Any major event for a cryptocurrency often leads to its share of scams. And the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain merge, which is due to move to proof-of-stake tomorrow, should be no exception. We take a quick tour of the scams we can expect, and how to spot them.
The Merge of Ethereum: what scams to expect?
We can judge without too much error that ill-intentioned people will capitalize on the craze around the Ethereum Merge to try to extract some cryptos from their holders. What could they do?
Fake hard forks and fake airdrops
Not everyone is thrilled with Ethereum’s move to proof-of-stake. A fringe of the community created EthereumPoW, in order to continue to profit from mining. Scammers could therefore present a fake hard fork of Ethereum, and invite users to “recover” fake tokens. This could come in the form of phishing.
The scenario is similar for scammers who might offer fake “ETH2” tokens. These would be the “new” tokens of Ethereum in its proof-of-stake version. These of course do not exist. It will therefore be recalled that users have no manipulation to do concerning their ETH tokens, the update is done by itself.
Suspicious staking pools
The transition to proof of stake brings a significant change: there will be no more miners, and transactions will be processed through a mechanism based on staking. Before and after The Merge, scams could therefore capitalize on the attraction of users for this new means of generating income.
But to become a standalone validator, one will need to own 32 ETH or $51,700 at the current price. The solution for smaller holders is therefore to join a staking pool. The idea is that you give control of your ETH to a pool, in order to pool your resources with other users.
Scammers could therefore present fake pools, and thus recover user tokens. We should therefore be wary of particularly attractive staking offers.
Updates that are not
We repeat: the Ethereum update will be triggered without the token holders needing to do anything. The same applies to the centralized services used. If a service, a wallet, or any other project, therefore, asks you to carry out manipulation following The Merge, be extremely careful and beware of scams.
ETH holders won’t see the change in their wallets if nothing special is visible, so that’s a pretty good sign and means The Merge went well.
Fake Twitter accounts of Vitalik Buterin
Vitalik Buterin is the figurehead of Ethereum, so his image is often used by scammers. On Twitter, there has been an increase in the number of fake accounts, some of which are verified:
It will therefore be recalled that Vitalik Buterin has never offered an ETH giveaway. His official account is @VitalikButerin, and no further communication comes from him.
Conclusion
If you’re in doubt about Ethereum’s move to proof-of-stake, it’s often best to do nothing. No manipulation is indeed necessary, and no new token will be offered to the community. Scams trying to capitalize on The Merge are expected to continue to spread in the coming days, so continued caution will be required.
TechAint 
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