(Kitco News) - As anyone who has dabbled in the cryptocurrency market for any length of time can attest, learning to identify and navigate around scams is a necessary skill to develop in this fast-moving industry where investors are always seeking the next 100x token.
One of the most popular methods of trying to sucker unexpecting crypto investors is pumping the launch of a new token connected with a large company like Google or Facebook and trying to catch the FOMO (Fear of missing out) that ensues.
The most recent example currently making the rounds on social media and YouTube is one promoting the launch of Amazon Tokens, where malicious advertisements that imitate legitimate news sites post breaking stories about the world’s largest online retailer launching its own cryptocurrency.
This is especially pertinent to the Kito Community as these false advertisements have been appearing in the comments section of Kitco NEWS videos on YouTube.
The fake stories rely on people’s trust in the Amazon brand and play on their desire to get in on the ground floor of the next big token before the bulk of investors arrive. Many recall reading stories about high-flying tokens during the ICO craze of 2017-2018 and get excited about the prospect of overnight wealth.
Unfortunately, the claims made in these stories are 100% false as Amazon has repeatedly denied any plans to launch its own cryptocurrency. As it stands now, the company has yet to integrate the option to pay with cryptocurrency when checking out, so the idea of an Amazon token seems even more far-fetched.
That’s not to say that Amazon will never release its own token or get more involved with cryptocurrency payments, but rest assured, if they do decide to go down that route, the story will be headlining every major news outlet in the western world.
Some common things to look for when trying to determine if a crypto advertisement is a scam include frequent misspellings in the ad or landing page, a ticking timer encouraging you to invest now before time runs out, and lofty promises about how high the token could go or any instances of “guaranteed income.”
— Harrison (@MaximusCipher) August 20, 2022
That being said, scammers have become increasingly sophisticated at their craft and the websites they come up with can be extremely convincing, even for the most experienced scam detectors. Experienced crypto holders will confirm that it's often safer to just assume that crypto advertisements and posts on social media are illegitimate and require further verification.
One way to verify if a new token is legitimate is by going directly to the project or company's website (without clicking on any provided links) and looking for an official announcement from that company outlining the details.
Another way is by doing a simple internet search for a term like “Amazon Token” and surveying the results for related news stories posted by trusted news providers. If there are not multiple stories from the top news brands posted around the same time relating to that topic, it's likely that the token is a scam.
Above all, it's vital to remember that the global nature of cryptocurrencies means that threats can come from anywhere, in increasingly sophisticated ways, so it's important for the individual crypto investor to remain vigilant and always do a good amount of research before getting involved with any crypto project.
