacks. Each section provides a detailed explanation and practical tips to help you remain vigilant and protect your hard-earned assets.

DeFi Wallet Scams

Source: coindoo.com

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) wallets are essential for interacting with DeFi platforms nowadays. Sadly, these wallets have become prime targets due to their popularity and the significant crypto value they hold.

Theory:

DeFi wallet scams typically involve fake wallet apps or browser extensions designed to appear legitimate. Scammers craftily create these fraudulent wallets to trick users into entering their funds, which are then stolen. These scams frequently rely on social engineering tactics like fake reviews, endorsements, and deceptive advertising across popular platforms to gain trust.

Practical Explanation:

1. Fake Wallets: Scammers develop wallet apps that closely mimic authentic ones. These malicious apps may be distributed through phishing websites or unofficial app stores. Once installed, they can capture your private keys or seed phrases, handing full access to your funds over to the scammers.

2. Malicious Browser Extensions: Similar to fake wallets, malicious browser extensions pose as real wallet interfaces but secretly aim to steal your private keys or seed phrases when you use them.

3. Social Engineering: Scammers utilize a range of underhanded social engineering tactics to lure victims into trusting and downloading their fake wallets. This includes setting up fake websites, social media accounts posing as official sources, and even paying for ads to appear at the top of search results.

Data Analysis:

According to recent reports, DeFi wallet scams have led to losses exceeding $100 million in just the past year. Worryingly, these scams are growing more advanced, with some even integrating limited real wallet functionality to avoid raising suspicion

Actionable Advice:

• Official Sources: Only download wallets from the official websites or verified app stores of legitimate projects. Anywhere else poses unnecessary risk.
• Authenticity: Thoroughly verify the developer and read reviews from the established crypto community before trusting any wallet.
• Hardware Wallets: Use hardware wallets which provide an extra layer of security by keeping your private keys isolated offline.

Honeypots

Source: cryptonews.net

Honeypots are deceptive crypto traps meticulously set up to entice unsuspecting users into depositing funds they cannot withdraw.

Theory:

In a honeypot scam, con artists create smart contracts programmed to promise lucrative returns or exclusive benefits to pique interest. At first glance, these contracts appear genuine and legitimate. However, once users transfer funds, they discover the contract contains hidden code functions preventing any withdrawals.

Practical Explanation:

1. Attractive Offers: Scammers advertise their malicious honeypot contracts by offering wildly attractive incentives like astronomically high yields or VIP rewards very few would refuse. Greed proves an effective motivator.

2. Hidden Code: The smart contract code secretly hides withdrawal-blocking functions, often obfuscated or obscured to slip under the radar of casual audits.

3. Lack of Transparency: users cannot fully review or inspect the contract's complete code, and instead place blind trust in the scammers' promotional claims.

Data Analysis:

In 2023 so far, honeypot scams have continued proliferating at an alarming rate. Some reports indicate a single scammer deployed 979 honeypot contracts within just two months, ensnaring many victims.

Actionable Advice:

• Audit Contracts: Before interacting with any DeFi contract, ensure it has undergone a comprehensive smart contract audit by established, reputable security firms in the crypto space.
• Reviews: Seek out and carefully scrutinize reviews from trusted sources within the broader crypto community regarding any contracts you plan to use.
• High Returns: Maintain a skeptical mentality. If an offer seems too good to be true, promising unrealistic high returns, it likely is a scam. Proceed with extreme caution.

Rug Pulls

Source: SlowMist

Rug pulls represent another insidious type of scam where the developers behind a new crypto project abruptly pull the metaphorical rug out from under investors, rendering their tokens worthless overnight.

Theory:

In a rug pull scheme, the scam typically begins with unveiling a new cryptocurrency token and implementing an aggressive promotional campaign to attract investors. Promises of life-changing wealth if you "get in early" run rampant. Once a substantial amount of funds accumulate in the project's liquidity pool through these investments, the anonymous developers bolt, withdrawing all the money for themselves in one decisive exit scam.

Practical Explanation:

1. Launch of a Token: Scammers launch a brand new crypto token, establishing trading liquidity pools.

2. Building Hype: An intense hype-driven marketing blitz ensues, often involving social media influencers, to whip up a speculative frenzy driving bought demand for the new token.

3. Liquidity Withdrawal: When the liquidity pool fills with enough investment capital, the scam developers abruptly pull all funds from the project and abandon it.

4. Price Drop: This causes the token's price to crater overnight as liquidity is drained, leaving those holding the tokens with near-worthless investments.

Data Analysis:

Sadly, rug pull scams have become increasingly prevalent and commonplace within the crypto world, contributing to the multi-billion dollar losses plaguing the industry annually.

Actionable Advice:

• Team: Conduct thorough research into the real identities and backgrounds of the core team members working on any new crypto project before investing. Anonymity should be treated as a red flag.
• Liquidity: Seek out tokens with locked liquidity pools that explicitly prevent the developers from immediately extracting funds for a set period of time.
• Hype: Be highly skeptical of projects characterized by excessive marketing hype and flashy influencer promotions lacking substantive technological or utility focus.

Phishing Attacks

Source: cointelegraph.com

You've likely encountered phishing attacks before attempting to steal sensitive personal and financial information through deception. They represent a major threat in crypto as well.

Theory:

Phishing schemes involve bad actors impersonating trusted companies, services or individuals to trick you into willingly handing over private login credentials, seed phrases for cryptocurrency wallets, and other critical data. These attacks commonly deploy through fake emails, social media messages, or even entire spoof websites designed to look legitimate.

Practical Explanation:

1. Email Phishing: Phishing emails may spoof recognized companies or crypto platforms, claiming your account was compromised and prompting you to reset passwords via a malicious link.

2. Social Media Phishing: On social media, fake accounts impersonating customer support for crypto services message users directly, offering to help resolve issues but actually aiming to extract private keys or seed phrases.

3. Fake Websites: Bogus websites are set up as mirror images of real crypto platforms, wallet interfaces, or exchange login portals. However, any information entered gets captured by the phishers.

Data Analysis:

Phishing remains among the most prolific and costly forms of crypto crime. Recent studies indicate a startling over 50% increase in reported phishing attacks year-over-year as cryptocurrency adoption grows worldwide.

Actionable Advice:

• URLs: Always manually verify the full URL matches the official website before logging in or entering any sensitive data. Look for the proper HTTPS encryption.
• Emails: Avoid opening links or attachments from any unexpected or suspicious emails that could potentially be phishing attempts.
• Two-Factor Authentication: Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on all financial accounts and wallets to prevent unauthorized access, even if your credentials are phished.

Conclusion

The crypto landscape remains fertile ground for scammers of all stripes deploying ever-more sophisticated tactics. Staying vigilant by learning to identify DeFi wallet fraud, honeypot traps, rug pull exit scams, and phishing attacks is crucial to safeguarding your cryptocurrency investments. Take proactive security measures like using trusted sources, enabling extra authentication, and verifying legitimacy before exposing any private data or keys. With wisdom and caution, you can navigate this new frontier confidently. For more insights into crypto scams, read our detailed analysis of the MetaBlaze project collapse.