How To Avoid Bitcoin Scams…

Dear All,

Holding Bitcoin is the absolute safest and most secure way of holding, storing and moving money that has ever existed in human history.

Indeed, the Bitcoin network has never been hacked.

Thats because its mathematically impossible to do so, which is how the system was designed to work.

To keep this guide “KISS” (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) I won’t go in to *why* its mathematically impossible, but it is. You can verify this by doing your own research, or I may write an article explaining why its impossible to hack Bitcoin in the near future :-)

Because Bitcoin is so valuable, and it’s understood by many that it will go up in value “forever” against other assets, there are MANY so called “Bitcoin scams”.

Indeed, I get calls and emails every week pushing ever more “sophisticated” scams to steal my Bitcoin.

However, the good news is that if you have a very basic understanding of some fundamental concepts about Bitcoin, these scams are effortless to avoid and your Bitcoin CAN NOT be stolen.

These are the golden rules that — if you follow them — mean no one can ever take your Bitcoin:

1) Take SELF CUSTODY of Your Bitcoin:

This means that you should never keep your Bitcoin on an exchange, or any other kind of “app”. If you keep your Bitcoin on an exchange, it is not your Bitcoin!

Of course, you’ll probably have to buy your Bitcoin on an exchange. But the important thing is to withdraw it to a wallet you control — a “self custody wallet” — as soon as you’ve bought it.

If you don’t control your own Bitcoin — in other words if it isn’t stored in a wallet that you control — it is not yours! You merely have a “claim” on it.

A bad actor such as a criminal or compromised employee of the exchange may steal “your” Bitcoin. Or a rogue government, desperate for money and control, may co-opt the exchange to send them “your” Bitcoin.

An even bigger risk is that the exchange may not be fully reserved, and doesn’t even hold the Bitcoin they say they do in the first place. When there is a “run” on the exchange, you will be left without some or all of “your” Bitcoin.

If you don’t want to use an exchange at all (which entails some “headache” usually of dealing with your Bank, proving your identity etc), you could consider the Member Buying Service we offer Members.

We’ll also advise you on which wallet to choose and how to set it up (which is actually very easy to do).

2) Store Your Private Key & Recovery Seed Phrase SECURELY:

Your Private Key is the what allows you, in combination with your “Public” Key to move and spend your Bitcoin.

This is done automatically by your wallet, so even if it sounds complicated, its not :-)

Your Seed Phrase is the human readable version of this Private / Public Key pair.

If someone has your Seed Phrase, they can control (i.e. steal) your Bitcoin!

So it must, must, MUST, be stored securely.

You should keep it in physical form (written down and physically stored securely) and not store it online (sent to yourself in an email, or in a photo in your phone for example), where a hacker could access it and steal your Bitcoin.

You should also never read your seed phrase out loud, because modern “smart” devices are always listening.

3) Never, Never, Never, *EVER* Enter Your Private Key or Recovery Seed Phrase Online:

Under no circumstances should you ever enter your Private Key or Seed Phrase online.

There are no exceptions.

If you do this, you WILL lose your Bitcoin.

There are lots of very convincing scams that persuade new Bitcoiners to do this, for example:

Let’s say you use the exchange Coinbase to buy and — god forbid — store your Bitcoin.

Coinbase send you an email saying:

“We have discovered a critical security vulnerability. We have a sophisticated hacker attacking our system and your Bitcoin is at risk.

Please URGENTLY go to our website at this link and enter your Seed Phrase. You will then be able to move your Bitcoin to a secure Vault.

Time is of the essence – it’s essential you act now to secure the threat against your Bitcoin”.

You may also receive a phone call from an American or British sounding “employee” of Coinbase, confirming that the email is “real”, which makes you think that this must be legitimate.

If you don’t know this hard, non-negotiable rule (NEVER enter your private key or seed phrase online) you may, out of fear, do exactly what the attacker asks.

And you will lose your Bitcoin.

If you buy Bitcoin, memorise these 3 key rules and you will be safe.

And the most important rule of all:

If you are ever in any doubt about what you are doing, STOP and ask someone you trust who knows more than you do about the subject.

If you have no Bitcoin expert to ask, ask me and I’ll be happy to help.

I may not be able to reply immediately, but if you have any doubt, or if you think there is an exception to the above 3 rules (there is not), freeze and ask for a second opinion.

Once you internalise the 3 golden rules above, you can sleep soundly at night knowing that your Bitcoin is safe and secure.

The Bitcoin security rabbit hole does go a lot deeper, with ideas such as “multi sig” wallets; geographical distribution; storing your seed phrase on metal plates rather than paper; never having any electronic device present in the room when writing down your seed phrase, and so on.

However, this is really too much information for a beginner, and only serves to put you off getting the basics right in my opinion.

With Bitcoin, you should start with getting the 3 basics above right, because that’s 99.999% of the picture.

As your wealth in Bitcoin grows, so with it does your interest and knowledge about Bitcoin.

And so, you – or your family – can upgrade your security arrangements at any time in the future at your leisure.

“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good” should be your motto here :-)

If you follow the 3 Golden Rules on this page, you are set.

Memorise them, print them out, whatever you need to do.

1) Self Custody your Bitcoin;
2) Keep your Private Key/Recovery Seed secure;
3) Never enter your Private Key/Recovery Seed online.

By FOLLOWING THEM you can be sure you’ll never lose your Bitcoin to a scammer or hacker.

All the best,

Adam
P.S. The brand new Member Report on how to multiply your Bitcoin holdings by strategically trading in near market lows and out near market highs just launched this week. Here’s a quick screenshot of the Report:

There is a 50% Discount for the first 100 Members who order it.

You can get a copy here (it’s half price for the first 100 Members to order :-)