Scam Protection: Slow Down Before You Lose Money #
The fastest way to lose your wealth is to move too fast. Scammers know this. They create urgency. They make you panic. They get you to act before you think.
Your first defense is slowing down. That’s it. Just pause.
Someone sends you a message about a security issue with your account. Stop. Don’t click anything. Don’t respond. Go directly to the official website by typing the URL yourself. Not the link they sent. The actual domain you already know.
This saves people more money than any other single habit. Scammers send links that look real. The domain is off by one letter or has an extra word. You click it, enter your credentials, and they own your account. You type the domain yourself, you go to the real site.
Legitimate financial services companies never DM you first. They don’t reach out on Telegram, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, or anywhere else to offer you services. If you get an unsolicited message from someone claiming to be a wealth advisor or family office representative, it’s a scam. Real registered investment advisors who operate as fiduciaries don’t cold-contact people through social media.
No legitimate service ever asks for your seed phrases or private keys. This should be obvious but people still fall for it constantly. Your seed phrase is your money. Anyone who has it can take everything. A real advisor working in your interest would never ask for it because they don’t need it. Self-custody means you hold the keys. Services that respect self-custody, like proper wealth management using hardware wallets such as D’Cent, never touch your keys.
Real advisors never take custody of your funds. The scam version goes like this: send your crypto to this address for safekeeping, or for verification, or for some made-up processing step. You send it. It disappears. Legitimate wealth management separates custody from advice. Your assets stay with a qualified custodian or in your own self-custody. Your advisor gives you guidance. Those are different functions.
When you’re unsure about any contact, pause and verify through official channels. Find the company’s website by searching for it or using a bookmark you already saved. Use their contact form or listed phone number. Ask if the message you received was legitimate. This takes five minutes and saves you from losing everything.
Red flags appear in patterns once you know what to look for. Pressure to act immediately. Spelling or grammar that’s slightly off. Requests to move conversations to other platforms. Offers that sound too good. Urgency around security issues. All of these are scammer tactics designed to bypass your judgment.
Check sender email addresses carefully. The display name might say “Digital Ascension Group” but the actual email is some random Gmail. Look at the domain after the @ symbol. If it doesn’t match the official website domain, it’s fake.
Phone numbers get spoofed. Caller ID can display whatever scammers want. If you get an unexpected call from a financial services company, hang up and call them back using the number from their official website.
Social media verification checkmarks help but aren’t perfect. Scammers buy accounts with checkmarks. They create lookalike profiles with similar names. Always verify through the official website before engaging with any social media account claiming to represent a financial service.
This matters more as your assets grow. Small accounts attract opportunistic scams. Large accounts attract sophisticated, targeted attacks. People researching family office services or high-net-worth wealth management get targeted because scammers know they have money.
Broker-dealers might not warn you about these risks because they’re focused on selling products, not comprehensive protection. Registered investment advisors operating under fiduciary duty have a legal obligation to protect your interests, which includes security awareness.
Family offices coordinate security across your entire financial picture. They establish verification protocols. They work with your legal and tax advisors to spot suspicious activity. They help you distinguish legitimate contacts from scams before you make costly mistakes.
Digital Wealth Partners provides registered investment advisor services with fiduciary-level guidance that includes security protocols and verification processes for all client communications.
Digital Ascension Group operates as a family office with strict communication security standards. We coordinate with your existing advisors to build protective systems around your wealth that go beyond just investment management.
The best protection is free. Just slow down.
Contact Digital Ascension Group to learn how our family office services can coordinate your complete financial picture.
