Paper bills and coins has been counterfeited since almost the first form of money was released into circulation, and the same could be said of cryptocurrency.

Just 10 years old, technology is now in place to not only make cryptocurrency, but also to make counterfeit digital currency, a move that gives weight to any cryptocurrency skepticism you might. However, if you get to know genuine cryptocurrency better, you’ll be better able to spot a fake, making you and your money safer.

For example, while it sounds legit, Bitcoin Diamond is not part of Bitcoin, but is instead a hard fork off of an original Bitcoin blockchain. In this case, the hard fork was the result of two programmers who believed they could do a better job at being Bitcoin than Bitcoin itself. While Bitcoin Diamond did fork off from Bitcoin, there are no relationships between the two aside from origins.

How Do You Know a Bitcoin from a Bitcoin Diamond? (And other counterfeit questions)

Bitcoin rules as the first cryptocurrency, and it established the methodology behind the digital currency craze.

While Bitcoin remains the leader, there are others that are also popular, including Ethereum (which also has a hard fork imposter, called Ethereum Classic).

Because of the complexities involved, the market for the two top cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, has been volatile, with insane highs and equally devastating lows. Because there is a limited supply of coins, there is a finality and solidity to Bitcoin that gives it more of a legitimacy, so much so that even JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently admitted that cryptocurrency has a real place in finance, just a few months after calling Bitcoin “a fraud.”

The idea of making money in a crypto world can be exciting, but there are some things you should know before jumping all in.

How Can I Spot a Fake?

If even Dimon, one of the world’s top financial experts, questioned Bitcoin, there are some hard questions you need to ask yourself before investing in an opportunity that involves cryptocurrency.

There are some warning signs if you are about to invest in a cryptocurrency scam. Here’s some to get to know:

• When someone suggests that you can make a lot of money really fast, he’s either about to enlist your help in robbing a bank or plans to rob you of your hard-earned. Get-rich-quick schemes are almost always to the benefit of the person introducing the opportunity, because why would they share such valuable information with you, a stranger?
• If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard it a thousand times – when it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Investing is a delicate dance, and no-fail deals that promise big returns will probably be little more than a big disappointment.
• If the company operates in a country with a language you may not understand, it can make you vulnerable to making dangerous financial mistakes.
• If you can’t find any information about the company online – even cryptocurrency requires a headquarters – they likely only exist in fiction.
• Promises of a bigger return on your dollar the more money you invest.
• Signs that your great opportunity is really a pyramid scheme are clearly laid out if you are enticed to recruit more investors to improve your own results.
• It no one is being open with you about the tech behind the cryptocurrency or how your cryptocurrency’s transactions are handled, it’s probably a scam.
• There is no place to exchange the cryptocurrency. Without an open exchange, your cryptocurrency cannot be converted into traditional money, which makes it as invisible as “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

There is a lot to like about Bitcoin. Those who invested early or mined for bitcoins and saved them off line can at some point cash them in when there is a return on their investments.

The reason why investment firms like cryptocurrency so much is that it not only allows transactions to happen instantly, those transactions also happen without the need of interaction with a bank, easing much of the paperwork involved

Cryptocurrency has also opened the door to money laundering and other criminal activities, since no blockchain transaction is traced.

But it is the beginning of our global financial future, and if you want to get in on the ground floor, there’s still time.

But if you’re looking at cryptocurrency as an investment, it’s best to do more than surface research before you make your move.