Spot a fake website before connecting that wallet

[casey15]

     So you just got started into crypto and you are accessed a website that prompted you to connect your wallet or enter your credentials, so how do you verify that the URL is legit.

    It is not advisable to connect your wallet, but if you must, create a new wallet different from your primary one or any one you have used for any other important transactions. Wallets are free to create and you can create as much as you like, so create a different one...
Creating a new wallet isn't just enough because phishing scams  have evolved beyond 'bad english'. This is 2025 and scammers now use AI generated deepfakes that you can hardly tell any difference between what's real, and also homograph attacks, and sponsored search to lure you to their replica websites of trusted platforms like Binance, Uniswap, or Ledger.....
    You can never be too careful so I advice to take these steps to verify the legitimacy of a URL before connecting that wallet.

• A visual Eye test: Scammers buy domain that looks identical to the real ones, you have to look closely for substitution of letters example is when lowercase L is substituted for upper case I... binance.com vs blnance.com

• Watch out for wrong extensions... metamask.io is the real site so metamask.org or meta mask.net will likely be a scam.

• Look out for extra letters or words.....ledgerwallet.com instead of ledger.com.

• Look for the padlock icon and HTTPS on the URL . It does not mean that the site is safe, it only mean that the connection is encrypted and scammer use SSL certificates too. But when you click on the padlock, and view the certificate, the date it was issued is very important. If it was issued two days ago for a completely different company name, leave the site immediately.

• You can also use tools like 'who.is' . Go to who.is and paste the site URL. It shows when the domain was registered and if it was registered just few days ago, then it is a scam. Legit exchanges have domains registered for 5+ years

• You can also make use of  Checkphish.ai to detect if the page is a 'shadow' of a real website. Another tool  Remove.cash can also help you check if you have accidentally granted approval to a malicious site in the past.

     Do not ever click on link for an email or Telegram DM or Google ad because the top result in Google is usually a paid scam ad.
To be sure of URLs you visit, type it manually into your browser and bookmark it for future visitations. Only access it via your bookmark.

This may look like a lot but you can never be too careful when it comes to things like this. Your funds are very important and so you should guide It jealously...

 More security Practice are welcome under  the thread for we all to learn...

[MusaMohamed]

    So you just got started into crypto and you are accessed a website that prompted you to connect your wallet or enter your credentials, so how do you verify that the URL is legit.

It started with why you knew about such websites, and why you need them.

Connect your wallet to Internet, any website means your wallet is a hot wallet and your coins can be stolen. Smart contracts are dangerous for users but helpful for scammers to set up backdoors and if you approve smart contracts, there is risk that hacker can steal your cryptocurrency in that hot wallet.

About scam with phishing sites, you must check whether that site is official from a project from difference sources like Coinmarketcap.com, Coingecko.com, and more sites. With new projects, even their website links are official, there is still risk of scam set up in their smart contracts.

How to Revoke Token Approval.
Phishing scams.
Punycode Phishing attacks - how to stay safe - Spoofed URLs and fake websites!

[Porfirii]

OP, you're right, this is 2025 and in no time it will be 2026, and although in the past you had to be quite unwary to fall into this type of trap or victim of any kind of phishing, attacks have and are becoming increasingly refined.

The day will come, very soon, when legitimate services from fraudulent ones will be virtually indistinguishable, and the only way to avoid risk is to stop using them except when strictly necessary, and in such cases to carry out all kinds of checks. It may sound excessive, but I have already stopped using social networks because if it was not already enough, from now on the false will be more and more difficult to distinguish from the real. This forum and its veteran members are the only place and people I truly trust online.

[Shadiq]

We may not need such complicated advice to keep our funds safe, it is foolish to ever link valuable funds or even a small wallet to any website. You can create separate wallets for trusted websites, which does not require money or much time.

However, your post is very valuable to avoid scams and helps to learn something new. You have shared important information on being careful and checking fake websites.

We are now in 2025 and preparing for 2026, as the day progresses and the day is updated, people are also trying to update and scammers are trying to update at double speed. They keep inventing new and new fraud techniques that make it difficult to compare between real and fake. Still, caution is the only thing that can protect you from these scams and it is important to learn some techniques.

[taufik123]

-snip-
• A visual Eye test: Scammers buy domain that looks identical to the real ones, you have to look closely for substitution of letters example is when lowercase L is substituted for upper case I... binance.com vs blnance.com
-snip-

The visual display is often deceptive by using almost identical letter characters and even looks exactly the same and the only distinguishing thing is the letters í, ì, î, ï.
You have to be more vigilant several other ways can be used quite optimally, if you have got the original link then bookmarking is the right way.

Scammers are now more capitalized and can rent google ads so that their phishing websites are indexed above when someone searches for the website.

If you are not careful, you will be trapped and the wallet will be controlled if you connect to the created dAaps.
I always re-check multiple times before connecting my wallet, or if I'm not sure if the check is in a total virus, then everything will be visible.

[Hatchy]

We may not need such complicated advice to keep our funds safe, it is foolish to ever link valuable funds or even a small wallet to any website. You can create separate wallets for trusted websites, which does not require money or much time.

We may not, but there are people who still fall victims everyday because they lack knowledge about things like this.. since I joined this forum, I've seen so many users coming out to seek help or share a story of how their wallet had been compromised because of their non chalanct attitude or lack of information on how to avoid these scammers.. we can't know too much, but we have to be ready for what ever we might face in the future and just like others have said, with how the internet is becoming advanced in Artificial intelligence these days, it might be difficult for us to tell what is real from unreal.

[FirmWars]

It is very safe and not risky to connect a new wallet to any website even though it's a new website that you just came across or it's an old reputable website, when ever I want to connect my wallet to that website, I will create a new wallet or use a dummy wallet that I created for another purpose but didn't use it again. I can't connect a primary or a main wallet to any site be it reputable or not because once your wallet is online, you could easily get attack, not from the website you connected the wallet to but probably from other scammers looking for any vulnerable loophole.

[Cookdata]

     Do not ever click on link for an email or Telegram DM or Google ad because the top result in Google is usually a paid scam ad.
To be sure of URLs you visit, type it manually into your browser and bookmark it for future visitations. Only access it via your bookmark.

This may look like a lot but you can never be too careful when it comes to things like this. Your funds are very important and so you should guide It jealously...

 More security Practice are welcome under  the thread for we all to learn...

If you can avoid telegram, do. I still get links dm from some of my contacts and these links are shortened links. I don't chat on telegram if I'm not the one initiating a conversation just to be safe. That platform is too bad beyond repair.

If you are not using an old website that belongs to government or organizations that don't doesn't care about their website, hardly you will see a website that is not secured, the latest version of Chrome, Firefox and Brave gives warning on any website that still use http instead of https.

How to Revoke Token Approval.

Your link is broken. Check the link again.

Alternatively, you can use https://revoke.cash/ and take back control of your wallet. However, I think it's better to watch website you make connections with, your funds can be move away before you revoke your wallet from wallet drainers and bots.

[Mia Chloe]

~snip

Smart contract scams fit alot in this category. Basically there are some security measures you have to implement yourself without being taught or told. For instance if you have to briefly deal with a smart contract it's best you fund a separate wallet to handle the transaction instead of using your main hot wallet.

Phishing email scams fall in this category too you'll basically find cases where you receive a supposed email from microsoft but it reads rnicrosoft and those with a bad eye won't notice you see a comment saying; this is an automated email and don't bother responding. but the email has the reply bar active.

[I_Anime]

This is a nice post op , and you are right scammer are getting smarter each day that’s why we need to be always a step ahead of them , by being more observant  and conscious too . When I was into airdrop then I had to separate my device (you all are aware that participating in airdrop requires clicking a lot of links) , and some of those link are not safe , and also require connecting of wallet that’s why you have to have a separate wallet for things like that (that requires connecting wallet ) , so that you won’t endup being victim of any scam or to avoid loss of assets.

I also heard from a friend that sometimes when filling form online that you via some random link you have to be careful, especially when you are told to input password you have to make sure that the format of the password is in **** form after being typed not in words , is another means to know suspicious link .

[MusaMohamed]

How to Revoke Token Approval.

Your link is broken. Check the link again.

Broken, are you sure about that?
I check and it works. It is an article from Coinmarketcap and has links to three smart contract revoke websites.

Alternatively, you can use https://revoke.cash/ and take back control of your wallet.

Revoke.cash is one of three sites at the bottom of that article but surely there are more sites like this.

If you are using other wallets beside MetaMask, you can use token allowance services like Etherscan, Revoke.cash, Unrekt and more to approve or revoke smart contract permissions.

[joniboini]

I also heard from a friend that sometimes when filling form online that you via some random link you have to be careful, especially when you are told to input password you have to make sure that the format of the password is in **** form after being typed not in words , is another means to know suspicious link .

Is there really such a thing? I haven't noticed it. I guess most phishing forms that I've seen use Google forms or something similar, so that's probably why. I'm honestly surprised if they're that lazy to add this feature, assuming they design or use scripts to mimic targeted websites. Never interacted with a phishing website that requires you to register in a simple form, either. Most of them got blocked by ublock or something else, granted it is impossible to detect one that was published 10 minutes ago with this filter.

[Pablo-wood]

    
• A visual Eye test: Scammers buy domain that looks identical to the real ones, you have to look closely for substitution of letters example is when lowercase L is substituted for upper case I... binance.com vs blnance.com

Eye test can be deceptive. It's best to use tools that can help detect broken and malicious links more accurately. Just like the example you gave imagine a complete beginner or even an average user might not spot that difference fast enough and end up falling it.

It is also advised to avoid offers that appears too good  to be true. Many of the scam victims were lured through offers like this too.

[sokani]

I also heard from a friend that sometimes when filling form online that you via some random link you have to be careful, especially when you are told to input password you have to make sure that the format of the password is in **** form after being typed not in words , is another means to know suspicious link .

The password input is designed by default to keep it hidden. However, some websites will give the option to show the password when typing, which is based on the developer's preference. I've seen it on many legitimate websites. So if one shows his password, does it mean that these websites are not safe too? Of course, they are safe. Whatever you were told is not true.

[pliego]

lol i almost fell for a fake uniswap last month stay sharp guys

[Mpamaegbu]

To be sure of URLs you visit, type it manually into your browser and bookmark it for future visitations. Only access it via your bookmark.

This particular one has kept me safe since I came onto this space. A few times I tried doing random search by myself I got onto scam sites and was warned by my browser. I had to quickly disengaged. Nobody should overlook that security check.

Again, I don't know if I'm just paranoia with myself concerning what's going on in this industry because I'm not comfortable updating any app from inside the app whenever I get a warning to update it. I like doing it from Playstore where that app was originally downloaded and installed. So far, so good, anyway. Maybe this type of paranoia is after all good.

[I_Anime]

I also heard from a friend that sometimes when filling form online that you via some random link you have to be careful, especially when you are told to input password you have to make sure that the format of the password is in **** form after being typed not in words , is another means to know suspicious link .

Is there really such a thing? I haven't noticed it. I guess most phishing forms that I've seen use Google forms or something similar, so that's probably why. I'm honestly surprised if they're that lazy to add this feature, assuming they design or use scripts to mimic targeted websites. Never interacted with a phishing website that requires you to register in a simple form, either. Most of them got blocked by ublock or something else, granted it is impossible to detect one that was published 10 minutes ago with this filter.

Someone I knew  was victim of such , the scammer was quite inexperienced though , but still was able to fooled him , he was so desperate to solve the issue he was facing on grey wallet that he got messaged from”X” (formerly known as Twitter ) by an impersonator that claim to be grey customer service , and he sent him a link to fill his details in , he didn’t even bother to see the suspicious act in it, all he care about is to get some answers from the grey wallet concerning the issue he was facing, so when he was filling in his details he noticed that the password space was off, like there where no option to choose if he want to the password to show or not as he typed it , the password was literally showing in words and he got his email hacked in  the process too , leading to some loss of assets in his grey account , at same time making things more complicated for him .

[rat03gopoh]

~

However, your tip is still unsafe from my perspective. There's no separate form requiring you to enter your login credentials for recovery, whether it's text or "*****." I don't think that's how the server verifies passwords, even if it's sent by an official service team.

[Kelward]

Awareness about not clicking on a fake website cannot be overemphasized, a lot of people are falling victims to scammers online especially on social media where scammers will clone a group that you belong to and start sharing phishing links for you to click. Sadly and funny enough people still fall for these cheap scams without thinking why a group you belong to suddenly becomes double. The best thing is to not click on any links that you're not sure of the source, if you're in a hurry you can easily enter a fake website even from a reputable search engine like Google. When I want to access a new website what I normally do is see if any trusted person that I know is using the site, if they do I'll just ask them to share the authentic site with me if not I must try and search how to get every letter correct before I engage.

[KiaKia]

You know with a hardware wallet all these vigilante procedures won't be necessary? The only thing you need to do is verify the website and scan the QR code to make transactions, that's after you know how to keep your recovery seed away from online, how many Trojans and malwares can one really defeat when new ones are coming up almost everyday.

Some are just getting detected and this is why I believe that both windows and androids are the most vulnerable ways to keep your cryptocurrency. I see no reason why anyone should keep a highs amount of coins on a metamask or trust wallet, either on PC or on android devices.

Mistakes can easily be done on laptops and PC, malwares can stealthy creep into your PC even after all the carefulness, it's going to be stressful looking out for everything because there are just too many things to look out for.