How to avoid P2P crypto scams and fraud

Buying and selling cryptocurrency on peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms is growing increasingly popular — thanks to the absence of intermediary parties and the general flexibility of this trading mode. Additionally, established P2P crypto trading environments, such as Bybit’s P2P Trading platform, provide robust escrow systems and dispute resolution mechanisms. However, P2P crypto trading, just as any other kind of P2P financial activity, comes with a wide variety of scams and fraudulent schemes that every trader needs to be aware of before buying or selling cryptocurrency. 

In this article, we’ll take a look at common P2P crypto scams and learn how to avoid them.

Key Takeaways:

• P2P crypto scams involve various strategies to defraud honest traders. These exploits may include fake payment proofs, chargebacks, phishing exploits, impersonation, triangle scams, SMS scams and more.

• The key methods to avoid falling victim to P2P crypto scams include always using on-platform communication and payment channels, checking your account to verify payment information, carefully tracking the parties you receive funds from and make payments to, never releasing funds without receiving your payment and avoiding “better deal” offers via external channels, among others.