Scammers generate enthusiasm over great crypto events, and the latest Ethereum (ETH) merge is no different. With the merger of Ethereum Mainnet, one ought to be cautious of fraudulent activities to avoid falling prey to them. However, fraudulent activities in the crypto industry do not follow a generic trend. Instead, they devise new strategies to fool users. Here are 3 ways scammers can lure you into malicious activities with the Ethereum merge.
With the Ethereum merge, scammers might innovate dummy Ethereum tokens and develop fake mining pools and airdrops.
With Ethereum's upgrade to a Proof of Stake consensus mechanism, investors may expect new Ethereum tokens. However, Ethereum Foundation clarified there would be no ETH2 tokens to curb the possibility of faking them. However, the risk of scammers making a dummy ETH token is not impossible. Thus, Ethereum generated a statement for all investors and users regarding their upgrade.
As a part of the project, users will not have to upgrade their currency or token to a new one for the recent merger. Thus, any activity asking one to do so is a clear red flag. Users must be careful of such notifications and avoid buying any ETH2 token, as there are none.
There is widespread confusion about the new shift to a Proof-of-Stake consensus. Such a situation optimizes opportunities for scammers to initiate fake mining pools. The foundation released a statement detecting similar mining pools targeting self-custody wallet users. Such mining pools often go undetected owing to their apparent official website or platform that allows users to put their funds in the pool.
However, one must be careful of such mining pools and refrain from using any site or platform apart from Ethereum's original one. True, detecting these in one go may be challenging, but checking out the website one uses, can help them avoid trouble. In short, verify before you plunge into the pool.
Fraudulent mining pools might also take the form of customer services, luring you into chatting with their bots. Such chatbots try to allure customer details by promising to offer help. Of course, newbies in the industry might step into such traps.
Fake airdrop may be another way of phishing financial details and assets from users. Such tokens might be used in free promotional events offered to users. The Web3 cybersecurity cell claimed that such airdrops are designed to access users' financial details and assets. Often the users end up clicking on phishing sites and linking their digital assets with them.
Thus, while the recent Ethereum merger is to change the face of the crypto industry by including energy-efficient mechanisms, it isn't devoid of scams. Hence, investors must be cautious of such fraudulent activities and protect their assets.