At Gate.io, the safety and security of users’ assets is our top priority. In this blog, we gathered some common scams that could occur in P2P trading, so you can watch out for them when trading P2P.
1. Impersonating
The counterparty would use a different account that belongs to someone else to trade with you.
For example - sell order scam:
You have an order to sell cryptocurrency. The scammer contacts another victim which has a buy order; the scammer asks the other victim to transfer funds to your account; you receive the money and release the crypto. The crypto would go to the scammer’s account.
To avoid this kind of scam, you need to strictly make sure the fiat account that you are trading with is exactly the same with the counterparty’s account information.
2. Forged proof of payment
Some scammers would send a fake/photoshopped proof of payment, such as a screenshot of a transaction receipt, a SMS notice of payment made. Also, along with the photo/screenshot they send, they may rush you to release the crypto as well.
Therefore, to protect yourself, you must check your own fund’s recipient account to make sure that you have actually received the payment, before releasing the crypto.
3. Chargeback scam
Chargeback scam is one of the many common scams that would occur in over-the-counter tradings. Some payment platforms have a chargeback policy to protect their users when their accounts have been stolen. Scammers would take advantage of this policy to get crypto without paying anything.
In this scenario, the scammers are targeting the crypto sellers. They would buy cryptos from a victim. As always, they would make the payment and rush the victim to release the crypto. Then usually within 72 hours, they will contact their payment platform and tell them that they didn’t make the transfer. Then the payment platform would reverse the payment.
As a crypto seller, you need to avoid using high-risk payment methods, such as PayPal, Venmo and credit cards. The details of these payment methods could be stolen and result in a loss for genuine crypto sellers.
Another few things you can do to minimise your risk:
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Ask your counterparty for more information to verify their identities.
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Only trade with trusted traders.
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Check trader’s reviews before trading.