Pay Attention to Tokens and Links Marked as Risky¶
After this page you will know what a risk label does and does not guarantee, and you will have a fixed response for any token or link that arrives without an invitation.
Who this is for¶
Anyone whose wallet shows a token, a link, or a warning they did not expect. If you are about to interact with an unfamiliar token to find out what it is, read this first.
Before you start¶
- Your wallet open, with the token or link visible.
- The token's contract address, if you want to look it up in the explorer at www.bitgold.live.
- Five minutes, and the intention to do nothing until you have read the rest of the page.
How it works¶
A label comes from a warning feed, not from the chain. Wallets and block explorers combine their own rules with third-party risk data: a contract that can block sells, a token that appeared from nowhere, an address on a reported list, a link hidden in a token's metadata. The result is a badge next to the token or the URL.
The chain itself has no opinion. A token contract is code that anyone can deploy, and a link is a string in the token's name or description field. Nothing stops someone from creating a token whose only purpose is to make you open a site or sign a transaction.
A label is a warning, not a guarantee. A labeled token can be harmless, because false positives happen. A dangerous token can carry no label at all.
The badge means that someone flagged this token, not that a list of bad tokens is now complete.
No label is not proof of safety. Most trap tokens are new, and new contracts have no history to score. Silence from your wallet means that nobody has flagged the token yet, not that the token is clear.
What to do¶
1. Do not interact¶
Leave the token alone. Do not transfer it, sell it, activate it, or approve it. Interacting with a trap token is how the trap fires, because the contract decides what a transfer or an approval does.
A token that arrived unrequested is an advertisement from a stranger, not a gift.
2. Never "unlock" anything on a site¶
Some tokens come with instructions: visit a site, connect your wallet, and "unlock" or "enable" the token so that it can be sold. The site then asks for an approval, a signature, or a recovery phrase. Whichever it asks for, the outcome is the same: it gains control of what the wallet can reach.
A real token does not need to be unlocked. Selling one requires a swap and gas, not a permission grant on a separate website.
The site is the attack, not the token
The token is bait that makes the site look purposeful. Hiding the token does not protect you if you visit the link later; refusing the site does.
3. Hide it and move on¶
Hiding a token changes what your wallet displays and nothing on chain. That is the point: the less you look at bait, the less likely you are to click it.
Open the token list, select the token, and choose Hide or Manage tokens. Menu labels vary by version, so look for the token list rather than for exact wording.
4. If you already clicked¶
Disconnect the site in the wallet's connected-sites screen, then check approvals and revoke anything you do not recognize. How to Check and Cancel Approvals walks through the whole routine.
Verify it worked¶
- The token no longer appears in your wallet's main list.
- Your approvals screen shows no allowance to a contract you do not recognize.
- Your connected-sites list does not include the site.
- You can state what a label guarantees, and what it does not.
Troubleshooting¶
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| The token reappears after I hide it | A new token was airdropped to the address. Hide it again; nothing on chain has changed. |
| The wallet shows a balance that I cannot sell | That is typical of a honeypot. Do not approve it in order to find out why. |
| The link opens a site that looks like my wallet | Close it and type the wallet's real domain yourself. Never sign in from a link. |
| I approved the token before reading this | Revoke the approval now. Each block you wait is another chance for it to be used. |
| The explorer shows no warning at all | The explorer is not a safety guarantee. Treat the token as unknown and follow the steps above. |
Next steps¶
- Fake Token Scam — how honeypots and transfer taxes work.
- DApp Approval Scam — the site-side half of the same trap.
- About Approve — what the approval would have granted.
Self-check¶
- I can say what a risk label does and does not guarantee.
- The labeled token is hidden, and I have not opened its link.
- No site has asked me to "unlock" a token in the last month.
- I checked my approvals after the last unknown token arrived.