Some lost only a few hundred euros, while others fared worse and saw hundreds of thousands of euros vanish. Scams on cryptocurrencies and, in particular, on fake Bitcoins, the mother of digital currencies, are multiplying and claiming victims even in Bergamo. There is no doubt that cryptocurrencies represent an interesting investment, especially considering the results achieved in the last year, after various ups and downs that have shaken the market. However, the gains are far from easy and immediate. It is necessary to understand well how the market works and, more importantly, to carefully choose the exchange platform to rely on, trying to always stay with your feet on the ground.
Birth and brief history of Bitcoin
The year was 2009, when Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that revolutionized the concept of digital money, saw the light. Behind the creation of the first digital currency is the mysterious figure of Satoshi Nakamoto, pseudonym used by the individual or group of people who created the project. In the mind of its creator (more likely its creators), there was the idea of providing an answer to the global financial crisis by proposing a decentralized and secure system for online financial transactions.
Bitcoin uses blockchain technology, a public and immutable register of all transactions, which allows them to be verified securely, without the need for a central authority, such as a bank or other credit institution. In the years following its birth, the value of Bitcoin has grown exponentially, going from a few cents to thousands of dollars per unit. This result has led to a proliferation of other cryptocurrencies. Today, these can be bought, sold or traded on the main cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Binance (review available online) or Coinbase, just to name a few of the best known.
After a few years of uncertainty, Bitcoin has continued to establish itself as one of the most important and recognized cryptocurrencies in the world, followed, but with a certain detachment, by Ethereum. It is therefore not surprising that the mother of all cryptocurrencies is especially targeted by scammers.
How fake Bitcoin scams work
Fake Bitcoin scams come in various forms, but the goal is always the same: to convince novice investors to invest in something that doesn’t exist or is worthless. One way these scams are perpetrated is through fraudulent investment schemes (Ponzi schemes, for example) that promise unrealistically high returns. Scammers persuade unfortunate people to invest their money in a fake Bitcoin investment scheme, with the promise of huge profits in a short time. However, once the money has been paid, the scammers disappear into thin air, making it impossible to recover the sums invested.
Another very common form of scam is the sale of fake Bitcoins, through websites or trading platforms that appear authentic and convincing, but which are actually created structures ad hoc, unregulated, which will disappear from the web once a good number of people have been defrauded. These fake sites offer the purchase of Bitcoin at attractive prices and, once the funds have been transferred, they never deliver the cryptocurrencies to the buyers or send fake Bitcoins, but those who have fallen into the trap will only discover this later.
Very often, scammers use social media and emails to attract victims through advertising messages that are as tempting as they are not very credible. The former Bergamo state official who fell into the trap of fake bitcoins, one of many, responded to some advertising messages that appeared on a social platform.
bitcoin scam
The huge scam in Bergamo
In April this year, Bergamo was the protagonist of a scam involving fake bitcoins which also attracted the attention of Adiconsum Bergamo, which has always been alongside consumers. Among the victims, a former state official who had been intrigued by the many advertising messages that appeared on a social platform, some of which were also sponsored by well-known people. Once contacted by the scammers, the woman was convinced to initially invest small amounts in the most famous cryptocurrency in the world, with the promise of exorbitant and practically immediate profits.
The transfers were made to current accounts of foreign banks, with amounts that grew from time to time, thanks to the encouraging results of fake graphs created specifically to make everything more credible. The problems arose only once the unfortunate woman had asked to receive the profits, as the woman was denied the withdrawal each time with a different excuse. A spiral that cost the former official a loss of 160 thousand euros, her life savings. But there have been many victims and the alert remains high, also because online is still a poorly regulated world and even the Postal Police, Financial Police and Interpol struggle to keep everything under control. Often, unfortunately, the “invested” sums cannot be recovered and the fraudsters go unpunished.
Fake Bitcoin scams: how to protect yourself?
It is good to clarify one point: Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general are an absolutely legitimate investment, even if exposed to obvious risks which, however, are the same as other speculative investments. To achieve results, you need to inform yourself, train and stay updated. This also helps to protect yourself from scams, because only if you have a thorough understanding of the market mechanisms is it possible to avoid stumbling into these traps, which are often very well thought out.
It is important to maintain some skepticism towards any promise of high returns, as, in this industry, nothing is certain and unchanged. Secondly, it is critically important to choose only trading platforms and exchange of well-known, reliable and regulated cryptocurrencies. In this regard, all the relevant information is available on the Consob website.
Third, once you have purchased cryptocurrencies, it is better to use secure and reliable digital wallets to store your coins, choose effective passwords (two-factor authentication is better) and keep your computer software updated, which must be protected by antivirus and antimalware reliable.
These are just some of the measures to be implemented to avoid scams in the world of cryptocurrencies. After all, you can never be too careful.
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