How to Stay Safe & Avoid Scams
As awareness of Andiami grows, it is very likely that bad actors will attempt to take advantage of Andiami community members. Education and awareness are the best defence against scams, so we’ve put together the following tips to help you protect yourself.
Common scams
Scams are rampant in the digital world, and they continue to increase. Community members can help protect themselves by learning how to identify scams and by staying alert to potential risks.
These are a few of the most common online scams:
Phishing scams
Many scams are phishing scams. Phishing is an attempt to trick people into thinking that the scammer represents a trusted entity like a project, company, financial institution, or even a government.
Scammers that use phishing have proven themselves to be creative and relentless. They impersonate projects and products on multiple platforms, including fake websites, support sites, advertisements, and social media accounts. They also impersonate company employees or pose as representatives of projects or organizations in emails, phone calls, or other communications.
The actions they ask people to take vary, but they are all attempts to defraud community members.
Airdrop scams
Airdrop scams are an attempt to either 1) trick you into compromising the security of your cryptocurrency wallet or 2) confirming a transaction or activating a smart contract that sends funds to a scammer’s wallet. Both involve a fake project “airdropping” (sending) a digital asset into your cryptocurrency wallet.
Giveaway scams
Giveaway scams involve scammers tricking people into thinking they will receive something if they complete an action like sending money somewhere. Giveaway scams are common on social media.
What Andiami will do to help protect community members
Apply what we’ve learned & share our knowledge with you.
The team behind Andiami have been building cryptocurrency wallets for ten years. These include KryptoKit and Jaxx Liberty, software that has empowered millions of people around the world with the tools they need to control their digital assets. Over the years, we’ve learned a lot about scam mitigation and how to help community members protect themselves.
Your best defense against scams are education and awareness. By educating yourself through the tips in this article and other credible sources, you can reduce the risk of falling victim to scammers. That’s why we’ve chosen to focus our first blog post on this topic. And we will continue to share the benefit of our experience to help you stop scams in their tracks.
Take action to report and take down scam accounts, apps, & websites
Inevitably, scammers will attempt to defraud Andiami community members through fake websites, support sites, advertisements, social media accounts, apps, emails, etc. We will do our best to find and report these scam accounts and websites in an effort to have them taken down. But we can’t police the internet. At the end of the day, it is up to you to protect yourself.
Things Andiami will not do
Understanding things Andiami will never do can help you identify and avoid falling victim to scams.
We will never call, text or DM you, or ask you to call, DM, or text us.
We will never send you a direct message on any social media platform. We’ll also never call you or ask you to call us. (We don’t have your phone number, and while we’re sure you are great to talk to, we don’t want it). If someone calls or texts you, or sends you a direct message on any social media platform, it is a scam.
We will never ask for your crypto wallet’s security info
We will never ask for the 12-word backup phrase or private keys for your crypto wallet.
Learn more about how to protect your cryptocurrency wallet by reading Jaxx Liberty’s blog post, “Knowledge is Power: How to Avoid Crypto Scams.”
We have no plans to do any type of airdrops
We have no plans to do any type of airdrops. Should our plans change, we will notify community members through our official sources.
There are currently no active Andiami giveaways
There are currently no active Andiami giveaways. We may do giveaways in the future, though. If and when we do, we will notify community members through our official sources.
What you can do to stay safe from scams
As we develop Andiami and our community grows, we’ll do our best to protect our members from scams. But we can’t do it alone. At the end of the day, it is up to you to keep yourself protected. Please stay alert and follow these tips.
Only trust official Andiami sources
For now, there are only three official Andiami communication channels:
our website (andiami.org)
our social media: Twitter (@ANDIAMIproject), Instagram (@ANDIAMIproject), & YouTube (@ANDIAMIproject)
email (andiami@decentral.ca) - this email does not take incoming emails.
NOTE: Only people who have signed up for the Andiami whitelist will receive email newsletters.
Only follow official Andiami social media accounts*
Andiami currently has three official social media accounts: Twitter (@ANDIAMIproject), Instagram (@ANDIAMIproject), & YouTube (@ANDIAMIproject). Any other “Andiami” social media accounts on any platform are fake. Please make sure you are following our official accounts and not any that look similar.
*Should we add additional communication channels, we will update this list. This list was last updated on January 2, 2023.
2. Safeguard your device
Maintaining the health and security of your device is essential to protecting yourself online. Here are a few things you can do to ensure the security of your computer, tablet, or smartphone:
Keep your device up-to-date
Use trusted antivirus/malware software
Avoid opening suspicious emails or websites
Don’t open emails, click on links, or download files that seem suspicious
Set a password on your operating system
Add a PIN to your device
Recommended Resources
Please make sure to only rely on credible sources for information. Here are some suggestions for further reading:
Ethereum - “Ethereum security and scam prevention”
Cointelegraph - “4 tips to avoid phishing attacks”
Jaxx Liberty - “Knowledge is power: How to avoid crypto scams”