A ‘Fake NFT Collection’ is essentially a scam designed to fool people. They can take many forms:
- Fake NFTs: scammers simply copy digital artwork, images, music or even existing popular NFT collections. They then list them for sale as if they were the real thing. These fake NFTs have nothing to do with the original creator, they are worthless fake NFT collections.
- “Rug Pulls“: Developers create an NFT project that looks promising, promote it heavily on social networks with big promises and future plans. They sell a significant number of NFTs, raise a considerable amount of money, then abruptly abandon the project and disappear with the funds, leaving investors with fake NFT collection.
- Fake websites/marketplaces (Phishing): Scammers create websites that look almost identical to legitimate NFT marketplaces (such as OpenSea) or official project websites. They lure users to these fake sites, often through malicious links in emails or private messages, to steal their digital wallet credentials or convince them to approve fraudulent transactions that drain their cryptocurrency accounts.
- Pump and Dump schemes: A group of individuals artificially inflate the price of an NFT collection by buying and selling among themselves, creating the illusion of high demand. Once the price is sufficiently “pumped up,” they sell all their holdings for profit, causing the price to crash and leaving late buyers with significant losses.
- Fake contests/Airdrops: Scammers promote fake NFT contests or airdrops, often asking users to link their crypto wallets to a malicious site or share private keys to “claim” a prize that never materializes, resulting in the wallet being emptied.
How to spot a “fake” NFT collection
‘Too good to be true’ prices: If an NFT from a known collection is listed at an unusually low price, it is a major red flag.
Lack of official links: Always check the official website and social media channels of the creator or collection. If the NFT being sold doesn’t reference verified sources or the official contract address, it’s probably a fake. Trusted marketplaces often have blue ticks or verification badges for legitimate collections.
Metadata and history of suspicious transactions:
- Contract Address: Make sure the NFT’s contract address matches the official address of the legitimate collection. This is a crucial identifier.
- Date created (minting): If a “historical” NFT was created recently, it is a copy.
- Sales Volume/Historical: Look for a diversified transaction history. If an NFT has only been traded between a few wallets, it could indicate a “pump and dump” scheme or fake transactions by scammers, i.e. fake NFT collection.
Poorly designed websites/social media accounts:
- Discrepancies in URL: the URL of a fake website could be slightly different from the official one (e.g. “opensea.xyz” instead of “opensea.io”).
- Missing or generic information: Scam projects often have empty descriptions, lack of details for their NFTs, an unclear roadmap or lack of constant updates.
- Poor quality text/grammatical mistakes: Signs of fabrication in the website content.
Unsolicited Direct Messages (DMs): Be extremely wary of DMs on platforms such as Discord or Telegram that promise exclusive access, pre-sales or free NFTs. These are common phishing and fake NFT collection tactics.
Anonymous or untraceable teams: While some legitimate NFT projects start with anonymous teams, a complete lack of transparency, especially without a track record of building trust, can be a red flag for a potential rug pull.
Urgency and pressure tactics: scammers often try to create a sense of urgency (e.g. “limited offer”, “covert minting”) to rush buyers into rash decisions without proper research.
Requests for private keys/recovery phrases: NEVER share private wallet keys or recovery phrases with anyone or any website. Legitimate platforms will never ask for this information.
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