When most people hear “trust issues”, they think of breakups or drama-filled pop songs. But whenever money is involved (especially in the cryptocurrency realm), there’s a more expensive version: every misplaced trust can empty a wallet. Blockchains promise trustless systems; math instead of middlemen, but the human layer still relies on good faith. Scammers know it, weaponize it, and cash out while we’re still wondering if that link looks odd.
So yes, we really do have “trust issues” because trust is what they count on and what we lose.

Cybersecurity conference, Kraków, Poland

Telegram - scammer’s playground

Some people say that less than 1% of random interactions on Telegram are not a scam. Honestly, I think that’s wishful thinking. I’m pretty sure scammers filled out that poll themselves, and even they couldn’t find enough real users to prey on.
Why do we even have that group? Well, for some reason, crypto projects keep defaulting to Telegram as their main channel. Nobody knows why, but here we are. And even if we shut the group down, scammers would keep doing their thing, thrilled to work without volunteer mods slowing them down.

I talked to GandaIf recently

So, you know how, with all the scams flooding Telegram groups, there’s this well known rule: mods and admins will never DM you first?
And yet, when someone shows up with a problem, an impostor immediately jumps in, posting in the group, and also reminding everyone that “admins will never DM you first.”
The attacker’s hoping the victim will start the conversation before any real mods or admins have a chance to ban them.
And you can't really tell if it’s too late. The only way to stop it might be... to DM the potential victim.
But admins never DM first, right?

Anyway, I talked to the attacker for a couple of minutes. Shockingly, he replied. I figured maybe I’d learn something useful about a scam targeting Russian-speaking users. But in this case, the “attacker” turned out to be some tech-illiterate, clueless dude hoping to get lucky.
When caught red-handed, he... asked me to send him tokens.
Of course, after a little talk, he gave up his address and was totally ready to download and run random software if it meant he might get free tokens from me.
So yeah... be careful out there. Because getting fooled by scammers this dumb? That’s the real pain.

Only fools would fall for that (?)

Fools will fall for it, yes, but not only fools. Sometimes the adversary isn’t as dumb as the one I ran into recently. Sometimes someone’s just having a rough day. Maybe they’re distracted, or they miss a tiny detail, like a typo. Because you didn’t. You caught that one earlier, right?
You do know that out of all the lookalikes, there are only two real Gandalfs in that group, right?

Gandalf Gandɑlf Gаndɑlf Gɑndаlf Ganԁalf Ganɗalf
Gаnԁalf Ganԁаlf Gɑnԁalf Ganԁɑlf Gаnԁɑlf Gɑnԁаlf
Gаnɗalf Ganɗаlf Gɑnɗalf Ganɗɑlf Gаnɗɑlf Gɑnɗаlf
GandaIf Gandaӏf GаndaIf GandаIf GɑndaIf GandɑIf
GаndɑIf GɑndаIf Gаndaӏf Gandаӏf Gɑndaӏf Gandɑӏf
Gаndɑӏf Gɑndаӏf GаnԁaIf GanԁаIf GɑnԁaIf GanԁɑIf
GаnԁɑIf GɑnԁаIf Gаnԁaӏf Ganԁаӏf Gɑnԁaӏf Ganԁɑӏf
Gаnԁɑӏf Gɑnԁаӏf GаnɗaIf GanɗаIf GɑnɗaIf GanɗɑIf
GаnɗɑIf GɑnɗаIf Gаnɗaӏf Ganɗаӏf Gɑnɗaӏf Ganɗɑӏf
Gаnɗɑӏf Gɑnɗаӏf Gаndalf Gandаlf Gɑndalf Gandalf

(It's easier for you to spot homoglyphs here because they are right next to each other)

So why was that scammer trying to be helpful? Easy. He was replying to users who were reporting issues. There's a higher chance that people who don’t fully understand the tech they’re dealing with will fall for scams like this, especially if they’ve already been scammed and are now looking for help.
And if they were fooled once, they’re even more vulnerable. They're stressed. They're hoping someone’s actually going to help this time.
Don’t get me wrong — this isn’t just about Telegram, and it’s not just about random strangers.
Even on a platform like OpenHive.Chat, where users have to authenticate with Hive and use actual Hive usernames (which are limited to alphanumeric characters, making scam tricks harder), you still need to be careful.
If your friend leaks their private posting key, an attacker can message you on their behalf, maybe saying they urgently need to borrow some tokens.

( @victoriabsb spotted a scammer once because she knew I’d never ask for BTC instead of HIVE ;-) )

And while impersonating a mod in a Telegram group might feel like a cryptocurrency-specific scam, it’s really just one flavor of a much bigger problem: identity theft. Same tactics, different masks.
We’ve seen fake founders, fake support agents, fake investors, and yes, even fake celebrities. Some people have been tricked into wiring money or buying plane tickets for scammers posing as actors or pop stars, promising love or a personal visit.

Bold ones are easier to spot

^{Above images in this article are artificially generated. While they may depict individuals resembling real celebrities, these images are not real photographs and are not endorsed or affiliated with any actual person. They are used exclusively for educational purposes.}

Sure, those wild scams sound ridiculous, and they are. Bold ones are maybe easier to spot, but it’s the smaller, quieter scams you need to watch for.
Like someone with a brand-new account and a profile picture of a pretty, half-naked person (who - spoiler alert - doesn’t even exist), posting a sad story about losing everything and needing just a little help.
They get upvotes, sympathy, maybe even transfers.
All based on a fake photo and a story that’s been copy-pasted a hundred times.
Sometimes the scam doesn’t scream. Sometimes it just looks good and sounds sad.

Paranoid?

Do I want you to become paranoid?
No.
But thinking about all this, just a little, could make all the difference.
A bit of healthy skepticism can save the day.