Lately there has been a new phenomenon that has become increasingly notable: Free Bitcoins!!! They can be sent to anyone with a digital wallet and this may happen without any explanation about how the small amounts got into your account. At first glance it’s usually not even clear who sent you the amount.

However this is not a selfless act of kindness. It’s usually an advertisement! The advertiser’s reasoning behind this is that the recipient will try to find out who gave him the free Bitcoins. And so the recipient will try to find some information such as the sender’s account number/address. And that’s exactly what the advertisers want you to do.

This is the key to the advertiser’s success since the recipient invested time and effort into finding out where the money came from. And when he finds the name of the advertiser’s company or website, the attention for the company name is guaranteed.

Furthermore, such actions are not expensive. Usually only a fraction of a Bitcoin is being transferred. Sometimes worth a few cents or dimes, but usually worth only a few hundredths or even a few thousandths of a cent. Well-known companies and brands have not been making use of this method yet. As is common with new technologies, it’s the sex and gambling industry that have taken the lead in this type of advertising, just as was the case for the advent of the internet.

The free Bitcoins however, aren’t always given to you for advertising purposes, but sometimes it’s an attempt by hackers to steal your Bitcoins. The thief in question will try to lure the victim to an infected website in order to infiltrate the victim’s computer after which he will infect the computer with malicious software since the hacker knows that the victim has Bitcoins stored on his computer. Once the hacker has the private key he has all he needs to steal your Bitcoin.

So we can conclude that it’s better and especially safer to curb your enthusiasm when receiving small Bitcoin gifts and to not even search for further information about who sent it to you. It’s better to be safe than sorry!

Source: http://www.handelszeitung.ch/invest/bits-coins-grosse-auszeichnung-fuer-zuger-start-674634

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