A polished website, promoted search result, familiar logo, or wallet connection prompt does not prove a presale or giveaway is legitimate. Before connecting, verify the exact domain through the project’s independently located official channels. Before signing, check what the wallet request authorizes. Never share your Secret Recovery Phrase or pay cryptocurrency to claim a prize.
How presale and giveaway scams work
A fake presale can begin with a convincing website and a pitch built around hype or urgency. Scammers may copy a real project’s appearance, impersonate a familiar brand, buy promoted placement, or publish articles that resemble trusted news coverage. The link may differ from the genuine address by only a small detail. A token may even exist on-chain; that alone does not mean it is the project or offering being represented. MetaMask explains how fake token presales use these tactics.
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Giveaway and airdrop bait may arrive in social posts, messages from copied or compromised accounts, or as an unexpected NFT sent to your wallet. The asset or message may direct you to a site promising free tokens, returns, or allowlist access. Following its instructions can lead to recovery-phrase phishing or a harmful wallet request. Treat an unexpected asset as something to ignore; do not follow links or instructions embedded in it. MetaMask describes malicious airdrop and NFT tactics.
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Another common prize scam asks you to send cryptocurrency first, supposedly to cover a tax, release fee, or verification deposit. The Federal Trade Commission says a prize claim that requires cryptocurrency payment is a scam: “There is no prize.” That warning applies to purported prizes demanding payment; it is not a claim that every legitimate airdrop is fraudulent. FTC: “You’ve Won” Scams.
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Check the offer before connecting
- Find the project’s site independently. Type a known address or navigate from the project’s established official channels rather than relying on an ad, search result, QR code, or direct message. Compare the exact domain, including spelling and domain ending, with those channels. A familiar name or logo is not proof of affiliation. MetaMask’s presale guidance warns that scammers use lookalike sites.
- Confirm the sale through independently verified channels. Check whether the project itself announces the token sale or giveaway through its established channels. A polished page, social proof, paid promotion, or a news-like article does not authenticate a launch.
- Pause when the pitch rushes you. Countdowns, “last chance” claims, guaranteed returns, fear of missing out, and unusually generous rewards are reasons to stop and verify—not evidence that an offer is genuine. MetaMask lists urgency, unrealistic returns or airdrops, and impersonation among warning patterns. See MetaMask’s token-approval safety guidance.
- Reject any request for your Secret Recovery Phrase. Do not enter it into a website, form, or chat, even if someone claims it is needed to verify a wallet or claim a reward. MetaMask states, “MetaMask will not give you assets,” and says it does not routinely need your phrase. An unexpected claim requiring it is a major red flag. MetaMask: verify that you are working with MetaMask.
- Inspect each wallet request before signing. Identify the site and contract requesting access, which token is involved, the amount or spending cap, and what the transaction or signature will do. If you cannot understand the effect or it does not match what you intended, reject it and verify through documentation or support reached independently. MetaMask’s advice is: “Make sure you understand the transaction before you sign it.” Read its fake-presale guidance.
Connection is not the same as approval
Connecting a wallet lets a site interact with it, but it does not by itself establish that the project is safe. Pay particular attention to later permission and signature requests. A token approval can authorize a decentralized application to move a particular token up to the requested cap. An effectively unlimited approval can expose more of that token than a limited allowance. MetaMask notes that unlimited approvals can be convenient for repeat interactions with legitimate services, but can also let a malicious site take all of that token type. Its token-approval guide explains approvals and permissions.
Do not sign an unexplained message or transaction merely to “verify” a wallet or claim an unsolicited reward. If your wallet lets you edit an approval amount, a smaller cap may limit what is authorized, but it does not make an unverified site trustworthy. When the request is unclear or out of scope, decline it.
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If you already interacted with a suspicious offer
You approved token spending
If you granted an allowance but did not share your Secret Recovery Phrase, use a trusted wallet interface to inspect existing approvals and promptly revoke any unwanted or suspicious allowance. Revocation is an on-chain transaction and may involve network costs. Do not return to the suspected site to “undo” the approval through another prompt. Revoking an allowance does not reverse a transfer that has already completed. MetaMask explains how token approvals work and can be managed.
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Treat accounts derived from that phrase as compromised. Stop using them, do not deposit more funds into them, and follow trusted instructions from your wallet provider to create a new recovery phrase and move any remaining assets if safe to do so. Revoking a token approval does not repair an exposed phrase. A hardware wallet can keep keys offline going forward, but it does not make a malicious site or signature safe.
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Report the incident and avoid recovery-fee scams
Use official support channels to report the incident, flag the relevant public address with a block explorer, and notify local cybercrime authorities. MetaMask warns that it cannot retrieve funds lost in irreversible blockchain transactions. Do not pay an unsolicited “recovery expert” or anyone who promises to recover funds for an upfront fee. MetaMask’s guidance covers what to do after a scam.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What giveaway-scam figures do—and don’t—show
A 2023 study, Understanding the Cryptocurrency Free Giveaway Scam Disseminated on Twitter Lists, reported that its system detected 95,111 giveaway-scam lists on Twitter during a collection period from June 2022 to June 2023. The authors estimated USD 872,000 in losses across more than 365 tracked victims and reported that detected lists reached more than 3.7 million Twitter users. These are study-specific figures: the detected lists are not a count of unique victims, reported reach does not establish that every account saw or acted on a scam, and the loss estimate is not a total for all crypto giveaways or a current prevalence measure. Read the study.
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