Why do I think that this comparison of scammers to cockroaches is accurate?
- Well, it’s known and proven fact that cockroaches are constantly evolving. If you buy a 5 years old bug spray to use it against them right now it would most likely be useless. Why? They are adapting, they are constantly improving their defensive abilities base on all the sprays and other things that we are using against them.
- Now think about scammers. They are constantly trying new tricks. Yes, People in crypto are getting more educated, but guess what, scammers are getting smarter and dirtier as well. They are not doing the basic scams now since fewer people are falling for it. THEY ARE EVOLVING!
What forced me to write this article?
- In this article, I will describe one of the more sophisticated scams that are out there. A few days ago I witness such a scam on my own skin.
Chapter 1 - “You can trust me”
- I have a telegram as probably all of you. One day I believe it was Friday I received a message. It wasn’t one of those messages where you tell from the beginning that this is a scam.
The message sounded like this:
SCAMMER: “Hello, I have read your recent article. Are you researching projects as well?
Unfortunately, I don’t have screenshots. He deletes it instantly after I called him out. BACK TO OUR STORY.
- The first thing that I want to point out that these scammers are well prepared for a chat with you. He was referring to my real article and it was clear that he read it + he picked me in a very small telegram group. Where I wasn’t suspecting anyone to be a scammer.
- After a few messages, it was clear that he wants me to do project research for him and his colleagues. Hustle is hustle, right? So I expressed further interest.
They are not pushing you , just teasing.- After I express further interest. He wrote to me if I can do a job interview with his “leader” and colleagues.
Imagine 2016-2017 scammers inviting you to a job interview.EVOLVING just like cockroaches!At that point, I wasn’t smelling anything suspicious.
a) He came from a small telegram group when I knew a lot of people b) He was not pushing me, more like just giving me a chance.c) He invited me to talk to them first.- He waited like 30 minutes. Then he gave me a link to their team-speak.
- Why did he wait 30 min? Their leader is a very busy person he is making deals, he is a businessman obviously. That’s how they are trying to force you to think.
EVOLUTION they are not pushing. They are baiting you, they are making you wait, they are making this look professional.
Chapter 2 - Team-speak conversation
It’s finally here. I got a Team-speak IP address. It was very well organized. At that time I wasn’t suspecting anything so I don’t have a screenshot, but I found one online.
- It was looking exactly like this just with different projects. As you can see it looks so clean and collected. ALL JUST TO EARN YOUR TRUST!
- There was one room full of people (approx 8 people). Immediately after I joined they started their show. “Who is this” (they are typing in all chat). “It’s someone from Dylan” “Okey, move him here”. I am there reading it, as they are writing it in all chat.
EVOLUTION! Just think about it They are together on a platform that is allowing them to speak with each other, I can see that all of them are in one “call” and yet they type to earn my trust even more. To show me that they are a real group of private investors.
- Okay, finally they moved me into their room. Dylan (the guy that messaged me) introduced me to everyone and passed than passed the mic to “LIDER”.
- I was asked what are my experiences in crypto, investing strategies, etc… Just imagine how much effort are scammers willing to put into scamming you.
- Every single member on Teamspeak was from a different country. Laurence (leader) was introducing them to me.
- Experts, Insiders, wealthy individuals, basically all that you can think of.
- They were playing this whole show just for me. Just to earn my trust and credibility. It took about 30 min. They were even talking with each other about some founds, business, etc… Incredible.
Chapter 3 - The scam
But where is the scam, Benji? Don’t worry stay tuned. We are just there.- After the “interview” went well they’ve decided to give me a shoot. “Yeah, just be our ears in crypto space. Try to find hidden upcoming projects that no one is talking about. We will invest in private or seed sales and then help them with marketing etc. Your reward is the possibility to invest with us. Since we have insiders in Binance and much more.” Well, the leader said that I am welcome, but something was very fishy for me. Why would people with such a big among of money contact me for such a stupid task? THEN IT FINALLY HAPPENED.
- One of the members said: “Welcome to the team, you are coming just in time, we are finishing the Perlin private sale payment. If you want to join us just send me your email.”
- After this, I knew that it is a scam. How much effort did they put into this? Just insane. Imagine crypto newbie, he has no chance in such a scam. They even orchestrated a little argument exchange about my joining, but guess what the leader decided to give me a shoot. BACK TO STORY.
- I was super curious about how the scam will continue, so I send them one of my emails that I am not using anymore. After 2 minutes I got an email. From Mr. Laurence Purcell himself. It was a FAKE SAFT document.
What is SAFT? - Simple Agreement for Future Tokens an investment contract offered by cryptocurrency developers to accredited investors. It is considered a security and, thus, must comply with securities regulations. (source)
- Insane, isn’t it? After that, I left the Teamspeak and called out the scammer on telegram. He deletes the messages instantly and after a few hours, they changed their Teamspeak as well.
Red flags
- To be honest it was a new scam for me however I found a few examples online where people were scammed this exact way.
- Imagine professional investors that are investing millions and have connections at Binance (they claim they have) are giving you all the documents and their allocation to you after 10 min of talk
- Perlin private sale was over already
- They deleted the TeamSpeak look and the scammer deletes all the messages with me as well.
- He was claiming that their leader needs to join TeamSpeak because he is very busy. After he "joined" he invited me. What did I saw? using TeamSpeak you can see how many hours is someone connected their "leader" was there for 13h straight as well as all of them. I imagine they are all just trying to scam as many people per day as possible.
Conclusion
- We are all humans and scammers are trying to get the advantage of that. Greed is one of our biggest enemies and I can imagine that a lot of people in a vision of fast gains would fall for this.
-The among of effort that the scammers have put into this scam. From reading my article than speaking with me, playing a show for me. Just to get my money.
- If someone is offering you a lifetime deal and you don’t know him or you put 0 work in it’s a scam. The reward comes in with great work and dedication. REMEMBER THAT.
Share this article to warn new people entering the crypto. Those cockroaches are evolving from basic twitter scams to complex ones. The only way to stop them is to spread knowledge and awareness.
Thank you for reading.
Benji Social Mining manager at DAO MAKER's - ICO AGENCY