The purpose of this article is to raise the awareness of common scams among peer to peer trading communities; consequently, this will help you identify potential risks and minimise the loss of your assets.
Targeted victims of this scam: P2P merchants (victim A), and individual users on decentralized platforms (victim B).
How does this scam work:
Step 1: The scammer will approach a merchant (A) through their P2P selling ads on a centralized exchange. Let’s suppose the deal is equivalent to 400 USDT. The trade will go into escrow.
Step 2: The scammer will put up an attractive ad through a decentralized platform such as Telegram groups, worth exactly 400 USDT. This ad will be for an item such as an iPhone which is actually worth much more than 400 USDT.
Step 3: The victim in the Telegram group (B) approaches the scammer to buy the item i.e. iPhone. The scammer will give the P2P merchant A’s account details to the Telegram group victim B.
Step 4: B will transfer an equivalent of 400 USDT’s fiat to A’s account. A received the fiat payment from B, and will release the 400 USDT to the scammer’s crypto address.
Step 5: The scammer will delete the contacts of both victims. when B does not receive the iPhone, they may go to the police to file a complaint; and the only information that they can provide is victim A’s bank account details. The bank may then proceed to freeze A’s bank account for a long period of time.
How to reduce your trading risk and avoid being scammed:
Targeted victims of this scam: P2P merchants (victim A), and individual users on decentralized platforms (victim B).
How does this scam work:
Step 1: The scammer will approach a merchant (A) through their P2P selling ads on a centralized exchange. Let’s suppose the deal is equivalent to 400 USDT. The trade will go into escrow.
Step 2: The scammer will put up an attractive ad through a decentralized platform such as Telegram groups, worth exactly 400 USDT. This ad will be for an item such as an iPhone which is actually worth much more than 400 USDT.
Step 3: The victim in the Telegram group (B) approaches the scammer to buy the item i.e. iPhone. The scammer will give the P2P merchant A’s account details to the Telegram group victim B.
Step 4: B will transfer an equivalent of 400 USDT’s fiat to A’s account. A received the fiat payment from B, and will release the 400 USDT to the scammer’s crypto address.
Step 5: The scammer will delete the contacts of both victims. when B does not receive the iPhone, they may go to the police to file a complaint; and the only information that they can provide is victim A’s bank account details. The bank may then proceed to freeze A’s bank account for a long period of time.
How to reduce your trading risk and avoid being scammed:
- Strictly accept payment and make payment from/to the same payment account and method that your counterparty provided on Gate.
- Trade a small amount first to test out the accountability of the counterparty.
- Ask for further information on your trading counterparty.
- Choose a counterparty that has good ratings on the platform.
- Contact the Customer Service Team immediately if your trade didn’t go through as expected.
