Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin scams come in various formats and it isn’t far from the truth that as the cryptocurrency sphere experiences advancement, more scams continually emerge, causing unsuspecting Bitcoin users to lose their hard-earned bitcoins to scammers.

Quite obviously, the presence of fake wallet apps now constitutes the various scams used in tricking people into fake transactions and ultimately defrauding them. Meanwhile, it’s noteworthy that the popular Apple store has been discovered to host fake bitcoin wallet apps looking very identical to some of the widely used ones such as BreadWallet, Green Address and Coinbase.

One can imagine the number of innocent persons who might have been scammed before the Bitcoin community’s intervention and resolve for such apps to be removed.

As a novice in the cryptocurrency sphere, you could fall victim of fake bitcoin transactions but to avoid that, here are the top safety precautions you should be conversant with:

Read the Reviews Attached to the Wallet App

To ensure you’re making safe Bitcoin transactions on your wallet app, it’s advisable that you check the reviews attached to a particular wallet app before downloading it. Perhaps, you’ve just found a wallet app on Apple store or Google Play and you feel it’s the exact app recommended by a Bitcoin expert.

You may download the app from Google Play but do well to check the app’s rating as well as its number of downloads. Indeed, a wallet app with plenty of downloads, a considerably high rating and several positive (user) reviews is pretty safe for Bitcoin transactions.

Visit the Wallet’s Official Website for the App Link

Another safety measure regarding Bitcoin wallet apps is getting the link for a particular Bitcoin wallet app from the wallet’s official website. You’re strongly advised to be cautious as unauthorized wallet makers go as far as producing a Bitcoin wallet that looks exactly like the original wallet you’re looking for.

Ensure you aren’t being redirected to the site of a fake Bitcoin wallet. And to keep up this safety measure, you really have to get the actual link to your chosen Bitcoin wallet app. Do well also to know the appropriate link of the Bitcoin wallet. You should look out for differences or omissions possibly signaling that the link you’ve encountered is different from the original link of the official wallet app.

Avoid Apps Not Listed on Bitcoin.org

Bitcoin.org is likely where you should first head in your attempt to download a reliable Bitcoin wallet. In the instance that you’re a beginner with little or no experience of Bitcoin, do well to avoid wallet apps not listed on Bitcoin.org.

Simply, Bitcoin.org is a site duly regulated through the concerted effort of the entire Bitcoin community. Although Bitcoin.org isn’t Bitcoin’s official website, it is really a reliable website with a list of Bitcoin wallets considered secure and genuine by the larger Bitcoin community.

If you’re really new to Bitcoin, you could be easily tricked into downloading a fake Bitcoin wallet. This is because such fake wallets usually carry logos and names very similar to those of the original wallets listed on Bitcoin.org. Therefore, you’re strongly advised to scrutinize the Bitcoin wallets you see on Google Play or better still, you should stick only to the wallet apps on Bitcoin.org.

Stay away from Third-Party Wallet Apps

Third-party wallet apps are those apps with entities that reserve the right to access your private keys. Many of the wallets on Apple store or Google Play are regulated by third-party entities and this is why it could be risky to hold your bitcoins in such wallets.

Provided you aren’t holding your bitcoins in a third-party wallet, you can rest assured that you’re the only one with unrestricted access to your private keys. This way, you’re pretty sure of performing safe transactions and avoiding losing your bitcoins to scammers.

Conclusion

It is undeniable that there are plenty of Bitcoin scammers lurking around the Internet but if you must save your face the mishap of falling into their tricks, it’s advisable that you keep to the safety precautions outlined in this post.