6 Ways to Avoid Crypto Scams

Every year, when Thanksgiving dinner rolls around, many of us have to perform various feats to make it through the meal without incident. Whether it's guiding the conversation away from politics, shutting down the airing of grievances, or nodding your way through someone's long-winded description of a get-rich-quick scheme, remaining polite and beloved by your loved ones is the ultimate goal. Happily, this year my family and I saw very little drama at our dinner table, aside from a confused relative who thought the PC in PCMag was for "politically correct."

What I fielded this Thanksgiving was a fair number of questions about cryptocurrency.
"What is it?"
"Should I invest right now?"
"What is it again?"

Aside from explaining what digital currencies are, showing my family members how to buy Bitcoin, and teaching them how to manage their cryptocurrency, I also found myself cautioning everyone about crypto scams. As with any hot new thing, some people want to make a buck from it by any means necessary. PCMag writer John Bogna goes into detail, noting that with just a few clicks, you can lose your life savings to a cartoon pup or a fraudulent coin tied to the latest popular streaming TV show(Opens in a new window). 

Before you decide to put your money into a cryptocurrency, remember that those markets are volatile, and once your money is gone, it's gone. The protections in place for fiat currencies don't exist for cryptocurrencies.

1. Do Your Research

It can be hard to ignore advice from billionaires and influencers online, but you should do your own research before investing when it comes to your money. Start with PCMag’s guide to buying, selling, and managing Bitcoin. Don't take any information online at face value. If an investment sounds too good to be true, it's probably a scam.

2. Don't Trust Everyone

Treat anyone who contacts you directly to ask for payments in cryptocurrency or offers you an investment opportunity regarding crypto with extreme caution. Don't trust emails even if they appear to be from government officials, public figures—anyone who asks you to pay for anything using cryptocurrency.

3. Secure Your Crypto Wallet

You probably have stories about people who lost at least a few Bitcoins due to losing control of their virtual wallets. If you do own cryptocurrencies, never share your private key or seed phrase with anyone. Instead, we recommend storing that information somewhere offline.

4. Use Multi-Factor Authentication

Use multi-factor authentication on your crypto wallet to try to keep the bad guys out. It's not a sure-fire solution, as we learned after the Coinbase hack, but it gives you a fighting chance against many attackers.

5. Check That URL

Keep an eye on the URL for the websites you visit related to crypto. Many phishing scammers copy the URL of legitimate sites and swap out letters or numbers. You also want to ensure the site is secure, so look for the little lock symbol next to the URL. 

Remember to turn on your antivirus software. The best AV we've tested looks out for phishing scams on your behalf and also blocks malicious URLs.

6. Reject Fee Offers

You may see crypto offers that require an up-front fee. Reject them all, and especially avoid "offers" involving a fee to be paid in cryptocurrency. Many of the investment opportunities in the crypto realm are scams. Before investing anything, you need to check the company's website to find out how they protect their customers and look for reviews from other investors.

Recommended by Our Editors

How to Avoid Cryptocurrency Scams

Bitcoin for Beginners: Simple Tips to Get Started With Crypto

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Keep Your Security Keys Safe

Changing from an online life protected by passwords to one protected by a security key can feel a little less secure. What happens if you lose your key? What if someone steals the key?

As PCMag senior security analyst Max Eddy writes, these are legitimate concerns about security keys. Most attackers online do not have the means to track down an individual and steal their security key. It's not impossible, though, which is why you should also store strong passwords stored in a password manager. That way, even if a thief gets your key, they can't get your passwords, and vice versa.

You could also just lose the security key, which is far more likely. Losing your security key is not the end of the world. Many services that support security keys require you to enroll multiple multi-factor authenticators, so you already have a secure backup in place. If that doesn't help, find a device you are still logged into and unenroll the key, or add a new multi-factor authentication option.

What Else is Happening in the Security World This Week?

• Take PCMag's annual Security Software and Antivirus survey(Opens in a new window) and enter to win a $100 Amazon gift card.

• Following criticism over how countries use their technology, Israeli companies will now be limited to selling surveillance and hacking tools to 37 countries.

• Italy fines Apple and Google over consumer data usage. The companies both have to pay €10 million for their "aggressive" data collection.

• A UK bill could ban default passwords on many devices. The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill will also require companies to say how long their products will receive security updates and provide contact information to researchers.

• The US added eight Chinese quantum computing organizations to the Entity List. American companies cannot export products to members of the Entity List without the US government's explicit permission.