What Is Social Engineering? A Guide to Today’s Most Common Scams

Social engineering scams are on the rise, fueled by widespread social media usage and advancements in tools including AI that allow deceptions to be more convincing. This type of scam relies on criminals exploiting human emotions, whether creating false trust or instilling fear, to encourage an action that allows a scam to happen.

What is social engineering?

Why does social engineering work?

Common types of social engineering crypto scams

• Romance scams: This common confidence trick involves the scammer building trust among the victim by feigning romantic interest. Once trust is built through false emotional connection, the scammer will typically claim they're facing financial hardship. The scammer then attempts to coerce the victim into handing over funds or granting access to their crypto wallet. Learn more about romance scams here.

• Pig butchering scams: Similar to romance scams, pig butchering involves the scammer first building an emotional connection with the victim. Rather than requesting funds directly, the criminal convinces the victim to invest in or trade with a fraudulent platform. Once significant funds have been handed over, the scammer flees with the money. Learn more about pig butchering scams here.

• Impersonation scams: Here, the criminal would pose as a celebrity, customer support agent, or person of authority and create a fictitious scenario that needs the user's attention. That could be an investment opportunity requiring an initial deposit with a promise of major returns, or a technical issue that needs the victim to hand over account access. Learn more about impersonation scams here.

• Phishing scams: This scam sees a criminal deceive their victim into handing over sensitive information, such as log-in credentials or financial data. The scam often involves sending a malicious message from a seemingly trustworthy source, such as email or text message. Learn more about phishing scams here.

Red flags to look out for

• Unsolicited contact: Crypto social engineering scams usually begin with some form of unsolicited contact. That could be a request for connection on a social platform, a message on a dating app, or an email supposedly from a platform you use. Be cautious of unexpected contact, especially if the sender is persistent in their communication with you.

• Urgency to act quickly: Social engineering scams often aim to create urgency for you to take a specific action. When you're urgent, you might not analyze the situation carefully, missing the signs that something's wrong. If you're being pressured to act quickly, consider it a red flag and a situation that needs scrutiny.

• Requests for sensitive information: Even a legitimate crypto exchange or bank generally won't ask you for sensitive information, aside from details to verify your identity, such as your name and age. Be highly skeptical if an individual or supposed representative from a company requests a private key, password, user ID, or other details that can be used to gain access to your account.

The final word

Learn more about protecting your crypto funds and the first-class security measures OKX has in place over on our OKX Protect hub.