Airdrop scams have become very rampant in recent times and, unluckily, some crypto investors have been a victim. Like most scams, airdrop scams make use of “juicy” value to attract people to try to exchange the token so they end up losing their crypto assets.
I once scanned my trust wallet and found a new token, MNEB, when I copied the CA (contract address) so I could check the value. It was over $20, 000. I felt really lucky and thought, today must be a great day. Luckily for me, I decided to check about the project on Twitter first and then I saw comments about it being an airdrop scam.
Not everyone gets that lucky and many people have lost and continue to lose their crypto assets through this scam.
Is there a way to prevent your wallet from receiving scam tokens? Sadly, there is no way to tell your wallet not to receive these tokens. This is so because your wallet’s public key is just like an account number and if someone has your account number, you can’t tell your account not to receive money from them.
However, here is the good news; that you have an airdrop scam token that doesn’t pose any risk to your wallet or assets. Airdrop scams only get dangerous when you try to exchange (sell) them.
How to identify airdrop scams
The easiest way is to identify an airdrop scam is to not always “feel lucky” when you suddenly find a token you have not purchased with a high value in your wallet. The trick is to WOW you so your first reaction when you see the value is to exchange and add thousands of dollars to your portfolio.
Also, most airdrop scam tokens come with a prefix format such as .io or .com. Try to stay away from tokens with such prefix attached to their name or generally a “.” prefix is attached to the main project name.
Is this airdrop harmful to your wallet?
Airdrop scam tokens are not harmful to your wallet and you can keep them for as long as you want. The only rule here is don’t permit them to access your wallet.
How to protect your crypto asset?
Airdrop scams are not the only scams out there; other scams wipe out your entire asset in minutes once you connect your wallet to harmful links.
As a rule, don’t try to exchange scam tokens; you are not getting lucky, you are about to get poorer. Also, be sure you are connecting your wallet to the right websites if you have to connect it. Stay safe and grow your crypto assets.