How to Avoid Crypto Scams: ZachXBT’s Two Critical Checks You Need to Know

ZachXBT, a well-known blockchain investigator, recently shared two key “minimum checks” on Telegram to avoid crypto scams.

He emphasized that users must accept full financial responsibility if they take risks in these situations and added that recovering lost funds would be extremely difficult.

Evaluating a Project’s Credibility is Crucial

ZachXBT highlighted two critical scenarios: depositing funds into forked DeFi protocols on newly launched EVM chains and getting scammed by projects with few smart followers on Kaito.

“If you make either of these decisions, it is your own personal choice to risk funds, and I will NOT help you,” ZachXBT stressed.

Many newly launched DeFi protocols on EVM chains are replicas of existing ones. Their teams often do not create original code but instead, fork from established protocols. This process requires minimal technical skills yet introduces significant security risks.

A recent incident highlighted the risks in the DeFi space. The DeFi protocol SIR.trading was reportedly hacked, leading to an estimated loss of $350,000. Despite the project’s documentation promoting it as a “new DeFi protocol for safer leveraged trading,” it acknowledged the risks related to smart contract vulnerabilities.

This case illustrates how new DeFi protocols often become targets for hackers. Additionally, in late March, the DeFi lending protocol Abracadabra suffered a loss of approximately $13 million due to an exploit involving collateralized tokens.

The second situation ZachXBT warned about involves getting “rugged” (falling victim to a rug pull) by projects with few smart followers on Kaito. Kaito is an AI-powered analysis tool that measures real community interest. He advised that checking followers’ numbers and quality is a basic step to avoid falling for projects that use fake engagement or empty marketing hype.

Investor Xero agreed with ZachXBT, stating that Kaito can be a credibility assessment tool.

“Kaito has become an amazing security and reputation tool that I value over others. It can help you identify an impersonator or a new rug project fast. If a 40k+ follower project isn’t connecting with real smart followers, it’s not legit,” Investor Xero commented.

Other Emerging Crypto Scams

In addition to ZachXBT’s warnings, several new scam tactics have recently been flagged.

Investor Jerome warned about a scheme that exploits browsers’ automatic download function to trick users into downloading malicious software.

Another method involves scammers creating and sending small transactions. They would be often as little as 0.001 tokens—using fake wallet addresses that closely resemble legitimate ones. Their goal is to deceive users into copying and pasting the fraudulent address when making future transactions.

Additionally, Microsoft has identified StilachiRAT, a new remote access trojan specifically designed to target cryptocurrency wallets and login credentials.

According to a Chainalysis report, from 2021 to 2024, decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms have been the primary targets of crypto hacks.

Amount of Funds Stolen by Victim Platform Type. Source: Chainalysis

The report explains that DeFi platforms may be more vulnerable because developers prioritize rapid growth and launch over security measures. This lack of security focus makes them prime targets for hackers.

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