Fake Token Scam¶
Anyone can create a token and send it to your address, so a balance in your wallet is not evidence of value. Check the contract before you trade, approve, or "activate" a token.
Who this is for¶
Anyone who sees an unfamiliar token in their wallet, is offered a new token at a low price, or adds a token by pasting a contract address.
How the scam works¶
A honeypot token lets people buy but not sell: the contract blocks sells from addresses that are not on a list the owner controls, while buys stay open. The price chart looks alive because other buyers keep entering. When you try to exit, the transaction fails, and the value shown in your wallet stays out of reach.
A transfer tax token takes a cut that the owner can change. It may start at a small percentage, later take most of the amount, apply only to sells, or pause transfers entirely. The quote on the trading page can look reasonable while the executed transaction returns a fraction of what you expected.
A fake balance is the third pattern. A token with a familiar name and symbol appears in your wallet, sometimes through a "token list" the wallet reads. There is no real market, or the only market is a site linked from the token itself.
That site asks you to "activate" the token, pay gas, or approve a contract before you can sell. The approval is the point of the scam, and the balance is the bait.
Displayed balances come from token contracts and token lists. Neither is evidence of value. A verified contract is not a guarantee either: verification means the source code was published, not that the code is honest.
On Bitgold, open the contract page in the block explorer at www.bitgold.live and read the functions for owner powers such as minting, pausing, blacklisting, and adjustable tax. Then look at transfers: if ordinary holders never sell, or every transfer ends at a handful of addresses, treat the token as a trap.
Selling is interaction too
A malicious token's website often wraps the sell in an approval or a signature. If you cannot explain what the site will ask you to sign, do not try to sell through it.
Warning signs¶
- You cannot find a single sell by an ordinary holder; the history is all buys.
- The transfer tax is adjustable by the owner, or it changes after you buy.
- The only trading venue is a site you reached from the token's own name or link.
- The name and symbol copy a well-known asset, but the contract address is different.
- A "claim" or "activate" step asks for an approval, a signature, or gas before anything is delivered.
- A large balance appears unrequested, followed by a message urging you to swap or validate it.
If it happens to you¶
- Do not interact with the token or with any site linked to it. Hiding the token changes what your wallet displays; it does not change the chain.
- If you approved a contract, revoke it. Revoking costs gas, so confirm on the approvals screen after the transaction confirms.
- If you bought a honeypot, stop buying more. Do not pay an "unlock" or "liquidity" fee; the same owner controls the contract that took your funds.
- If the token arrived unrequested, leave it alone. Its purpose is to move you to a site.
Next steps¶
- Prevent a New Type of Token Transfer Scam — incoming tokens that are bait, not payment.
- Fake Airdrop/Giveaway Scam — free tokens that ask for a signature or a fee.
- Pay Attention to Tokens and Links Marked as Risky — what a risk label means and what to do next.
Self-check¶
- Can you explain why a token that appears in your wallet does not prove it has value?
- Do you check the contract address on the explorer before adding or trading a token?
- Can you name two owner powers that turn a token into a honeypot?
- If a token cannot be sold, would you stop instead of paying a fee to unlock it?