Airdrop safety guide

What a real airdrop looks like

A project rewards people who used its app early, for example by testing it, providing liquidity or holding a token on a certain date (the "snapshot"). The project announces the claim page on its official website and verified social accounts. Claiming costs nothing beyond a normal network fee.

How fake airdrops steal crypto

Scammers copy a popular project's logo and post a "claim now" link in replies, DMs, ads or Telegram groups. When you connect your wallet and sign, you are not claiming anything. You are giving their contract permission to move your tokens. This is called a wallet approval, and it can empty a wallet in seconds.

Warning signs include a countdown timer, a domain that is one letter off, a request to "validate" or "sync" your wallet, and anyone asking for your seed phrase. See the full list of fake website warning signs.

After you claim

Review and remove approvals you no longer need using a tool such as revoke.cash, opened from a bookmark rather than a search result. Move anything valuable back to your main wallet.