Every time I publish an article about a scam attempt, at least a few comments suggest that if people are dumb enough to fall for such a trick, they DESERVE to be scammed.

Look, I get it. It’s frustrating to see people get taken in by posts or emails that we instantly recognise as scam attempts. And it IS difficult to understand how people can fall for really transparent scams. It’s easy just to label the victims as ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’ and move on. I do understand why people might have that attitude.

But, scam victims are certainly not always dumb. They may be naïve, have gaps in their knowledge, be poorly educated through no fault of their own, or simply be vulnerable to scammers due to age, lack of life experience, or a variety of other reasons. Perhaps you disagree with me? Many do on this point.

Nevertheless, I believe that there are good reasons why you might want to rethink the ‘deserve to be scammed’ attitude anyway.

Even if you do think scam victims deserve it, do you also believe that the criminals who perpetrate these scams deserve to reap the benefits of their nefarious actions? Because it can certainly be argued that one idea equates to the other. If you think a person deserves to be ripped off, then you are in a sense giving tacit approval to the conduct of the crooks who do the ripping off. These people deserve nothing more than lengthy stints in prison and the contempt and condemnation of the Internet communities they operate in.

Because of the ‘deserve to be scammed’ attitude that seems so prevalent on social media, many scam victims are loath to tell their stories. Given that real-life stories from victims will often have more worth as cautionary tales than any number of carefully crafted warning articles, the understandable reluctance of scam victims to publicly tell their stories is unfortunate indeed. So, the ‘deserve to be scammed’ attitude actually plays into the hands of the criminals by keeping scam victims silent and thereby making it less likely that potential victims have the information they need to avoid being conned.

At one point, I was operating a section of Hoax-Slayer that featured stories published by scam victims. These brave people were willing to share their personal stories in the hope that others would avoid being scammed in similar ways. However, I stop posting these stories on social media because so many commentators castigated the victims for being stupid enough to get caught and simply made fun of them. Even though the stories did not identify the victims, those who submitted the stories often followed the threads where the stories were posted. So, the derisive comments directed against them were very hurtful and certainly not in any way helpful.

After people realise they have been scammed, they can feel isolated, depressed, and disillusioned. They need our empathy and support, not our contempt and derision.

Of course, we probably all know a few people who, despite constant warnings from their friends and family, continue to fall for every scam and nonsense post that comes their way. These serial victims tend to be the ones we all know and talk about. But we should not judge all scam victims by these people. Many scam victims — and potential scam victims — just need a bit of guidance to set them right and give them the knowledge they need to avoid further scams.

And, even these serial victims do not deserve to be scammed. Perhaps they deserve to be at the pointy end of some rather blunt discussions. But, nobody deserves to be scammed, not even those that have been warned beforehand and failed to take heed.

So, rather than publicly labelling a scam victim ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’, perhaps you might want to consider the issues I raise above and take a more constructive approach to the problem.

Wait, Do You REALLY Think people Deserve to be Scammed? was originally published in Hoax-Slayer on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Phishing scammers are again targeting users of the popular cryptocurrency wallet MetaMask.

In a recent email campaign, cybercriminals are attempting to trick people into divulging their secret MetaMask passphrase.

The emails falsely claim that you must urgently verify your wallet due to new Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations.

If you fall for the ruse and click the “Verify” button, you will be taken to a fake MetaMask website that asks you to enter your passphrase.

If you do provide your passphrase, criminals can access your wallet and steal any cryptocurrency you have stored there. You are very unlikely to get your stolen crypto back.

Such email scam campaigns are ongoing and target users of many different cryptocurrency wallets. Details in the emails may vary.

Be wary of any unsolicited email or text message that claims that you must provide your crypto wallet passphrase or other sensitive personal information.

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Phishing Scammers Target MetaMask Users was originally published in Hoax-Slayer on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Criminals often use cryptocurrency Bitcoin to receive payments from victims. How do you report Bitcoin scammers and does reporting do any good?

Ransomware usually demands payment in Bitcoin, as do fake blackmail sextortion scams.

Typically, scammers instruct you to buy Bitcoin and then send it to a specified Bitcoin address. A Bitcoin address is a unique string of letters and numbers that correspond to a Bitcoin payment source or destination.

Here’s one such demand from a scam email in which the sender has falsely claimed that they have recorded a compromising video of you on an adult website. They warn that they will send the video to your contacts if you don’t pay up.

If you want to prevent this, transfer the amount of $735 to my bitcoin address (if you do not know how to do this, write in Google: “Buy Bitcoin”). My bitcoin address (BTC Wallet) is: 1K1KMHpynJHQRbhzKHyik6yaJuQYxSaZCm

While Bitcoin is not completely anonymous, Bitcoin transactions offer users greater anonymity than credit cards and other types of traditional financial transactions. Information on Bitcoin.org notes:

All Bitcoin transactions are stored publicly and permanently on the network, which means anyone can see the balance and transactions of any Bitcoin address. However, the identity of the user behind an address remains unknown until information is revealed during a purchase or in other circumstances.

This makes curtailing Bitcoin scammers challenging, especially since canny criminals will take steps to protect their privacy, such as changing Bitcoin addresses and laundering the stolen funds.

So, is it Worth Reporting Bitcoin Addresses?

Unfortunately, reporting a Bitcoin address won’t immediately identify a criminal or stop their activities. Bitcoin Abuse Database notes in its FAQ:

What are you doing to shutdown the bitcoin address I report?

There is nothing we can do. No bank or government has the technical ability to freeze an account to seize funds on the blockchain. That is why criminals use bitcoin.

Our goal is to publicly documenting (sic) that certain addresses have been used in a crime. We hope that in the future it will be harder for the attacker to spend stolen bitcoin. At the very least, attackers will have to spend more on laundering the money.

But, by reporting a Bitcoin address used in a scam, you are providing a permanent and publicly accessible record of the scam attempt. For example, if you enter the Bitcoin address used in the sextortion scam above into the Bitcoin Abuse Database, you will see a report with details about the scam.

In fact, doing a Google search for the Bitcoin address reveals several reports indicating that the address has been used in scams. So, reporting addresses may help others from becoming victims.

Also, as the Bitcoin Abuse Database website points out, even hackers make mistakes. In some cases, such mistakes could reveal the real identities of people who steal Bitcoin. And the algorithms used to trace Bitcoin transactions may become more sophisticated over time, which could ultimately help identify criminals.

So, despite its limitations, reporting Bitcoin scams is still a valid way of fighting back against online criminal activity.

How to Report Bitcoin Scams

You can report Bitcoin scams via the report form on the Bitcoin Abuse website.

Alternatively, you can use the report form on the Bitcoin WhosWho website.

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How to Report Bitcoin Scammers and Why You Should was originally published in Hoax-Slayer on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Beware of fake emails and text messages claiming that a parcel could not be delivered or was sent to the wrong address.

Links in these emails open fraudulent websites designed to steal personal information or install malware.

This is a very old scammer tactic that often gets more prevalent around Christmas time when more people are sending or receiving parcels.

A screenshot of one of the scam emails:

Delivery Scam Emails Continue was originally published in Hoax-Slayer on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.