I recently researched the difficulties associated with investing in cryptocurrencies and became aware of the risks posed by various coins based on the length of their blockchains. 

According to what was covered in that article, the requirement to control 51 percent of a currency’s ledger record means that accessing the necessary nodes and keeping up with updates becomes increasingly difficult as a network grows larger and more efficient. 

But what about personal holdings like software-based wallets or online accounts? My conclusion (remember, I’m a newbie) is that the coins themselves are difficult to hack, but what about individual holdings? 

That is the true danger of the digital age

In this article, I’ll go over the most common threats to your digital wallet that you should be aware of. This adds nothing new. Access to the location where records are stored, as with many other digital objects, can be sufficient to circumvent our specific security measures, which are frequently insufficient. For the most part, cryptocurrencies are just another form of currency. 

If someone hacks into your online bank account and obtains your login information and password, they will have complete access to your funds and will be able to steal them all with a few keystrokes. These methods are similar to those used to hack remote cryptocurrency exchange accounts or local cryptocurrency wallets (which are stored on a device). 

Thieves have several options for gaining access to your funds, including stealing your identification or password or convincing you to send the funds yourself. If you are interested in any aspect of deception, you will be very familiar with these strategies. 

Bandits operating online are attracted by the fact that most digital currencies are unregulated, giving them a sense of impunity in comparison to other types of theft. This creates a Wild West atmosphere, which is prevalent in the cryptocurrency market. 

As a result of the diversity of thought that characterizes this new generation of con artists, methods of stealing your money can be either astoundingly sophisticated or beautifully simple. 

How They Locate You 

Con artists must find victims with valuables worth taking, but they must also know what a potential target wants before they can pull off most cons. Knowing what a potential target wants is the foundation for most cons. 

Online profiling can produce a catalog of potential cryptocurrency investors simply by scouring online forums, video comments, and social media groups, as well as gathering any data that may be available from these numerous sources. 

Scammers can use people’s email addresses, phone numbers, and real names to attack them in a variety of ways. As a result, developing a secondary persona that is difficult to connect to your own may be a useful method for safeguarding your true identity. 

When it comes to not exposing yourself as a target for thieves, using an alter-ego when publicly discussing financial matters may not be such a bad idea. Although I dislike anonymous online interaction because it fosters negative discussions, insults, lies, and other bad behavior, there are times when it can be useful. 

That is entirely up to you, but I do ask that you make responsible decisions

A significant factor is that there are a large number of new investors who are vulnerable to a wide range of forms of attack, and crypto appears to attract a specific type of investor who is prone to being overconfident in the face of opponents who are significantly more technically savvy. 

Comparable to a novice chess player who believes they can compete on an equal footing with a grandmaster even though they will almost certainly lose. A more intelligent novice, on the other hand, may have the self-awareness to recognize when they are competing against a more experienced opponent and be willing to accept defeat. 

This is nothing new, and poker players all over the world have learned the harsh lessons of arrogance only to take full advantage of the situation later in their playing careers when the tables are turned. 

What They Do To You

These are just a few examples of how you might fall victim to a con; a comprehensive list or description of the strategies could easily fill an entire book. You should be aware at all times because new variations emerge regularly. 

You should be familiar with all of these strategies from other types of cons, but that won’t help you much if you don’t exercise caution when trading online and recognize that you may be outplayed and outgunned if you fall into a carefully concealed trap. 

1. Aspirants 

Traditional methods, such as phishing, which involves tricking people via email or other forms of online communication into visiting fraudulent websites and/or installing malware on their computers, remain effective. 

No matter how hard we try to avoid making mistakes, there will always be a link that we shouldn’t have clicked on or a website that we shouldn’t have opened. 

While billions of emails may be sent in the hope that a few will land in a victim’s inbox just after they’ve spoken with the bank or company being imitated, crypto scams can make excellent use of data trawled from the previously mentioned sources, and they can almost be tailored to individual recipients. Phishing is a type of social engineering, which is also a type of fraud. 

Finding people who subscribe to specific websites, channels, or personalities and then impersonating those subscribers to appear to be conversing with someone the target already knows and trusts can be an effective strategy. 

Recently, the online identities of several well-known celebrities were stolen and used to promote a bitcoin giveaway. According to the terms of the promotion, any amount of cryptocurrency given to the celebrities would be promptly returned to the sender, along with a 100% bonus. 

Naturally, this appears to be a scam, but the fact that it came from verified sources (allegedly) gave it enough credibility, and the innate trust that people have in these well-known accounts led many people to transfer money in error. 

2. Infestation Possibilities 

Do not believe that shady emails or texts are the only ways for criminals to get around your security measures, because malware can come from a variety of sources, and the temptation to search for and steal digital currency has recently increased. 

It is only a matter of time before one of the two most popular operating systems has a catastrophic event baked into its code, which may activate before the flaw can be identified. 

Another very serious risk comes from the computer’s hardware; anything you plug into your computer could be hiding some other threat. 

A company that sells USB flash drives allegedly sent tens of thousands of sticks to corporate customers, each of which contained a virus looking for the right conditions to commit a digital heist. This information was recently brought to my attention. 

It is easy to become suspicious, but some concern is warranted given that undesirable parasites can infest products and services that appear to be legitimate. 

3. Internet imposters 

It should come as no surprise that the use of sham websites to facilitate various types of cryptocurrency theft has grown in popularity. These websites may exist for hours, days, or months before being recycled into a new form with a similar name. 

People who do not carefully verify such things and still click through from emails are easy prey for fake websites, which may be exact clones of well-known legitimate sites but with a slightly different URL to fool them. 

People who are the victims of social engineering are frequently directed to these fraudulent websites, where they are encouraged to create accounts or provide information that may be useful elsewhere. 

This type of attack involves (ostensibly) engaging in human-to-human conversation to gain people’s trust and then dumping them into disclosing critical information or taking steps that comprise their online security. 

If you’re not sure what you’re doing or have any reason to be concerned, my advice is to stick to well-known exchange sites and always double-check the URL you’re using. You can investigate these sites for yourself using services such as Crunchbase, but if you don’t know what you’re doing or have any reason to be concerned, my advice is to stick with well-known exchange sites.