When decentralized finance (DeFi) started gaining popularity, I was eager to get involved. One project that caught my attention was YieldNova, a platform that promised revolutionary ways to earn high returns through automated yield farming. Their website was filled with technical jargon that made them sound credible, and their team claimed to be backed by well-known blockchain developers.

The platform had a “limited early-bird program” for new users to deposit their funds and earn a guaranteed 20% annual return. It sounded ambitious but not entirely unreasonable, given the hype around DeFi at the time. I decided to take a leap of faith and deposited $15,000 worth of Ethereum.

For the first few months, everything seemed perfect. My returns were being reinvested automatically, and the dashboard showed my balance growing steadily. The platform even hosted live webinars where the founders answered questions and shared their plans for future features. I felt reassured seeing thousands of other users actively participating.

But then, without warning, the platform stopped working. The website displayed a vague maintenance notice, and the founders’ social media accounts went silent. Within days, the Telegram group was flooded with complaints from users unable to access their funds. Soon after, the website disappeared entirely, and it became clear that YieldNova was a scam.

What hurt the most was how convincing the project seemed. The founders had gone to great lengths to establish credibility, even hosting fake AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions with paid actors posing as developers.

This experience taught me that trust alone is never enough in crypto. Always look for independent audits, question overly ambitious promises, and diversify your investments to avoid putting all your funds in one basket. Scammers thrive on the excitement of new technologies, but skepticism is your best defense.