I don't mean to sound harsh, but I think you have to be a bit of a moron to fall for the vast majority of crypto scams...

I've been around crypto since early 2013 and have had my fair share of scam attempts - but I can't think of a single one that was even remotely convincing.

Essentially, as long as you don't share your private keys or seed, and don't send crypto to random people on the internet, you're pretty much safe.

I mean, do people really receive a random reddit chat request and then just mindlessly handover the above because some chap with a poor command of the English language is promising them mega returns? Really? How stupid do you have to be?!

The only time I have sympathy is when a scam involves a true technical hack or use of malware. Hardware wallets limit that risk, but back in the old days of software wallets you were somewhat vulnerable. But even then, provided you followed some key rules, the risk was low.

Even things like Bitconnect were super obviously scams, or at the very least incredibly unstable and likely to fail modals. It just boggles my mind that people can be so stupid.

In terms of exchange rug pulls, back in 2013 and 2014 I'd again have had some sympathy - it was almost impossible to know which exchanges were legit. But nowadays exchanges are far more regulated, and if you're trading on clearly-a-scam-exchange.net you deserve everything you get.

Has anyone come across a scam that you don't actually have to be braindead to fall for?