Yesterday someone tried to scam me on Hive.blog so I thought I'd write an article with a few suggestions on how to prevent being scammed.
Scamming has a very long history dating all the way back to the biblical story of Adam, Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
Whether the story is true or not isn't the point.
The point is that people were deceived into taking an action that led to them later being at a disadvantage.
That's the essence of scams.
You are given information, spoken or written, you act on it and later find out you are now at a disadvantage somehow, or in simpler terms, you've been scammed.
For anyone who has not been scammed, you are either very lucky or you are very diligent in researching what is put in front of you.
Scamming has some extremely far reaching consequences for the victims.
People have lost their money, their homes and other assets, pensions, theirs and their childrens savings, and most unfortunately some victims have given up on life, and ended everything.
Year | Scam/Fraudster | Description | Key Figures |
|---|---|---|---|
1849 | Confidence Man (William Thompson) | A charismatic swindler who built trust with strangers to convince them to hand over money or valuables, marking the first recorded use of the term "Confidence Man." | No specific amounts; multiple victims in New York. |
1859 | Suicide Attempt Scam (A.V. Lamartine) | A con artist faked suicide attempts in hotels to elicit sympathy, medical aid, and financial help from strangers before fleeing. | Received $25 in Dayton and $40 in Sandusky, plus free railroad passes; operated across Midwest towns. |
1881 | Disappearing Act | Two women (often with a male accomplice) rented boarding house rooms, went on shopping sprees for valuables like laces, had goods delivered, then vanished with the items while distracting the messenger. | No specific amounts; targeted merchants in various towns. |
1888 | Man of the Cloth (Fake Priest) | A man posed as a priest, stayed at a church residence, selected diamonds as a "gift" for a cardinal, and escaped with them through a back exit. | No specific amounts; incident in Washington, D.C. |
1889 | Horse Trading Scam | Two con men approached farmers separately, offering to buy horses with partial payments and promises to return, tricking the farmer into paying extra to "secure" a better deal. | Profited $10 per scam; targeted rural farmers in Kansas. |
1899+ | Selling the Brooklyn Bridge (e.g., George C. Parker) | Con artists repeatedly "sold" ownership of the Brooklyn Bridge to gullible buyers, claiming rights to toll collection. | Sold for $200 in one 1899 case; multiple arrests over decades. |
1920 | Charles Ponzi Scheme | Promised high returns on international postal coupons but paid early investors with new investors' money while pocketing most funds. | $15 million defrauded over 18 months; thousands of victims. |
1925 | Alves dos Reis (Portuguese Bank Note Crisis) | Forged documents to authorize printing of official banknotes, flooding the economy with counterfeit currency. | 100 million escudos (about $150 million in today's value). |
1936 | Baker Estate Con | Fraudsters claimed to represent an unclaimed estate of Jacob Baker, collecting fees from people named Baker to "stake claims." | $3 million from 3,000 victims. |
1938 | McKesson and Robbins Scandal (Philip Musica) | Inflated company assets through fake partner firms and skimmed profits using a pharmaceutical front. | Hundreds of millions in inflated assets (in today's dollars); millions skimmed. |
1963 | Tino De Angelis (Salad Oil Scandal) | Faked inventories of vegetable oil to secure loans, leading to massive losses when exposed. | Over $180 million in losses ($1.89 billion today) to 51 corporations. |
1960s-1970s | Equity Funding Insurance Scam | Sold fake life insurance policies tied to mutual funds, faked deaths for claims, and used phony policies to pay real premiums. | 60,000 fake policies created. |
1970s | The Dale Car Scam (Geraldine Elizabeth Carmichael) | Promoted a nonexistent three-wheeled car claiming 70 mpg efficiency during the fuel crisis. | $30 million in investments; $3 million in advance sales. |
1980s | Charles Keating (Savings and Loan Scandal) | Looted a federally backed bank with junk bonds and political influence to cover fraud. | $3.4 billion cost to taxpayers. |
1990s | Jordan Belfort (Wolf of Wall Street) | Ran a pump-and-dump penny stock scheme, inflating prices before selling off shares. | Over $200 million defrauded. |
2001 | Enron Scandal (Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling) | Inflated profits, hid debt through accounting tricks, and misled investors and regulators. | $74 billion in shareholder losses; $63.4 billion bankruptcy ($115.3 billion today). |
2002 | WorldCom Scandal (Bernard Ebbers) | Inflated assets by misclassifying expenses as investments to fake higher profits. | $11 billion in overstated assets ($19.7 billion today). |
2008 | Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme | Ran a massive investment fraud paying returns to early investors with new clients' funds. | $65 billion total scheme; $19 billion in direct losses. |
2017 | Fyre Festival (Billy McFarland) | Promoted a luxury music festival with false advertising, leaving attendees stranded with inadequate facilities. | Thousands of victims; over $27 million in total fraud across schemes. |
What I found interesting was that it did not show any crypto related scams.
So I asked Grok to create the following table showing crypto scams.
No doubt the following table will not show everything, why?
Because most scams go unreported because of 2 main reasons.
The person who has been scammed is embarrassed.
The victim feels that nothing will be done about it.
Here are the crypto scams that Grok could find since 2017.
Again for the reasons given previously, I'm 99.999% sure this list is incomplete.
For example it doesn't include scams like Hyperverse, DAOversal, CryptoFamily (renamed to OurFamily), CashFX (CFX), or NovaTech FX.
Year(s) Active | Scam Name/Type | Description | Estimated Value Defrauded |
|---|---|---|---|
2014-2017 | OneCoin | Global MLM Ponzi posing as a cryptocurrency with no real blockchain; founder disappeared in 2017, ending operations. | $4.4 billion (total; ~$1-1.5 billion in 2017 as it peaked and unraveled) |
2016-2018 | BitConnect | A Ponzi-style lending platform promising high daily returns via a trading bot; peaked in 2017 during the bull run before collapsing in early 2018. | $2.5 billion (total; ~$1.5 billion attributed to 2017 activity) |
2017 | Mining Max | South Korean Ponzi scheme faking crypto mining operations to attract investments. | $250 million |
2017 | Savedroid | German ICO exit scam after raising funds for an alleged AI savings app. | $50 million |
2017 | ACChain | Chinese ICO fraud promising asset digitization on blockchain; founders absconded. | $80 million |
2017 | Centra Tech | ICO scam with fake endorsements (e.g., celebrities) for a crypto debit card. | $32 million |
2017 | PlexCoin | ICO promising massive returns; halted by regulators after fundraising. | $15 million |
2017 | Confido | ICO exit scam for a supposed smart contract payment app. | $375,000 |
2017-2018 | Pincoin | Vietnamese ICO scam promising high returns on token investments; exit scam after raising funds. | $660 million |
2017-2018 | AriseBank | U.S.-based ICO fraud claiming to build a decentralized bank; shut down by regulators. | $600 million |
2018-2020 | WoToken | Clone of PlusToken Ponzi targeted users via multilevel marketing; roped in 715,000 users before abrupt end. | $1 billion |
2019 | PlusToken | High-yield wallet promised 30% returns by pooling funds to pay earlier investors; operators disappeared with over 180,000 BTC and 6 million ETH. | $2+ billion |
2019 | QuadrigaCX | Canadian exchange fraud where founder faked death to cover misuse of funds; led to bankruptcy. | ~$190 million |
2020 | Mirror Trading International | Claimed AI-powered bot generated guaranteed returns; gathered over 23,000 BTC before collapsing. | ~$1.2 billion |
2021 | Thodex | Turkish exchange halted withdrawals; CEO vanished to Albania. | $2+ billion |
2021 | Africrypt | Founders claimed hack, then fled; evidence showed funds funneled through coin mixers. | $3.6 billion (contested) |
2022 | FTX Collapse | Leading exchange misused customer funds and hid liabilities tied to sister firm Alameda Research; founder convicted. | $8–10 billion |
2025 | Malone Lam Scam | Social engineering scam where three individuals stole from a Genesis creditor. | $230 million |
Total Estimated from Major Scams Since 2017: ~$30+ billion
Hopefully, the following information will give some hope and protection to some people.
The internet is still a bit like the historically famous wild west.
What does that mean?
Many historical accounts suggest that while the Western part of America was developing, there was a lot of lawlessness.
Until laws were properly instituted and enforceable.... things were "wild".
The Internet has developed in much the same way.
As we are now seeing, laws are now being developed and enforced that do offer some protection against bad things happening to us online.
Yes, a lot of those laws can be counterproductive, but some do offer us some protection or justice.
I'm sure we'd all agree that jailing people who groom children online, is a good example of that.
We'd also probably agree that targeting the elderly and other vulnerable groups for fraud, should be punished.
Humour aside, the above image depicts what happens everyday to someone, somewhere.
The 'Technical Support' scam is just one of a very long list of scams being operated today.
At Hive (HAiV3.com) one of our lessons is actually dedicated to this topic.
Scammers basically use one of several Psychological 'Hooks' to reel in their prey.
The lure of money (the 'click this link to earn money' type. Locks into our needs or greed)
False Fears / Non-existent Imminent Danger. (the type seen in the previous image. Triggers our fight / flight response)
You've Won A Prize 🍾🎉🥂 (this type can instantly set off a dopamine rush, making us forget our own safety).
That is not an exhaustive list.
If you can think of any more 'Psychological Hooks' used by scammers, please write them in the comments below.
Dopamine rushes can harm safety by boosting risk-taking and weakening impulse control, making people chase thrills like speeding or gambling while ignoring dangers. They fuel addictions, creating compulsion loops that lead to unsafe habits, such as distracted driving from phone use or substance abuse. Dopamine may distort judgments, causing overestimation of abilities and underestimation of hazards, increasing injury risks in sports or work. In vulnerable groups like teens or those with ADHD, it heightens impulsivity, leading to accidents or poor choices. Overall, these surges prioritize quick rewards over careful decisions, endangering lives.
SLOW DOWN!!!
The Internet isn't going anywhere. It will still be here tomorrow.
While it's true that you can miss opportunities, guess what?
Opportunities usually come back around in the same, another or better form.
The important thing here is to SLOW DOWN, then FULLY UNDERSTAND what it is you are about to click on, or who you about to start interacting with.
How?
Check the sender of the email or the link.
See that above image?
Because...
that email is sitting in my spam folder
I don't recognize the address (green arrow)
It doesn't mention me by name
WTF are they talking about???? (It's meaningless to me)
...... it's probably spam and a scam.
But what if that address looked real in some way, or it did mention me by name or it was personalized in some other way...?
How could I check further?
In some mail provider system there is a feature to 'View raw message'.
This let's you see the actual data structure of your email.
Using that information you can see the real sender.
This email tells an interesting story.
Not the crap info that the scammer sent, but the origins of the email.
Towards the bottom of the email headers are the originating domain ump.ac.za , and Gmail address that the scammer sent the email from.
We now have 3 pieces of information we can pass on to the authorities or organizations who could take some type of action.
ump.co.za is actually The University of Mpumalanga in South Africa.
We can inform them of what's happened.
Gmail.
They will close the senders Gmail account.
The time stamp.
That can be used with video surveillance systems like CCTV to identify an individual in more serious scamming cases.
DON'T CLICK LINKS IN EMAILS, DMs OR POSTS, even if it's coming from a trusted source!!!
That doesn't make any sense.
Why can't you trust that email from your Mum, Dad, Wife or your Husband, Son, Daughter, etc.,?
Because maybe it wasn't them who sent it.
Your family member or friends account might have been hacked and the scammer could now be using the hacked account to send messages pretending to be the person you know.
If you ever receive anything even a little out of the ordinary, speak to the person, and make sure that they intended to send that message and ask them what the link is.
Another scenario....
Every year around Christmas I get several emails, DM's etc., saying "Happy Christmas, here is your gift" or "Happy Easter, open your Easter egg".
Now think.... these messages are from family members and friends.
So I should trust the message, right?
Absolutely NOT!!! 😄
That's doesn't mean I cannot trust my family and friends, it's to do with forwarding.
Those messages are usually forwarded 1000s of times and the people doing the forwarding are not always I.T. security experts!
Meaning, they usually have no idea what it is they are truly sending.
The problem isn't the message itself, they are generally well meaning messages.
The problem is the links contained in those messages.
They can do 1 or several things.
Give a hacker back-door access to your computer, tablet or phone.
Download a virus or other types of malware onto your device.
Lead you to a scamming website.
a. Install Anti-Virus Software on all of your devices.
b. Install Internet Security software on your devices.
Those 2 bits of software will prevent you from visiting harmful links, or protect you against downloads from harmful links.
Check links before visiting them.
How?
If you hover over any link in most browsers, it will show you the link in the bottom corner, and you can check if it's a legitimate link
On your smart phone, carefully holding down on a link will reveal the links destination.
If you are not sure about the destination, 'copy link destination' then maybe google it or put it into A.i. for further information.
I was going to write more, maybe I will later, but for now I'm going to change course slightly and ask you all to:
Post a reply with your suggestions of how people can protect themselves from being scammed.
Thanks for reading.
Have a great day / night 🙂
Clifford
Hive (HAiV3.com) Founder
P.s. If you want more great advice on web3, cryptocurrencies or A.i. visit our website.
#ecency #leofinance #hiveghana #obd #ladiesofhive #crypto #web3
