While CoinSpot does not provide financial or investment advice, we do provide extensive customer service and care to help keep your cryptocurrency holdings and your CoinSpot account as safe and secure as possible. This article will provide you with important information and advice, as well as the warning signs to look out for when transacting with your cryptocurrency.
What is in this article?
- Romance Scams
- Investment Scams
- Remote Access Scams
- Recovery or Reclaim Scams
- Job Scams
- Facebook Scams
- Instagram Scams
It is always important to remember the following
- Blockchain and Cryptocurrency by nature are decentralised, meaning they are not governed or controlled by a central body. This makes completed transactions irreversible as there is no centralised control of the Blockchain or recourse to recall your transaction.
- Transferring your assets via the Blockchain transfers control of your assets to the receiving wallet address. If you do not hold the private keys to the wallet address that you are transferring your assets to, it is imperative to ensure that you are aware of how your assets will be managed by the receiver as well as who will control access to your coins/tokens.
You should always perform your own due diligence before sending assets to another individual, an investment opportunity, or organisation
Due diligence is the action, investigation or care you need to take, in order to keep yourself and your funds safe. You can conduct your own due diligence by ensuring that you have fully investigated and evaluated the risks associated with any individual, investment opportunity, or organisation you are considering sending your assets to.
The Australian Government via the ACCC’s ScamWatch and The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) also provide insightful advice to all Australians on how to protect themselves online. We recommend that you familiarise yourself with their warnings and advice.
- ScamWatch - Protect yourself from scams
- ACSC - Protecting your family
- ACSC - Personal Security Guides
- ACSC - Protect yourself
Where to Report Scams?
If you believe you have been the victim of a scam or fraudulent activity by a third party, there are places you can lodge a complaint. We strongly recommend that you report this activity to the relevant authorities for further investigation as they may be able to provide potential recourse for the return of your funds.
Scamwatch is a website run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
ReportCyber is the Australian Government’s online cybercrime reporting tool for Australian individuals, businesses and government.
Common Scam Examples
Romance Scams
Romance scams often take place through online dating apps and websites. Scammers may take advantage of people looking for romantic partners online.
To protect yourself, please consider the following points when sending your funds from your CoinSpot account.
- Have you been asked or coached to open a CoinSpot account?
- Have you downloaded remote access onto your devices, Anydesk or Team Viewer.
- Is the other person currently in Australia or overseas.
- Any requests for emergency funds to be sent via Bitcoin (BTC) rather than AUD.
- Any request to deposit small amounts of funds into your Australian bank account to purchase cryptocurrency.
Further information and advice on Investment scams and the warning signs can also be found below.
Investment Scams
Investment scams often begin with an unsolicited message or phone call from an International phone number. To protect yourself, please consider the following when sending your funds from your CoinSpot account as these points may indicate the offer is not legitimate.
- Promises of high returns for minimal initial investment.
- Requests for funds to pay tax outside Australia.
- Investing with any company located outside Australia or without an Australian Financial Services Licence.
- Pressuring or harassing phone calls from international numbers or account managers.
- Allowing small increments to be withdrawn to incentivise larger investments.
Further information and advice on Investment scams and the warning signs can also be found below.
Remote Access Scams
Remote Access scams often begin with an unsolicited message or phone call that appears to be from a legitimate company such as your phone or internet service provider. To protect yourself, please consider the following when sending your funds from your CoinSpot account as these points may indicate the offer is not legitimate.
- Requests to create a CoinSpot account on your behalf.
- Requests to download remote access programs.
- Any requests to access your personal information such as copies of your licence or passport.
- You have been provided with scripted information and directions to follow.
Further information and advice on Remote Access Scams and the warning signs can also be found below.
Recovery or Reclaim Scams
Recovery scams often occur after falling victim to an investment scam.
The fraudsters create websites posing as fraud recovery investigators. The website is used to solicit fraud complaints, but also includes reassuring customer testimonials, A-plus ratings, and five-star reviews.
Cryptocurrency transactions are decentralised, tracing transfers is impossible and there is no centralised control of the blockchain. The moment a cryptocurrency transaction has been confirmed on the blockchain, you have transferred ownership and control of your asset to the relevant third party.
To protect yourself, please consider the following as these points may indicate the offer is not legitimate.
- Promises of recovering funds invested with an overseas company.
- Requiring any recovery fees to be paid upfront.
- Fees to cover cost of returning the funds.
- Have you been provided with a templated ADR letter?
- Is the recovery company registered or located in Australia?
Job Scams
These scams typically involve bad actors / imposters pretending to be recruiters or employers, offering high-paying jobs with no experience required.
We are currently aware of scammers impersonating CoinSpot employees on LinkedIn, we can confirm this is a scam and we will never publicly advertise employment opportunities.
To protect yourself, please consider the following as these points may indicate the offer is not legitimate.
- Check the employers account creation date.
- Requests for personal information and identity documents.
- Requests for up front payment in crypto.
- Grammatical errors may be found throughout the application process.
- Verify the details of the job to determine the legitimacy of employment opportunities.
Further information and advice on Jobs & Employment scams and the warning signs can also be found below.
Facebook Scams
These posts can be shared in Crypto Facebook groups, posted to your wall or advertised by a page impersonating CoinSpot. Our Social media team will always report these pages directly to Facebook and we ask that our members please do the same. For detailed information on other Common Social Media Scams, please have a read of our Know your Social Media Scams article.
Things to look out for:
- The official CoinSpot Facebook page has the blue verification tick next to our name.
- The fake post shown in the example below does not have the Blue Verification Tick
, so immediately you can tell that this is not our official CoinSpot Facebook page.
- The fake post directs you to sign in via the link provided. This is NEVER advised as this is likely a phishing link or fake copy of our platform.
- This fake post/page has shared a Facebook profile photo. CoinSpot would never share the personal details of any of our members.
Example of a fake Facebook post
Instagram Scams
Oftentimes you may receive unsolicited direct messages from scammers impersonating as wealth managers, financial advisors, FX/Forex investors, brokers or crypto miners promoting guaranteed returns by sending them small amounts of cryptocurrency. These individuals will try to gain your trust through social engineering and will try to persuade or harass you to partake in the scam. Our Social media team will always report these accounts directly to Instagram and we ask that our members please do the same.
CoinSpot will never advise users to send funds to an external wallet address or advise users to log in to their account through a suspicious link.
For detailed information on other Common Social Media Scams, please have a read of our Know your Social Media Scams article.
Things to look out for:
- Accounts calling themselves FX/Forex Trader, Binary Options Trader, Entrepreneur, Crypto Miner, Account Managers, mentors and coaches.
- Advising you that they will be coaching or trading on your behalf.
- Promising high returns for minimal initial investment.
- Fake influencers and celebrities with lavish lifestyle posts of exotic sports cars, luxury items and expensive holidays. Photos are often stolen from other legitimate Instagram accounts.
- Fake testimonies from other Instagram accounts or through their Instagram Highlights to reinforce legitimacy. These testimonies will consist of fake profits, edited screenshots to show high returns and balance holdings.
- High Instagram followings, with minimal follower engagement, as these are often purchased or bots.
Examples of an Instagram Scam
Further information and advice on Social media scams and the warning signs can also be found below.
Still unsure or need more help?
Please submit your request via Zendesk - https://coinspot.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
or start a conversation with us via Live Chat and our team will provide full instructions and advice.
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.