My name is Heidi. I've run a YouTube channel called Crypto Tips since 2016
I've actually been invested in and involved with cryptocurrency since 2014. I'm really interested in really why they were created and much more on the fundamental side
and the long-term outlook of this whole space and where it could go in the future
What are the typical scams that you've run in your eight-year career that could happen
What shall we warn our consumers? Unfortunately, they are on all levels of your involvement in cryptocurrencies
But the good thing is that once you're able to spot them and understand how to find them
they're very easy to find and to avoid. On the higher level of cryptocurrencies, the scams can be people are launching a new coin
and they get these new investors and then they never launch the coin or they launch the coin
and then they're the major holders of that coin and they just sell them all on the market
and your coin price plummets. Really obvious sign that it's a scam is when someone is contacting you
claiming to be either a... I have many people trying to impersonate me on Instagram, on Twitter, on YouTube
and they're indicating a lot of different YouTubers or people in the public eye of this crypto
They're contacting you with a special investment and they're, you know, it's a secret and they're only contacting certain people
Whether they have a trading bot that's guaranteeing returns or it's a mining operation
and you can invest or it's a new project or something that they're working on
The number one red flag is are they contacting you? That's easy
It's a scam. Very easy. Most people who are successful in cryptocurrency and are in the public eye are very busy
and they're not going to be individually messaging people. They might make a video about it
So basically, my face and my voice is not saying these things
It's not me. It's someone else impersonating me. But that's number one
Also, another form of scam that's very common with cryptocurrencies is if you're dealing with, let's say, a ledger hardware wallet or a wallet that you control
a very common phrase in cryptocurrencies is not your keys, not your coins
And that's referring to the way that you secure your cryptocurrency investments
and that is involving a private key. The thing with the private key is whoever has access to that key
has access to withdraw those coins. So there are people who create things called fisting attacks
where they might send you an email with a bad link and then they contact you for whatever reason
Or if you are actually trying to reach out to the support team of, let's say, a wallet provider
And usually, if you Google it and it's the first thing listed, it's an advertisement and it's scammy
Or if you're talking to someone in a telegram group, it's actually very common for scam artists
But basically, if you're talking to a scam artist, the number one thing you should never, ever, ever give out is your private key
And if anyone is asking you to give them your private key
they will take your coins and they will never give it back to you. It is not a legitimate site
It's not illegitimate anything. It's a scam. So those are really easy red flags to identify
And if you can avoid those, you will be far better off in this space
My recommendation is to, if you're invested right now in cryptocurrencies and you're feeling nervous or just unsure of what it is you actually invested in
what aren't you understanding that all these other people who seem to be very confident in their investments
what do they know that you don't? Um, the number one thing that you should start looking into
is why cryptocurrencies were created. Look at the cypherpunks movement. Also, keep in mind a long-term perspective
If you're only able to invest for a very short period of time
chances are you're going to be trying to make shortcuts to get profits in cryptocurrencies
And very, very, very likely that you will lose money that way
So be conservative, have a long-term outlook and educate yourself along the way
And I think you will be benefiting in many more ways than one with that
Heidi, I would like to thank you for your time. Your experience is valuable to our customers, our viewers
I appreciate your time with your friends and us and welcome back. Thank you, Michael
Thank you