Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: How to Protect Yourself from Fraudulent Bitcoin Giving
by
kryptqnick
on 23/07/2020, 09:54:36 UTC
Deception in the guise of Bitcoin is spreading. The most recent and most extensive case is through hacking of a number of famous celebrity Twitter accounts on Wednesday, July 15, 2020. Hackers offer a Bitcoin giveaway from those accounts. So, what are some ways to protect yourself from this mode of crime?

The perpetrators may launch social-based attacks (social engineering) against Twitter employees. Hackers access Twitter's internal systems and devices, and thus successfully tweet the Bitcoin giveaway.
For example the Kanye West account which was also hacked. The famous US musician is "tweeting" he will duplicate the Bitcoin sent to his Bitcoin address. With common logic, it is unlikely that anyone would give free money in the form of Bitcoin, without any veiled intentions.

No one will give you free money, not even Bill Gates. If it sounds too sweet, then it's certainly not true, especially in cyberspace.
There are some basic but useful rules when it comes to scam. If it's too good to be true, it's not true. So yeah, any kind of 'give us 30, get 300' is a scam. Another rule is to ensure your money is protected (from hacking). This includes strong passwords, regular antivirus checks of the devices you're using, storing private key in a safe place, using only reputable services with good reviews. And the last but not least is related to ensure that when you're sending money, you're sending it to the right address. So I avoid QR-codes because there's a lot of scam with them and because it's impossible to check if it's the right one. And there's also malware that changes the copied address to a different one when you paste it, so checking at least the beginning, the middle and the end of the address is a must (some malware is clever enough to make the beginning the same as in the original address). Taking all of this into account, it's still important to understand that there is still a chance of getting hacked, but reducing the risks is worth it.