It is very hard to feel sympathy for people who fall victim to crypto scams.

Everyday on this sub and every other coin-specific subs, there is another story about someone being scammed by a crypto giveaway promise, a fake wallet, or some such nonsense.

There are so many resources all over the internet and reddit that give you all the warning signs and clues of what a scam looks like. But here's rule #1:

Besides the very rare airdrop from a reputable source, NOBODY IS GOING TO GIVE YOU FREE MONEY!

It is absolutely mindblowing that people fall for the whole, "Send us X coin and we'll send you back 2x!"

Would you give someone on the street cash if they claimed that they would give you twice the amount back? All you have to do is close your eyes and count to 100 and the magic will happen! You are not smarter than everyone else for taking advantage of this amazing opportunity. You are stupid for giving your money away.

Just no. Don't do it.

Secondly, fake wallets. My god, if you go to download a wallet from an app store and it has a 1 star rating with hundreds of reviews calling it a scam, there's the tiniest chance that it's a scam.

I thoroughly vet stupid games that I download for privacy leaks. I'm not going to blindly download a wallet that I'm going to keep any sum of money in. It just doesn't make sense.

Crypto is the big boy world of being your own bank. People are going to try to rob you. When you get a call from an unknown number and it's someone claiming to be the IRS and they need your social security number to verify your information, do you just say, "Ok! This is definitely legitimate!" I certainly hope not.

My one true advice is treat everything in this space with skepticism. If you don't and throw around thousands of dollars all willy-nilly, you will get burned. Spend 30 damn minutes asking questions and doing research. There are so many people here willing to help and give advice.

Nobody wants to see you get hurt, but you don't deserve sympathy if you are reckless and greedy.

Edit: The mentally impaired and elderly are vulnerable and need to be protected. This post is about your average crypto investor.

Also, being hacked and being scammed are 2 different scenarios. I'm referring you being scammed and willfully giving your crypto away.