I've never been pulled into a freemint scam, but I have been nabbed by a scammer before with crypto... ever heard of bitconnect? Yeah...that one...I was a couple months into it when exactly like you said...the site is "down" and then when it comes up..."you will get X coin instead of what you had invested..." Now, a few years later, I'm handing over my info to the FBI to hopefully get some of it back as they sell the bitcoin used to fund the scammers... So, yeah...they got me.

I'm in the group of, "If it sounds too good to be true, do a little more research because it's possible..." Even Hive made me wonder for a while if it was a scam...but I know people who have started with nothing, posted content, earned coinage, then sold it off, never putting any of their own funds into it and have been doing well. I figured I could let my burnt bridge float down the river to find the honeycomb, so to speak...

Great write up-thanks for sharing and pointing out the steps. It makes it easier each time you see the steps broken down to recognize it while it's happening...