Episode 3: Scams 101

Crypto Jerônimo's Musings: On Blockchain, Smart Contracts and Cryptocurrencies

In this episode, intended to be a part of mini-series, we’re going to be reviewing some of the most common crypto-related scams, such as phishing, pumps-and-dumps and exit scams.

Summary

Scams and confidence tricks rely almost entirely on limitations and “blindspots” in human cognition and psychology, and those are exploited by malicious individuals or groups. That’s why I’ve decided to spend a significant portion of this episode on discussion these key aspects, because introspection, I believe, can be one of the most effective tools to equip oneself with, nowadays.

All security-related scenarios and contexts and characterized by asymmetry, where the attacking side usually needs to find just one single hole in the system in order to declare success, whereas the defending side needs to be able to cover the entire constellation of intersection points, which directly translate to attack vectors.

As saddened and disheartened all fair players can be at times, due to the ongoing high frequency of nefarious activities, we all need to take serious steps towards educating the wider crypto audience in any suitable opportunity.

That’s why I’ve opted to reshuffle my episode recording order a bit, and give priority to today’s topic.

In general, there’s really not that much to say in the form of side notes on 101-level scams. The episode content pretty much covers most important aspects I wanted to bring to your attention, in the context of the associated topics.

Scam Repository

In addition to the audio content and accompanying notes, I’ve decided to create a section on my website, dedicated to keeping track of important scams to look out for, and having a sort of compilation in a single place, so that they can be referenced easily.

I invite you all to contribute with ideas and suggestions for keeping the repository as up-to-date and useful as possible. This can be done via the usual communication channels, namely our email or Discord server.

Episode Notes

• Advance-fee scam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam
• Shell game with three cups and a small ball: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_game
• “John McAfee says his Twitter account was hacked”: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42502770
• Tweets by the hijackers of John McAfee’s account: https://cointelegraph.com/news/mcafee-warns-of-advanced-hacking-after-twitter-account-hijacking
• Summary of the phishing and attempted stealing incident on Binance: https://support.binance.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001547431
• Binance’s $250k hacker bounty: https://medium.com/binanceexchange/binance-hacker-bounty-58845d860afd
• Verge’s appeal for donations from its users: https://twitter.com/vergecurrency/status/976929958185652227/photo/1
• Verge’s donation address, as referenced on one of their blockchain explorers: https://verge-blockchain.info/address/DLv25ww5CipJngsKMYemBTBWH14CUpucxX
• “Is Suppoman a scammer?” - a YouTuber’s review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_LAN0Bt-n4
• Crypto Jerônimo’s Musings’ Scam Repository: https://crypto-jeronimo.github.io/scams
• Latest details on the BitGrail “hack”: https://cointelegraph.com/news/strange-twists-and-turns-of-nano-and-bitgrail-since-the-150-mln-hack
• Nano’s official statement, presenting their side of the story: https://medium.com/@nanocurrency/official-statement-regrading-bitgrail-insolvency-ed4422bf274b
• The lame “Over and Out” PR gimmick by an obscure Germany-based ICO: https://cointelegraph.com/news/in-apparent-exit-scam-ceo-of-german-startup-is-over-and-out-after-50-mln-ico