Lesson 04 · Unit 3 · General
Impersonation
Online, a name and an avatar cost nothing. Scammers impersonate the three people you are most likely to trust: support staff (who DM you first), founders (who announce a 'special allocation'), and friends (whose compromised account asks you to 'test a site'). The play is always the same — borrowed trust, then an ask.
The costume
The approach
The tell
'Support'
DMs you first, right after you asked for help publicly
Real support never DMs first, and never needs your phrase
'The founder'
Announces a private presale or refund just for you
Founders do not DM individuals about money. Ever.
'Your friend'
Sudden link: 'try my new project', 'vote for me'
The account is real; the person may not be. Verify on a second channel.
Asking in public
A user posted 'my swap keeps failing' in a project's public channel. Within four minutes, three different 'moderators' had DMed him offering to fix it. All three avatars matched real team members. All three led to a 'wallet resync' page.
The real moderators never DM first — a rule the project pinned in every channel. Asking for help in public is safe; the danger is everyone who then arrives in private.
The one-rule version
Whoever contacts YOU first about your money is a stranger, whatever the profile says. Verification goes through a channel you choose, not the one that knocked.
Where this goes next
Names are cheap; addresses are not. Reading the chain directly — and scanning the mint rather than the branding — is how you check.