According to CryptoScamDB, there are now more than 6,800 crypto scam sites trying to fleece people out of their hard earned crypto, a sharp increase since the beginning of 2019.
The site, run by MyCrypto–and formally called Etherscam–shows there are hundreds of websites that appear to impersonate Ethereum-wallet creator MyEtherWallet, but are really just phishing attempts. In contrast, the list shows just a handful of impersonators of crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance.
The database is important because it provides a snapshot of profligacy within the industry. Its estimated that $9 million a day is lost in crypto scams around the world, although this figure does include crypto exchange hacks and thefts. While the data on the site is static, rather than showing historical trends over time, MyCrypto’s data shows some correlation between how much money is sloshing through crypto and how many scam sites appear. During the crypto winter of 2018, scams dwindled, but as prices have recovered in 2019, the scammers came back.
The website was first created to help identify websites that impersonate popular crypto sites with the intention of stealing the unwitting visitor’s money. It includes sites that appear to be Ponzi schemes or that steal users’ private keys. Since then, the sophistication of scams has increased.
Back in January, scammers tried profiting off the Ethereum Constantinople hard fork. While a hard fork does sometimes result in two blockchains (such as Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash), this one didn’t. But it didn’t stop the scammers claiming such. Both Ethereum Nowa and Ethereum Classic Vision offered new coins—and neither were to be trusted.
MyCrypto is an open-source tool for generating Ethereum-based wallets and interacting with the Ethereum blockchain. It also offers a block explorer for the privacy coin Monero. If you’re ever in doubt, the site has the correct domain names for official states. To avoid being another statistic, make sure to check that a website is what it claims to be.