Introduction
Hi all,
I thought I'd come on here and openly admit that I 'JUST' fell for a very simple scam; as I WANTED TO BELIEVE in it.
It was placed, just at the right moment, and it caught me big time! It was well crafted and passed my usual screening checks. On hindsight, I felt it was wrong, but went ahead anyway!
If something feels too good, it PROBABLY IS.
The scam
I'm a crypto investor, like many others, buying into the long-term vision provided by Cardano. A new post on Twitter went up this morning regarding progress:
Charles Hoskinson Twitter account (sorry to those that don't have a twitter feed; you'll just have to believe me)
.. the news was excellent, and as always, delivered well by Charles (the founder). Looks like March is going to be an interesting month!
Whilst digesting, I noticed a reply pop-up, screenshot provided:
Instantly, the alarm bells went off. Is this true? Is it genuine? So, given a quick glance at the Photo and ID of the post (we'll come back to this; My first mistake!) I clicked through (my second mistake, which again, I'll come back to).
The page shows:
This is the third smell that I failed to stop me (stupidly because deep-down I wanted this to be true and would trust the genuine Charles; therefore all reasoning left me, which is so strange for me).
Although sending coins doesn't make any sense to win a prize, I stupidly thought, oh that's how they'll going to get my return address. NO ACTUALLY, I should only be asked for an ADDRESS! (I can hear the theme tune to the 'Muppets').
Clicking on this page brings you to the address to send to:
Wanting to believe, I thought, OH MUST NOT MISS OUT! Look, people already claiming. Then a post appeared back on Twitter (for which I can't find now), that had someone post up saying thanks and showing transactions going into their basket.
OF COURSE, I WANTED TO BELIEVE
I was suckered in from the moment I saw somebody I trust offer some too good to be true!
..and I went ahead and sent a fraction of a coin; my inner-self preventing me from sending 5 ETH!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing
I'm not a fool and I like to believe I'm quite savvy, however, I WANTED to believe this and joined in, half-tired and ignoring the adequate checks this morning.
Those would and should have included:
- Looking closely at the Twitter account name, i.e.
Charles was replying to himself, but look at the names, the genuine Charles has @lOHK_CharIes whereas the scammer was @lOKH_CharIes; he'd transposed the K and H of Hong Kong.
- Check the account itself, going into it:
Only 14 followers and set-up this morning! The real Charles stands up with 71k+ followers:
This is an easy check that I would normally do; but I just didn't, in FOMO! - The next thing that should have stopped me was the use of a short address from the main Twitter response ( aԁԁrеss: http://tiny.cc/IOHK-promo ). Nobody official would resort to using a short name! They'd be professional and use a fully qualified and official Domain name.
- I've already mentioned that you should NEVER send coins, only an address. This was a rooky, basic 101 error!
- I failed to notice that the transactions on the sending address NEVER updated (i.e. more transactions didn't arrive; although this could easily be spoofed in Javascript!):
But using my sensible head after the event, I should have thought to check the ETH block chain viewer. The address receiving is 0x63E97cbE96dd87C9AE2375D2C7eE96BECCCF2143, let's take a peep:
Yikes, as at the present time:
I'm NOT the only one to have been scammed! That makes me feel sad. The scammer is currently sat on 8.26 Ether:
You can keep a check on it (here)[https://etherscan.io/address/0x63e97cbe96dd87c9ae2375d2c7ee96becccf2143]
Lesson learned!
As stated, I'm rarely taken for a fool, but TODAY, I WANTED To be. I thought this was plausabile and completely ignored ALL the warning signs and checks that I would normally apply, due to Fear Of Mission Out (FOMO)!
Don't be caught like I.
I'm openly admitting here that I've just been scammed, in the hope that it prevents just ONE other of you from such a bad thing!
I lost a little coin, but in the scheme of things, the drop in crypto right now is more damaging!
However, I do wish the Scammer, all the bad luck in the world. I do believe in Karma and one day, when they need help, they'll find it missing.
Thanks for reading and listening to my story.
P.S. If you wouldn't mind upvoting this if you found the honestly and the tips helpful! I might recouperate just a few pennies; to DEFY the scammer!