Scammers are likely to abuse Ethereum Merge to start new scams to investors who are new to the cryptocurrency market.
According to Steve Bassi, CEO of PolySwam*, such scams can come in the form of fake ETH 2.0 tokens, mining pools and airdrops.
*PolySwam is a decentralized security marketplace that connects cyber security experts to projects and companies through the use of bounties.
Here are some of the scams that scammers did during the Ethereum Merge:
Staking pools
The upgrade of Ethereum (ETH) marks the transition of the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake (PoS).
As such, Bassi stated that most ETH holders will join the staking pool to earn a quick profit.
For the record, staking is a relatively new concept in the crypto community as investors need 32 ETH to join staking pools to earn revenue from their ETH.
Even so, Bassi warned that providers of staking pools pose a risk to investors because they often require users to deposit and relinquish control of ETH.
He added that staking providers also offer very attractive conditions so that they can make sudden 'rug pulls' to affect investors who participate in the pool.
Scam upgrade
One of the obvious threats involving scammers is fraudsters tricking users into signing fraudulent transactions or splitting private keys with new ETH chains.
For example, scammers will make users sign fraudulent transactions or leak private keys based on some false claim stating that the user must do something to move the chain.
Fake airdrop
Bassi said users will be tricked into signing transaction messages or visiting data phishing sites to receive fake airdrops.
Because of that, Ethereum Merge is a scammer's best chance to impersonate a well-known project promising an airdrop.
The justification is that Ethereum Merge is the most significant upgrade in the history of ETH, but the Ethereum Foundation insists that investors should beware of scammers who often take advantage of users during the transition including warning that ETH2 or ETH 2.0 tokens do not exist at all.
