Unit 3 · Level 1 · Self-custody & security
The scam bestiary
Crypto scammers stole billions of euros last year, and almost every heist used one of a handful of well-worn scripts: the phishing site, the fake 'support agent', the giveaway, the long-con romance. Learn the scripts and they stop working on you. And every single one leans on the same three levers: urgency, secrecy, and guaranteed returns.
Free to play. No ads, no token, no account needed to start.
What you get asked
You get an email: 'Your wallet has been compromised. Click here within 24 hours to secure your funds.' What is this?
Urgency plus a link is the phishing signature. Real wallet companies can't 'secure your funds' because they don't hold them. Never enter a seed phrase on any site, ever.
Match each scam to its signature move.
Different costumes, same beast: each one needs you to hand over keys or send coins voluntarily. The blockchain can't reverse it afterwards.
A verified-looking account posts: 'Send 1 ETH, get 2 back. Anniversary giveaway!' Why is this guaranteed to be a scam?
Ask the safety question: where would the extra ETH come from? There is no answer, because there is no giveaway. 'Send X, get 2X back' has a 100% loss rate.
Urgency, secrecy, and ___ returns are the universal tells of a scam.
Markets can't promise outcomes, so anyone 'guaranteeing' returns is lying. Add pressure to act now and to keep quiet, and you have the full scammer's toolkit.
Someone from a dating app chats warmly for weeks, then shows you their 'uncle's trading platform' earning 2% a day. What's happening?
The 'fattening' phase is the weeks of warmth, and the platform's numbers are just pixels the scammer controls. 2% a day is over 1,300% a year; nobody quietly hands that to strangers. When romance and returns arrive together, walk away. 🐜
The rest of this unit
Scams, approvals, cold storage: become hard to rob.