• The rising popularity of cryptocurrency has attracted a surge of scammers preying on both new and experienced investors.
• Common scams include fake exchanges, phishing emails, Ponzi schemes, impersonation fraud, and malware attacks, leading to significant financial losses.
• Online security expert Richard D. advises using reputable exchanges, enabling VPN protection, and staying vigilant to navigate the crypto market safely.

Cryptocurrency has never been more popular. Bitcoin continues to hit record highs, and even public figures like Donald and Melania Trump are launching their own coins. 

With millions joining the crypto frenzy, scammers are seizing the opportunity to exploit the uninformed. “Scammers thrive on hype,” says Richard D, an online security expert at VPN Pro. “The more people rush into crypto, the easier it is for bad actors to exploit their lack of knowledge.”

From fake exchanges to phishing schemes, here are some of the most common crypto scams and how to avoid them.

8 Common Crypto Scams and How to Avoid Them

1. Fake Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Scammers create convincing replicas of legitimate crypto platforms, luring users to deposit funds that become impossible to withdraw. These fake exchanges are usually promoted through phishing links and social media ads, making them seem authentic.

How to Stay Safe:

Verify exchanges through independent reviews.

Ensure the platform is registered with relevant regulatory authorities.

Stick to reputable exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, or Kraken.

2. Phishing Emails

Fraudsters send emails that mimic official crypto platforms, tricking users into clicking malicious links or sharing private keys. These emails often contain urgent warnings to pressure victims into taking action.

How to Stay Safe:

Double-check email senders and website URLs.

Never click on unsolicited links.

Remember, legitimate platforms will never ask for private keys via email.

3. Ponzi Schemes

These scams promise guaranteed high returns by using funds from new investors to pay earlier participants. They rely on testimonials, influencers, and hype to attract victims before ultimately collapsing.

How to Stay Safe:

Be sceptical of investments that promise high, consistent returns.

Research thoroughly and avoid schemes that depend on recruitment.

4. Fake Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)

Scammers create elaborate websites, whitepapers, and marketing campaigns to promote non-existent blockchain projects. They collect funds from investors before vanishing.

How to Stay Safe:

Research the project’s team, partnerships, and technology.

Look for verified information on trusted blockchain platforms.

5. Pump-and-Dump Schemes

Scammers buy large amounts of a low-cost cryptocurrency, artificially inflate its value through hype, then sell off their holdings, leaving other investors with worthless coins.

How to Stay Safe:

Avoid investments driven by social media hype.

Focus on cryptocurrencies with transparent teams and real-world use cases.

6. Impersonation Scams

Fraudsters create fake profiles of celebrities, influencers, or crypto companies, promoting fake giveaways or investment opportunities. Victims send funds, only for the scammer to disappear.

How to Stay Safe:

Verify accounts with blue checkmarks.

Remember, legitimate figures never ask for upfront payments for giveaways.

7. Social Media Scams

Scammers use fake accounts or groups on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Telegram to promote fraudulent token giveaways, phishing links, and fake ICOs.

How to Stay Safe:

Always verify the authenticity of social media accounts.

Never share wallet details, private keys, or sensitive information.

8. Malware Attacks

Some malware can infiltrate devices via fake crypto apps, phishing links, or malicious downloads. Hackers use these tactics to steal private keys or redirect transactions to their own wallets.

How to Stay Safe:

Keep antivirus software updated.

Download apps only from trusted sources.

Double-check wallet addresses before confirming transactions.

Why a VPN is Essential for Crypto Security

Beyond avoiding scams, protecting online activity is neccessary for crypto users.

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) creates a secure, encrypted connection, hiding users’ IP addresses and safeguarding their online transactions. Public Wi-Fi networks are especially risky, as hackers can intercept data—but a VPN protects against these threats.

Some VPNs, like VPN Pro, offer malware blocking, ad blocking, and phishing protection, providing an extra layer of security against crypto-related scams.

“The rapid rise of cryptocurrency has transformed the way we think about money, but it has also opened the door to unprecedented levels of online fraud,” says Richard D.

“Staying ahead of these threats requires a proactive mindset. Educate yourself about the risks before entering the crypto market. Use trusted sources to research platforms, and never rush into an investment based on pressure or promises of quick returns. 

“Secure your online presence by avoiding public Wi-Fi when accessing trading accounts, or better yet, use a VPN to safeguard your activity. By staying informed and cautious, you can navigate the crypto space confidently and minimize your risk of falling victim to scams.”

The crypto market brings incredible opportunities but also huge risks. Scammers prey on fear, urgency, and misinformation—so staying informed is the best defense. 

In using reputable exchanges, verifying sources, and securing your online presence with tools like VPN Pro, you can trade safely and protect your investments.

According to the Top10vpn report, an international VPN review website, this is 19 per cent of the total $7.69 billion that was lost to Internet shutdowns worldwide and a 10 per cent decline from $1.74 billion reported in 2023.

According to the report, there were a total of 28 Internet shutdowns across 28 countries. Thirteen of these were African countries — Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Algeria, Guinea, Mauritania, Senegal, Mozambique, Chad, Mauritius, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, and Equatorial Guinea.

It revealed that Nigeria stood out as one of the few sub-Saharan African countries to avoid internet shutdowns in 2024.

Experts say the absence of an internet shutdown suggests that people in that country have continuous and unrestricted access to the internet, allowing them to communicate, access information, and participate in online activities without disruption imposed by the government.

Sudan is the African country that lost the most — $1.12 billion — to Internet shutdowns. Total Internet shutdowns in the country lasted for more than 12,707 hours or over 529 days.

The Internet shutdown in Sudan is mainly due to a prolonged conflict in the country, which has claimed 13,000 and displaced more than 10 million people.

Other African countries like Kenya and Ethiopia shut down the Internet because of protests.

Both countries lost $75 million and $211 million to Internet shutdowns, respectively.

Major platforms such as X, TikTok, Signal, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp were restricted, affecting approximately 111.2 million internet users in the country.

“In late February 2024, authorities in Myanmar once again started blocking access to X. As this was a new restriction. This is also the second year we have included blocks of newer social media platforms, such as TikTok and Telegram,” it said.

Globally, Asia led in terms of internet shutdowns in 2024, losing $4.64 billion over 48,807 hours of disruptions affecting 331.3 million people. Sub-Saharan Africa followed with $1.5 billion in losses spread over 32,938 hours and impacting 111.2 million internet users.

While the global economic impact of network shutdowns decreased by 16 percent compared to 2024, the duration of shutdowns increased by 12 per cent in the same period.

The report emphasised the damaging effects of the shutdowns, both in terms of economic and human costs, and highlighted concerns about citizens resorting to unsafe VPNs to circumvent imposed restrictions.

More importantly, the Central Bank of Nigeria Act of 2007, of the Federal Republic of Nigeria charges the Bank with the overall control and administration of the monetary and fiscal sector policies of the Federal Government.

The objectives of the Central Bank of Nigeria also include, but are not limited to:  ensuring monetary and price stability, issuing legal tender currency in Nigeria, and maintaining external reserves to safeguard the international value of the legal lender currency.

Others are promoting a sound financial system in Nigeria, and last but not the list Act as Bankers and provide economic and financial advice to the Federal government.

In line with the optimal function of the Nigeria’s Apex Bank, on February 3, 2024, is issued a directive to the International Monetary Transfer Operators (IMTOs) to halt facilitation of dollar transfers to and from Nigeria to other countries.

The new directive also restricts inbound transfers to the naira equivalent of every dollar transfer and compels the IMTOs to quote exchange rates for naira rates at the nation’s official foreign exchange market (FX).

Furthermore, as the naira continued its downward trend against the United States dollar at the official and parallel foreign exchange markets, much to the despair of citizens, it recorded a new all-time low for the naira which depreciated to N1,730/$.

The development led operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to raid some Bureau De Change operators’ outlets in Abuja on Monday, arresting currency traders suspected to be speculating against the naira.

This represents N60 or 3.59 percent drop from N1,670/$ recorded at the close of trade at the black market on Friday.

The naira depreciation followed a strong demand for dollars by speculators as well as individuals traveling for business, tourism, education, and health, according to currency dealers. Meanwhile, the naira was exchanged above N2,000 against the Great Britain Pound at the parallel market on Monday but sold at 1931/£ at the official market, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria exchange.

However, In a recent twist, the Nigerian government asked the telecommunications firms to restrict access to the websites of cryptocurrency firms such as; Binance, OctaFX, Coinbase and others, months after its Central Bank issued a guideline to govern digital asset operators’ activities.

Implicit to note is the fact that in December 2023 the Central Bank of Nigeria changed its stance on crypto assets and asked banks to disregard its February 2021 ban on crypto transactions.

This new restriction on crypto websites is aimed at slowing currency speculation activities in the country, with Binance stating that its platform is not for currency pricing.

The platform said this after users complained about their inability to buy dollars.

One user on X, @MikaelCBernard, tweeted,

“There’s no more dollars available on Binance oh. It is like Binance traders have gone on strike. You can only sell, but you can’t buy”.

While noting its commitment to a market-driven, fraud-free, and manipulation-free platform for its users, Binance said, “Furthermore, as industry leaders, we are working hand in hand with local authorities, lawmakers, and regulators to ensure we act on non-compliance.”

Later on Wednesday, the firm confirmed that it has paused transactions to protect users from price suppression.

Addressing rumours that currency speculation was thriving on its platform, the firm said, “It is important to note that foreign exchange rates are influenced by various complex factors, which Binance does not influence on.

“However, we continue to actively engage with regulators, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders to foster an open, transparent dialogue about managing the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency and financial markets.”

However, in a move that began as a rumour, the Nigerian Communications Commission has asked telecom firms to block access to the websites of Binance and other cryptocurrency firms.

According to a top source in the telecoms industry, telcos got a directive from the commission today.

The restriction is to take effect immediately, the source added. There is no timeline yet for this restriction.

When Nigeria blocked access to Twitter in 2021, it asked telcos to restrict access to the platform.

It is instructing to note that, revenue in the Cryptocurrencies market is projected to reach US$32.6m in 2024, showing an annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2028) of 12.66% resulting in a projected total amount of US$52.5m by 2028.

The average revenue per user in the Cryptocurrencies market amounts to US$7.0 in 2024. From a global comparison perspective, it is shown that the highest revenue is reached in the United States (US$23,220.00m in 2024).

In the Cryptocurrencies market, the number of users is expected to amount to 6.32m users by 2028. User penetration will be 2.03% in 2024 and is expected to hit 2.52% by 2028.

Nigeria’s interest in Bitcoins reached a peak during the summer of 2020, reaching the highest level since early 2018.

This conclusion reveals itself after investigating Bitcoin trading volume against domestic currencies used for the transaction of the virtual currency.

The African country was said to be one of the three countries with the most Bitcoin trading in the world in 2020.

It is estimated that over 22 million people, 10.3% of Nigeria’s total population, currently own cryptocurrency.

State of Crypto in Nigeria 47% of Nigerians are Actively Involved in Crypto Trading, whilst 27% of Nigerians are actively engaged with crypto, a new study shows as the country finds safety in the currency amid worries about the foreign exchange rate.

According to insights by CoinJournal shared with Business Post, cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and various alternatives, are no longer just investments for speculation, “They represent a significant change in how people view and use money, providing decentralized options compared to traditional financial systems.”

Again, Nigeria is ranked as the top country for cryptocurrency usage and ownership. With 45% of its population using or owning cryptocurrency in 2022, other top countries include Thailand 44%, Turkey 44% and the United Arab Emirates 34%.

But the United States is ranked 22nd on the list, with only 16% of the population owning or suing cryptocurrency, while the United Kingdom ranks 50th with 11% ownership and usage.

With Nigeria’s staggering youth unemployment pegged at 53.4%, it can be implied that the majority of those deals are in digital assets in Nigeria.

This recent restriction on Binance and progressive restriction by the telecos will make the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPN) a succour for cryptocurrency traders.

VPN gives an extra layer of privacy and anonymity to hide our activity and location, avoiding hackers and trackers (especially on public WIFI).

A VPN also helps you overcome online censorship, torrent it anonymously, and access your favourite streaming services when traveling.

Nigeria’s social media has been littered with several crypto stakeholders advising their community on using Virtual Private Networks in the face of this ban.  Despite this, Binance is currently embroiled in regulatory issues in the US.

The firm recently agreed to record $4.3 billion fine, its former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, is in the US awaiting sentencing. However, these challenges notwithstanding, Binance’s data reflects robust activity for its USDT/NGN trading pair, with nearly 5 billion Naira in trades, equivalent to $3million, within the last 24  hours.

However, considering the legality and complexity revolving around Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and the seeming commitment of the Federal Government of Nigeria to carry out its reform on Foreign Exchange, no one can predict with exactitude where and how the Federal Government of Nigeria chose to wild its big stick.

Already, the Special Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga has called for the ban of Binance, Kucoin, and other trading platforms in Nigeria.

Onanuga accused the platforms of manipulating the naira leading to the continued fall of the Nigerian currency in the forex market. This is coming amid speculations that the government is already considering the ban.

The President’s Adviser urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to take swift action to end the operations of the crypto exchanges in the country.

Calling for the ban via a post he titled “the Naira-Dollar manipulators” on X, Onanuga accused Nigerians trading currency on the Binance platform of unpatriotism.

The question remains, Can VPN Safe Cryptocurrency Traders?

Analysing Google Trends data from 2022/23 on the #InternetShutdown, two of the three African nations – Ethiopia and Senegal – were the only new entries on the list with scores of 99/100 and 35/100.

Adding to this, Senegal’s 2023 purchasing demand for VPNs has reportedly increased by a massive 60,000%, and Ethiopia’s by 3651%.

Key insights on the findings:

• Searches across the top 10 countries increased an average of 97% from 2022– with not a single decrease showing that internet freedom is getting worse globally.
• Ethiopia was the highest new entry at #2with a VPN search score of 99 out of 100 due to the civil unrest that took place, with the government blocking access to social media in February 2023.
• African nations Senegal and Uganda feature in #9 and #10, respectively, due to their government’s continued efforts to censor critical speech.
• Turkmenistan was #1 across 2022-2023– with a max search score of 100 for both years – even though VPNs are technically considered illegal there.
• Afghanistan had the largest YoY increase of 156%, due to the Taliban’s continued efforts to censor Afghani’s internet.

The search and use of VPNs often indicates the need for citizens to bypass oppressive internet censorship (#InternetShutdown) imposed by their governments.

To understand more behind the results and rises, Techopedia looked at the political and cultural events that occurred in each country across 2023 and how they affected online activity.

Here’s a table breakdown of the research:

For additional context, the report also looks at the key insights of VPN users in general including VPN work vs. daily use, demographic data, and usage reasons. An infographic of this research (featured in the report) is open for use and can be accessed on this Google Drive.

Nick Francis, Editor of Techopedia, had this to comment on the research:

“Many of the countries featured come as no surprise considering their well-known restrictions towards online freedoms. The new entries and largest rises give an insightful look into how more current governments are quickly restricting internet access for their citizens as soon as civil unrest unfolds. It’s troubling, but not surprising. 

It’ll be interesting to follow these search trends going forwards and see how it correlates with further developments in each country.”

This represents a $298 million increase compared to the same quarter in 2022. In the same period, security appliance shipments grew 22.0% year over year to 1.1 million units.

IDC completed an update to its Security Appliances taxonomy and applied these changes during the first quarter of 2023.

This resized the market by removing revenues associated with software and services that don’t qualify for reporting within the new hardware-focused market view.

The 2Q23 Security Appliance Tracker release includes new figures, Vendor Revenue (new hardware revenue), and Renewals/Firmware update revenue, which were introduced during the previous cycle, 1Q23. IDC will use the figure “Total Market Revenue” to calculate market share going forward.

The performance of the combined Unified Threat Management (UTM) and Firewall markets drove the growth of the overall market in 2Q23 with revenue growth of 9.7% compared to 2Q22.

The Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) market grew 2.3% year over year, while Content Management and Virtual Private Networks (VPN) both experienced single-digit year-over-year decline in the quarter.

“Supply chain constraints that have impacted the hardware-based markets continue to improve and IDC expects the Security Appliance market to maintain a healthy rate of growth in the years ahead as hardware-based security platforms remain a key component in a customer’s cybersecurity investment strategy,” said Carlo Dávila, research manager, Enterprise Trackers at IDC.

Regional Highlights

From a regional perspective, the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region delivered a strong performance in the second quarter of 2023, growing revenues 11.8% compared with the same quarter in 2022. The Americas region grew 10.3% with healthy grow of 8.6% in the United States and very strong results in Canada and Latin America, both showing over 20% growth in the second quarter.

Top 5 Companies, Worldwide Security Appliance Total Market Revenue, Market Share and Growth, Second Quarter of 2023 (revenue in US$ millions)

IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Security Appliance Tracker provides the total market size and vendor share, along with a five-year forecast, for the following technology categories (content management, IDP, traditional firewall, unified threat management, and VPN) and products (messaging security, web security, IDS, IPS, traditional firewall, unified threat management and SSL VPN).

Geographic coverage includes nine regions and 48 countries. Measurements for this tracker are in units, vendor revenue, and value.

This happened barely two hours after the EFCC secured the conviction of three smugglers – arrested with 1,144 ATM Cards at the same airport.

It is becoming clear that cybercrime is no longer the exclusive preserve of the southern part of Nigeria; with Lagos notoriously known as the “cybercrime capital of West Africa”, the crime is fast spreading like wild fire to other parts of the country.

The year 2021 witnessed massive cyberattacks that affected private organisations, government agencies, individuals, and supply chains globally. Nigeria had its fair share of cyberattacks and compromise albeit largely underreported.

On December 9, an acute Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability was reported in the Apache logging package Log4j 2 versions 2.14.1 that shook the internet.

By December 10, more than 3.7 million hacking attempts had been made to exploit the vulnerability, according to leading cybersecurity firm Checkpoint, with more than 46% conducted by known malicious groups.

2022 is expected to witness an escalation in cyberattacks and cybercrime from what we witnessed in 2021.

The 2022 Nigeria Cybersecurity Threat Landscape enunciated here is based on cybersecurity trends in Nigeria and around the world, coupled with insights from leaders and global experts who assess the evolving cyber environment and the security threats we currently face.

From Ransomware and Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams to deepfakes, these predictions are based on existing trends while incorporating the behaviour of cybercriminals and changing technological innovations.

The year 2021 witnessed unprecedented Ransomware attacks with the rise of Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) groups on the Darkweb. The average amount of reported Ransomware transactions per month in 2021 was $102.3 million, according to FinCEN Report.

Approximately 37% of global organizations said they were victims of some form of a Ransomware attack in 2021, according to IDC’s “2021 Ransomware Study.”

In 2022, the Ransomware threat and level of severity of ransomware attacks will grow. With Ransomware becoming the new digital pandemic, we expect to see the highest reported ransom paid by organisations in 2022 and disruption of service with maximum impact in terms of financial loss.

The loss would not only be calculated based on ransom paid, but in terms of financial losses due to service unavailability, loss of market share, and a drop in stakeholder confidence, amongst other factors.

As the 2023 Nigeria general elections draw nearer, the use of Deepfakes and fake news will rise in 2022. Deepfakes are videos, images, or audio recordings that are manipulated by AI technology.

In a deepfake, an individual can be presented as saying or doing something that didn’t happen.  Deepfakes are typically used to slander targets, manipulate events, falsify statements, or evidence, and create scandals. They’re made with artificial intelligence software that maps targeted people’s faces into scenes and onto other people’s bodies, or otherwise manipulate parts of videos.

The Deepfakes threat has also been used to facilitate business email compromise (BEC) fraud, bypass Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) protocols, and Know Your Customer (KYC) ID verification, and will be increasingly used in 2022 and beyond.

Closely related to Deepfakes is Fake news.  Fake news has become a new attack vector in the past few years.

Throughout 2021, misinformation was spread about the COVID-19 pandemic, and vaccination information with the black market for fake vaccine certificates and fake PCR test results expanding globally, with several countries recording fake vaccine and test certificates for travellers. Fake ‘vaccine passport’ certificates are now on sale for $100-120  in the darkweb.

In 2022, cybercriminal groups will continue to leverage these types of fake news campaigns and fake covid documents to execute cybercrime through various phishing attacks and scams. Other likely effects of the election season are website defacement, DDoS attacks, spear phishing, and BEC.

The growth of cloud adoption through 2022 will coincide with the increase of cloud compromise and abuse. As organizations continue to rely on the cloud and cloud-hosted third-party providers, those third parties face mounting pressure to maintain confidentiality, integrity, and availability of customers’ data.

Cloud security misconfiguration and supply chain attacks will rank among the top cyber threats in 2022.  Towards the end of 2020, there was a devastating SolarWinds breach and in July 2021, the REvil ransomware gang exploited a Zero Day in Kaseya VSA to launch a supply-chain attack on its customers.

Neither of these attacks occurred in isolation. In 2022, we can expect that cybercrime gangs will continue to seek ways to hijack the digital transformation of organisations to deploy malicious code, infiltrate networks, and gain persistence in systems all over the world.

Insider threats pose a serious challenge for banks and other financial institutions in Nigeria.  Collusion between trusted insiders and cybercriminals will continue to increase in 2022.

The majority of frauds in the banking sector were perpetrated through insider information leaks. Fake alerts, sim swap scams, ATM card clones, use of ATM skimmers, and the likes, are highly successful when a bank insider is involved.

An insider threat is a malicious threat that comes from people within the organisation, such as employees, former employees, contractors, or business associates, who have privileged information concerning the organisation’s mode of operations and access to confidential information, which can assist cybercriminals to compromise the organisation or its customers.

According to a report by Abnormal Security in August 2021, a Nigeria-based ransomware gang was conducting a campaign that dangles a $1 million bribe, or a portion of any ransom collected to employees of targeted organisations if they will install ransomware on their corporate network.

It is expected that this kind of baits will be taken by more insiders in 2022 as inflation and other economic ills make life tougher for the average Nigerian.

The shift to remote work has moved from a temporary measure to help curb the spread of the virus to a more permanent strategy for many businesses.

A global survey conducted by Gartner found that 88% of organisations all over the world mandated or encouraged all their employees to work from home as the coronavirus started to spread at exponential rates. Furthermore, about 97% of the organizations immediately cancelled all work-related travel.

According to Gartner, almost 50% of employees will continue to work remotely post COVID-19. With the Omicron covid variant spreading globally, remote working will continue to be the preferred option for a very long time. Remote work will also continue to be exploited by cybercriminals in 2022.

This will come in form of phishing, man-in-the-middle attacks, malware attacks, and session hijacking.

Remote working has reshaped the threat landscape and has created new opportunities for attackers to change their approaches; and we expect this to get worse in the New Year. With more attackers entering the market with malware-as-a-service campaigns, bad actors will continue to target the essential tools that the virtual workforce is using.

These include Virtual Private Networks (VPN); which have weak security, exposed servers, and exchange email services and web applications.

Attackers will continue to exploit these servers and services or brute force them due to inefficient hardening practices.

Remi Afon is the President, Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN)