This page is a short companion to lesson 5.3. It is not a complete security manual, and it does not recommend any product. Its purpose is to help you recognise the most common traps before you meet them.
Five rules that cover most cases
- Never share a recovery phrase or private key. Not with "support", not with a teacher, not with a friend. Whoever has it can take control of the keys — there is no "undo".
- Treat promises of gains as a red flag. Legitimate educators do not promise that anything will rise in value. Promises of fixed or "certain" gains are the most common sign of fraud.
- Slow down when someone hurries you. Countdown timers, "only today" offers and urgent messages are designed to stop you from thinking.
- Ignore unsolicited help. People who contact you first — in direct messages, comments or dating apps — and offer to help with crypto are, in practice, almost always scammers.
- Check addresses and links yourself. Type known website addresses by hand, and be suspicious of look-alike domains and shortened links.
Common scam patterns
- Impersonation. Fake support staff, fake celebrities, fake regulators. Real organisations do not contact you through private messages asking for keys or transfers.
- "Recovery" services. After a first loss, victims are often contacted by people offering to recover funds for a fee. This is usually a second scam.
- Romance and friendship scams. A long, friendly conversation that slowly turns to "an opportunity" you should try.
- Fake giveaways. "Send one, receive two back." Nobody gives away money this way.
- Phishing sites and apps. Copies of real services designed to capture passwords or recovery phrases.
If something has already happened
- Stop all contact and do not send anything more, whatever you are promised.
- Keep screenshots, addresses, transaction references and messages.
- Report it to your local police and your national fraud reporting service. In the EU, national authorities are listed on the ESMA and European Commission websites; in the UK, use Report Fraud (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) or Police Scotland.
- Warn people close to you — scammers often reuse the same story.