Security Tips For All Cardano Users

Since the scammers seem to be really stepping up with their methods and praying on the Cardano project’s users, here are a couple of tips.

Social Media / Support

1. When joining the project’s social media channels, it’s best to use the links from the official website.
2. Admins/Support will not send you the message first. If you message them, make sure they are the admins and not someone impersonating them (especially if you decide to shout out for help on the channel publicly).
3. Most projects, whether DEXs, WALLETS, etc, do not have the support channels like the Telegram ones. So don’t just go on Telegram and search for “Ledger support,” for example. The 50k channel members (bots) cost them 20$-30$, so it looks more convincing.
4. Giveaways or the “huge opportunities” scams. There are many fraudulent posts on social media. You will usually be taken to the “verification step” or asked to send some payment.

Websites / Wallets / Apps / Google

1. The same goes for websites. Either they offer “support” to solve your problem, free stuff, or whatever — you never share the recovery phrase of your Cardano wallet. In fact, you never share it with anyone or anywhere.
2. Be cautious with which DApps - Websites you want your wallet to interact with, and you can check the list of the ones you already approved in your wallet and remove them.
3. When you do the search on Google never click the Google Ads links.
4. Fake websites often have domain names similar to those they attempt to mimic.
5. Fake wallets and other apps. Again, use the links from the official project’s websites. If the app is on Google Play or Apple App Store, it does not necessarily mean it’s legit. While they will probably remove it in a week, they can steal a lot of cryptocurrency by then.

Recent Case: One of our community members felt for the Cardano Nami wallet fake app scam on Google Play.

Emails

1. Lead you to a point where you need to use your wallet for any purpose. If you believe it is some official announcement of the project you follow, exchange, etc., again, use the official website/channels to check it out first and go from there.
2. Fake wallet updates.
3. Do not download the files that include the .exe (executable file) — a program you are supposed to run on your device.