How to protect yourself from cryptocurrency fraud

Anyone entering the cryptocurrency market must take steps to avoid becoming a victim of theft. This includes:

• Keeping private keys safe and secret. Whoever knows your private key can access and spend/move your cryptocurrency.
• Keeping your wealth private. This will make you less likely to become the victim of a hack, extortion or ransom attack.
• Practising good online security practices (e.g. password management, protection from viruses and malware, not clicking on dodgy links, etc.)
• Understanding that Exchanges are not secure and, as such, have become a particular target of crypto thieves.
• Not storing too much in desktop or mobile wallets as these are susceptible to hackers.
• Using a paper wallet (offline wallet). Because they are offline, they are less vulnerable to attacks. There are paper wallet generators to help you to do this.
• Using a hardware wallet. These are more secure than desktop or mobile wallets (hot wallets) and are only accessible with your private key.
• Splitting your wealth into different wallets to reduce the damage should your wallet become vulnerable.
• Being wary of any offers to buy your crypto assets at way over the market price. There are examples of such transactions taking place face-to-face with sellers coerced into making the transfer without payment. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.