What is a Scam?
A Scam is generally described as a fraudulent scheme performed by a dishonest individual, group, or company in an attempt obtain money or something else of value such as crypto currencies like Bitcoin (BTC) from somebody by misleading them in some way. There are various different scams going on and all of them are targeted at stealing your hard earned money or crypto coins and with the growing awareness and interest in cryptos is it to be expected that more bad players try to cheat people and steal their coins as well.
How to avoid crypto Scams
There is one very helpful website called BadBitcoin that is dedicated to revealing Scams, Fake and Bad websites, Phishing attempts and other things you would want to avoid in the world of crypto. The name of the website contains the word Bitcoin, however it does not only cover the things you should avoid only in the Bitcoin scene, but also covers other crypto coins like Litecoin, Ethereum and so on. The goal of the project is to help everybody that deals with crypto currencies enjoy a safer and more problem free experience by avoiding getting scammed and his hard earned either by mining or trading coins taken away.
The Badlist, or the sites to avoid
BadBitcoin already has an extensive list of websites covering a number of confirmed or highly likely to be scam websites out there in the wild. The list gives you the website URL address and a short description what is the concern or the fraudulent evidence that got the site included in the Badlist as well as the date when it was added. Just by searching for the URL of a website you suspect or want to check just in case in the Badlist you can quickly confirm if you should be concerned about it or not.
Always have in mind that even though the list is already very extensive and includes a lot of fraudulent websites (some of which are no longer available online), there are new scams appearing every day. So the best thing to do if you are concerned about the legitimacy of a crypto related website is to just avoid it, even if it is missing from the Badlist. Better be safe than sorry is a motto that that works well in the crypto currency world most of the time. Though sometimes a higher risk can be rewarded with a bigger prize, but often these turn out to be a complete gamble, so again better be safe than sorry!
The Goodlist, or the sites that are confirmed safe
Having a Badlist would normally get you thinking is there a Safelist as well. One of the more recently introduced feature on the BadBitcoin website is the so called Safelist that covers websites confirmed to be safe and trustworthy... as you would imagine this list is much shorter than the Badlist. Do note that if you are operating a crypto-related website yourself you may verify your Site at BadBitcoin and get included in the Goodlist, just like you can report any suspicious website and if proven it will get listed in the Badlist. So it is important not only to check if a scam is listed already, but also report about ones that are not yet listed, so that they can get included and make it safer out there for others.
Are there any STEEM-related scams
Looking through the Badlist on BadBitcoin does not reveal any STEEM-related websites trying to scam users, however as Steem and Steemit continue to gain popularity the bad players in the crypto world will most likely try to scam some users sooner or later. There have been a few reports of such practices here on steemit.com published already and we have to deal with a lot of attempts of fake accounts trying to make some quick bucks misleading the users here. So if you stumble on any scammy website that attempts to mislead and steel from Steem users or Steemit.com feel free to report it to BadBitcoin, so that it can be included in the Badlist and help other users avoid it.