Unfortunately, scams are widespread in the crypto space. With the growing popularity of Polkadot and Kusama, we are also seeing a rise of imposters trying to scam our community. 

To protect yourself and reduce the risk of losing your funds, read our comprehensive list of known scams and how to recognize them in our Wiki here.

We also highly recommend installing the Polkadot extension. No matter if you use an external device or not, the browser extension is the best way to manage your accounts, as it has many advantages:

1. It provides better security than using the Web UI directly
2. Your browser won't "forget" your accounts if its cookies are cleared
3. The extension recognizes all known Polkadot scams and alerts you when you access a phishing site. This will help you protect yourself and your funds.

Note: You will still need to use polkadot.js to manage your accounts.