With the pervasiveness of the Internet, new forms of digital investment opportunities such as cryptocurrency are swiftly gaining popularity with investors looking to try their luck in the global market. However, like any other investments, crypto too, has its fair share of frauds.

With the nature of crypto being rooted in its intangibility and international reach, it’s all the more important to take extra precautions to avoid digital investment scams.

What is cryptocurrency?

Unlike conventional currencies, crytocurrencies exist only in digital form on the Internet. There are no banks claiming ownership or “overlooking” the currency networks because crypto was created to enable peer-to-peer trade without central authorities controlling the process. This in turn makes the currency uniquely decentralised (and volatile).

Bitcoin is one of the example of cryptocurrency while another common type is known as Ethereum.

There are different types of cryptocurrency scam and we will highlight three in this article.

Bitcoin Phishing
According to Forbes, some digital investment scammers will first develop a phishing scam website that provides search engine or private database services. After the victims have joined, their e-wallets are compromised, granting scammers access to use the victim’s currency without the victim’s knowledge.

Bitcoin-Flipping
Other scammers operate through bitcoin-flipping scams. In this scam, victims receive offers to help them exchange bitcoin for money or double their investments. Needless to say, their bitcoin ends up getting stolen instead.

Binary Options
Scammers (or “fraudsters” in the case of unreliable Binary Option brokers) often promise outrageous investments with minimum risks and high returns to lure victims. Of course, the deals are often saddled with time and availability limits, often because of “how popular the investment is” — or so the scammers will say to get you hooked. When you wish to withdraw your “profits”, these brokers will make it impossible for you to do so. And this is just the tip of the iceberg!             

Knowledge is power. Take time to conduct your research and find out the risks involved in such digital investments before investing. Keep in mind that cryptocurrencies are NOT regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). They are not legal tender or secure and there are no regulatory safeguards for such cryptocurrency investments.This means that if you lose money in such investments, you are losing money for good. Besides the lack of legislative protection, schemes such as these come with many risks and among the many are:

• Foreign and online operators.

As most of these agencies offering such schemes are based overseas, it’s difficult to trace and verify their authenticity. If the scheme fails, you will lose all your investments

•  No proven track records.

Establishing the credibility of a token seller is a huge challenge. In recent months, cases of scammers putting up fake advertisements featuring well-known personalities in Singapore, purportedly endorsing cryptocurrency investments and earning massive profits from these schemes have surfaced. These advertisements were made to mislead people into thinking that such investments are safe, easy to manage and highly lucrative.The MoneySense website, a national financial education programme that started in 2003, covers the risks of cryptocurrency extensively and is well worth a visit.

Read more: What is bitcoin?

Read more: What is binary option?

Read more: 4 Common Cryptocurrency and how to avoid them

Watch: Binary Options Scam (Part 1)

Watch: Binary Options Scam (Part 2)

Binary Option Scam: https://www.straitstimes.com/business/investors-lose-over-24m-to-binary-option-scams

Check the Financial Institutions Directory here for people or companies regulated by MAS.

Check the Investor Alert List here for unregulated persons (local and overseas) who may have been wrongly perceived as being licensed or authorised by MAS.

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