I'd like to tell you about a scam. I hope that this will help prevent you from becoming a victim of it by letting you know what to watch out for. But wait, there's more! How would you like to know how to make a scam like this backfire?
I was contacted by a con artist on Instagram. He asked me about trading with crypto currencies. We chatted some more and then he offered to switch to WhatsApp.
He then introduced me to a website where I could supposedly profit simply by investing in it and letting the people who run the website do the hard work for me.
I reported it to usa.gov. That was quite a bit of work, but the way I felt back then, I was glad to do it.
How does this work and how can you make it backfire? Please read on and find out. Also, before I forget to say it. Please don't close any apps, tabs or windows too quickly, because you'll need some information from them later.
First, you're engaged in some friendly chat, usually via Instagram, intended to check if you can be exploited. If your contact believes that he/she can exploit you, then they'll switch to WhatsApp. After possibly some more chatting, one of two things will happen. Either you're invited to make an account on a website and put some money into it, or you'll get a Bitcoin address to send some money to. You're not going to do either. Instead, you're going to spring the trap.
If the WhatsApp number is American, then I recommend that you report them to usa.gov. If the WhatsApp number is not American, then go ahead and report and block the contact(s) to the services on which you found them.
Time to pat yourself on the back. You just stopped a con artist and informed the right people to have a fake trading website taken down and maybe even some people arrested. Well done!
As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. If you have any questions or comments, then please let me know in the form down below.
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