Mr_Bob_Ferguson back here yet again, going for round 3 after discussing ponzi schemes and rug pulls.

The advance fee scam is one which we have seen on the internet for the last couple of decades. My favorite memory of this scam is the P-P-P-Powerbook (if you know, you know).

But there is an implementation of the "advance fee scam", combined with tactics from a "usb drop attack" that we have seen applied to crypto that I want to talk about today. I believe that this started to play out for a member on this sub only earlier this week ...and they didn't realise that they were even close to being a victim.

There are also some similarities here with gas token draining scams.

So let's gather around the camp fire again, and see if we can get through this one.

What is it

The advance fee scam works by promising someone something. But in order to get that something, they first need to provide a small payment. It's taking that "small payment" which is the scammers objective.

My favourite crypto implementation

There are a few ways that this can play out in crypto, but one I want to talk about.

Maybe I am sick in the head, but I have favourite scams (ones I think are clever, not ones that I actually do myself!). And this is my favourite implementation of the advance fee scam. It links up with the classic "USB drop attack".

1. A paper crypto wallet is left in a public place.
2. Victim sees it on the ground, picks it up, notices the seed phrases.
3. Victim thinks they've struck it lucky, loads it up and notices tokens of value, let's call them BobRocket. Everyone loves the utility and gains that BobRocket has to offer.
4. Victim attempts to transfer BobRocket, but realise that they need gas in order to do so. It's usually ETH which is required, selected due to the known high gas fees.
5. Victim transfers the required gas.
6. Mr_Bob_Ferguson Scammer is monitoring this wallet, they of course also have complete access to the funds. The moment the gas hits the address, the scammer takes it right out.
7. Victim has lost their gas fees.

The goal of the scammer was to get the gas fees.

Pretty clever I think.

Other implementations

1. The gas token draining scam is a similar implementation, but relies on the scammer initiating tokens to be revoked, which isn't possible on all chains.

What did I see on reddit?

A genuinely good samaritan (I believe) was trying to help another user out over DM doing some troubleshooting regarding setting up a wallet.

The person they were helping then had their seed phrase "accidentally" displayed in the screenshot.

I believe that this was the equivalent of the first steps of the scam, hoping that the good samaritan would feel a little greed and attempt to take the contents.

Or maybe I just tend to see evil everywhere I look in the world!

Why does this work?

There are a couple of reasons in my opinion.

1. Greed: People love the idea of getting something for nothing.
2. Complexity: Crypto is complex. It's not easy to fully understand what may result when certain actions are taken.

How to avoid it?

The answer is simple: "Don't touch anything which doesn't belong to you, no matter how tempting it is, as your life may no longer be worth living". I think i've heard a few wives use that line too.

In crypto we see plenty of scams.

Let's help to spread awareness of what to look out for.

You can find rug pulls here: https://np.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/15iu8zi/many_dont_seem_to_understand_the_meaning_of_a_rug/

And ponzi schemes here: https://np.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/15h13sv/many_dont_seem_to_understand_the_meaning_of_a/