How to Spot Scam Airdrops

[ElcinB]

There are huge number of AirDrops around us and the number of SCAM ones is big as well! Unfortunately most of us identify them, only after being victim of it. However, if there was any sort of criteria to detect them beforehand, AirDrop hunters would be more prepared.

Based on my research I introduce you some points and hints trough which you will be able to examine each AirDrop.

Basically AirDrops could be divided into two groups:
1) Special "project" which was initially created aiming theft
2) Fake AirDrops which hide behind Real ICOs and Projects
The example of former one could be ZillowBlockchain, if you look for this project, you won't find neither official website nor social and media accounts. Talking about latter ones, fake airdrops of EOS, Cube or even Quarkchain(during ICO) will be the brilliant examples. These "projects" desire to steal your personal data and assets and for sure you won't get anything back.

Now let's look deeper and learn what kind of frauds take place.

First and the most widespread one is phishing method. It begins when you register in AirDrop and provide your email, usually a bit later you receive letter which tells you to pass KYC process and provide your personal data to be eligible to receive the tokens. There will be a link to similar website like MyEtherWallet or some other exchange, and there will be written to provide your Private Key or Password to prove that you are owner of that wallet or profile. If you do so, scammers instantly will empty your wallet before you'll even notice that. The second method, which is becoming popular over the past six months is sending ETH to receive AirDrop tokens. These types of scam-airdrops usually use prominent and hotly discussed projects and hide behind them, posing themselves as real ones. They use simple but effective way of a fraud, they ask you to send Ether in order to receive tokens and moreover they ensure you that your Ether will be sent you back as well along with "free" tokens. The last one which I came across uses more advanced technique. This is how they work: They actually create an ERC20 token and hold an AirDrop campaign, they send their tokens to all registered users and gain their trust. However, this is not the end, after distributing their coins they send to all their users message that they have launched next stage of AirDrop and in order to participate users have to do what?... right send ETH. And reason why people are sending their funds is that at very first AirDrop scammers gave the value to their tokens such as 1000 scamcoins = 1 Ether, and in the second one they claim that users will be able to purchase 10 000 scamcoins for the same single Ether.
Above I tried to explain and review what kind of Scam Airdrops exist and how they work. Now you have necessary knowledge and I hope that you'll use it properly

P.S. Here are some points to which you should pay attention before participating in Airdrop:
Huge reward for the Airdrop, if it's too high (by high I mean from $300 to $1000) it's 99% probability that you encountered with scam;
Address of website, pay careful attention to the domain address of website scammers try to use very similar one.
Example: myetherwallet.com vs myehterwallet.com;
Asking for donation or private key/password, if any kind of airdrop will ask you one of that it means it's scam. Remember your personal data and funds are not needed to send you free tokens.

[Avalonist]

HAve you seen such rewards for airdrop? If i saw this, i would defenetily know its a scam.
$5 is all you can count on

[Boop49]

Thank you for sharing , now i know more about the airdrops . It is so complexity in the airdrops world .

[CoinMarcel]

Thank you for this. Very helpfull to me.

[ElcinB]

so what about who asking send 0 eth ? i think it is not scam

In this case they won't steal your Private key, you'll only pay your transaction fee

You're welcome guys!

[neo444]

There is many scam airdrops in the net especially who demand to pay to their ethereum address to be accepted in airdrop and this can't be true in every airdrop also the fake airdrops can work by the name of other company like rebellious so be careful

[Thirdspace]

instead of spotting the scam aidrops, why not just look for legit straight forward airdrop
it is a lot easier to spot a legit airdrop because its simple requirement, they would just ask where to send airdrop
you should skip any airdrop that asks for personal data, KYC and any identifiable info... they're just collecting data!

[CryptoDave72]

Very, very helpful, thank you!

[4p0l4k4y]

In my own experience theres a lot of good airdrops in the past and I can name some of them. But lately I observed that some seems to just collect information like email address of the participant. I suggest If you want to get legit website follow airdropalert.com because they give new links everyday and all links were verified first.

[ElcinB]

instead of spotting the scam aidrops, why not just look for legit straight forward airdrop
it is a lot easier to spot a legit airdrop because its simple requirement, they would just ask where to send airdrop
you should skip any airdrop that asks for personal data, KYC and any identifiable info... they're just collecting data!

That's right, but not all users realize this fact due to being greedy

In my own experience theres a lot of good airdrops in the past and I can name some of them. But lately I observed that some seems to just collect information like email address of the participant. I suggest If you want to get legit website follow airdropalert.com because they give new links everyday and all links were verified first.

Agree, Airdropalert works in a very high quality!

[andohyeb]

I never engage an airdrop without a project which is sustainable to implement. An airdrop that ask for my private key or their website without the green secure padlock is a sure scam and I won't dare waste my time on it.

[alexjacks771]

The best way to identify scam - is bitcoin forum and brains during Whiteslist reading. I have analyzed a huge amount of services-lists,
but still have no idea what is the logic of their scum selection.
Some have only scum, while others only partnerships or only a small amount of not the best ones.

[LucaBlight]

So you better make a dummy account if you want to take a risk and also dont give KYC so easily specially for a $5 airdrop

[BloodKnight]

There are also some scams. They told you that you can get interest of some token, such as EOS, EXRN, etc， and they will provide you a link, When you open the website, you will be asked to enter your wallet private key. The means have deceived many people and we must be very careful about these traps.

[rosemary4u]

There are many scams going on currently in the blockchain ecosystem, in order to know  a legitimate airdrop you need to take cautions when filling the forms. Don't follow scam airdrops and give vital information such as your  private keys out.

[Harlot]

The second one you mentioned is becoming more popular since they are saying that this is there way of confirming that you are a real person and that the ETH address you are sending is your own. They are reasonable in doing so that is why it looks believable to a lot of people especially the newbies when it comes to airdrops, that is why a lot of people are being fooled with this type of method. But they are also forgetting that these scam ICOs are also requiring KYCs which you are personally giving away your vital information which they are also selling to other businesses.

[atliens99]

Number 1 thing i never do a KYC.  Giving out your personal information to a stranger on the internet that could sell it to criminals on the black market is very dangerous.

[Intensity]

Number 1 thing i never do a KYC.  Giving out your personal information to a stranger on the internet that could sell it to criminals on the black market is very dangerous.

I personally have never seen an airdrop requiring a KYC. Normally a KYC would be for an ICO to legally sell a token within the US, but ICO's are another story and for another thread.

[lisapunt]

so what about who asking send 0 eth ? i think it is not scam

In this case they won't steal your Private key, you'll only pay your transaction fee

You're welcome guys!

Agoo ico don't need your few cent to send you few $ Worth of tokens.

[gab271]

Thank you for this posting informative thread

I'm a also a newbie in this kind of investment and my first method that i used  are airdrop because is easy to use  i realized not all all airdrop are legit i encountered some airdrop that you must all your personal information and private key.  i did not continued to fill up that some of their requirement because i sensed that it's a scam