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IPFS News Link • Scams

Scammers Are Ruining Crypto Twitter and Twitter Is to Blame

• https://news.bitcoin.com

You've heard of the scheme, seen the tweets, and been smart enough not to send cryptocurrency in the promise of receiving more back. The Twitter crypto scam, in which fraudsters impersonate the accounts of exchanges and influencers, is as simple as it is pernicious. While the odds of anyone falling for these scams is remote, they're spoiling crypto Twitter for everyone – and Twitter is to blame.

"Big news from the Poloniex team today!" tweeted the U.S. exchange on Monday, announcing its acquisition by Circle. The first response to the tweet was as predictable as it was pitiful: "We ?re joining Circle! To commemor?te, we're giving ?w?y 2000 ??Η," wrote "Palooniex". "To p?rticip?te, sen? 0.3-3 ??Η to our ???ress below ?n? get 3-30 ??Η b?ck. Hurry!"

It's easy to get mad at scammers for perpetrating these sorts of frauds, but the real blame lies with Twitter. Scammers gonna scam after all; it's up to the platforms to combat their attempts to ruin the service for everyone else. These fraudsters effectively serve as pen testers, seeking weaknesses to exploit for their own personal gain. The frustrating thing is that thwarting them would be a simple fix, but Twitter either doesn't care or has bigger fish to fry, and thus the scams continue unchecked and unabated.

Scammers Are Ruining Crypto Twitter and Twitter Is to Blame

Scamming Is Social Arbitrage

Some people view these low-level scams as a form of social arbitrage: taking crypto from the stupid and redistributing it to the smart. It's true that it takes a particular level of stupid to send money to a stranger because they promise to send you more in return. But even for the majority of crypto users who don't fall for these scams, they're still ruining crypto twitter. Reading the replies to tweets from verified users is now pointless because they're filled with begging rather than comments which add to the discussion. It's also getting tiresome having to read repeated tweets from crypto influencers stressing that they have not and never will be giving away free cryptocurrency.


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