The nascent cryptocurrency industry is constantly a target for online scams. You must understand that cryptocurrency transactions and security breaches are very different than those in the normal banking industry. Cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible, if you send Bitcoin to someone there is no way to undo the transaction. The same is true in the case of attackers stealing your funds. Unfortunately, there is no way to recover any lost funds. Keep this in mind when dealing with cryptocurrency transactions and security.
Follow these security tips to stay safe from online scams:
- Always keep your operating system (OS) up to date. Hackers can exploit unpatched OS vulnerabilities.
- Do not open emails from strangers. If you can, try to do it on a computer where you don’t deal with finances, if you have that option available.
- Do not open any attachments from unknown senders. Attachment files can be infected with malware or malicious scripts that execute after opening the file. If necessary try to open files online or in a secure environment (using antivirus software).
- Always carefully check the email domain. Scammers usually use very similar domain names like NiceHesh or NlceHash to fool the user. This type of attack is called phishing.
- Avoid any websites or services promising unusually high returns or “send-return” schemes. This is a very popular scam on Twitter where scammers promise to send you ETH or BTC if you send them your crypto coins first. Don’t be stupid, this is not real!
- Report any phishing sites or emails that pretend to be NiceHash. Click here to learn how to report phishing attacks. Click here to learn which NiceHash emails you can trust.
- Scammers usually pretend to be NiceHash support or even open social media pages and pretend to offer support for the NiceHash service. Click here to learn which NiceHash social media sites you can trust.