My dearest blog readers, you might like my new adventure jumping into the NFT market or not – print on demand will always stay my favourite hobby! Although I have just started a few weeks ago and have already sold one NFT (YAY 💥) the huge amount of scammers trying to rip me and you off is still amazing to me!
I mean, I have been buying and selling on marketplaces like Ebay since the 1990s and even had my fair share of Facebook marketplace scammers but NFTs are a whole new level…
I am trying to post this blog article hoping a few will read it and benefit from it as you can literally trust no one when it is about NFTs. I mean, I had posted a few of my AI art pieces as NFTs and as soon as I started to promote them on Twitter, the scammers jumped onto me like mosquitos!
Before I had my first true sale, I had collected about 30 scammers. Wow… what a sad ratio!
But what are they doing? And how do they want to scam you? And most important: How to protect yourself and not get scammed?
It’s rather easy and most scams follow the same tactics, there are not many different ways.
When you start listing your NFTs you decide on a marketplace, like Ebay or Etsy in the “real world” for “real items”. I had chosen OpenSea since it is a big marketplace and is not limited to only one currency. I can recommend OpenSea but you can basically choose whatever floats your e-boat. Scammers do not limit their fishing nets by marketplace, so neither marketplace is more safe than the other although OpenSea’s support team is really great trying to help you!
Imagine little me listing a few NFTs on OpenSea while dreaming of selling my art and making a few bucks in a new (at least new to me) market. Little me shares them on Twitter and the mean scammers do see my tweets and start sending me direct messages via Twitter:
“Hey there bro, I want to buy your art, do you have collections that I can buy?”
Wow, sounds awesome, a whole collection. Of course I have a collection that I eagerly share.
“Great artwork, let me calculate a price for the whole collection”
Little me is intrigued, the whole collection? That might mean a total of $100 (real dollars)!
“I want them all, the whole collection, I will pay *enter a random high amount here that equals to something between $1,000 and $10,000*. Is that ok?”
Wholy f***? So much money…. after the first shock I will eagerly reply and thank the potential collector. I am soooo flattered!
“At this is a high amount I am sure you will understand that I need more security for this transaction. I do not want to get scammed. You understand?”
Oh, of course…. No one wants to be scammed… So I do agree – more safety does always sound good, right?
“Do you have Discord? I will arange a private chat room and get one of OpenSea’s staff members to personally overlook our deal!”
BAAAAAM!!!! This is it, the ultimate scam. If you have not been suspicious until here (sorry, but the promised sum for the whole collection has already been a warning flag) you should stop the conversation right now and right here.
OpenSea – and I guess other marketplaces as well – is a safe marketplace and NEVER EVER will any of their staff members overlook a transaction personally.
The scammers want your wallet address and move your money into their wallets.
Please, never ever agree to meet with anyone on Discord or whatever other platform to seal a deal.
Do you know how you will sell your NFTs on a marketplace? The buyer will probably not contact you, why would they? They will buy it and you will receive a notification in your emails. Easy and no contact needed.
Zizzling Zazzle - Christine aka stine1 blogging 