Crypto Scams: How to Spot and Avoid the Most Common DeFi and Token Scams
When you hear crypto scams, fraudulent schemes designed to steal your crypto assets through deception, fake platforms, or fake airdrops. Also known as crypto fraud, these scams thrive on urgency, fake legitimacy, and your hope for easy gains. They’re not just random phishing emails—they’re polished, professional-looking websites, Telegram groups with hundreds of members, and even fake YouTube videos that look real. The biggest danger? You think you’re getting ahead—until your wallet is empty.
Crypto airdrop scams, fake free token distributions that trick you into connecting your wallet or paying "gas fees" are everywhere. Look at BABYDB and CSS—both were never real airdrops, yet people lost money chasing them. Fake crypto exchanges, platforms that mimic Bybit, StormGain, or Binance to steal deposits shut down overnight, leaving users with nothing. StormGain didn’t just vanish—it migrated to another platform after losing trust, and many users never got their funds back. And then there’s DeFi scams, smart contracts that look like yield farms but drain your funds the moment you approve a transaction. Projects like PolkaWar and ORE had hype, token listings, and even CoinMarketCap pages—but zero product, zero community, zero future. These aren’t failures. They’re designed to fail.
What ties them all together? They promise something for nothing: free tokens, 100x returns, zero-fee trading, or guaranteed profits. The truth? If it sounds too good to be true, it’s not just suspicious—it’s already a scam. You don’t need to be an expert to avoid them. You just need to ask: Who’s behind this? Is there a real team? Is there actual usage? Or is this just a token with no utility, no code updates, and a Discord full of bots? The posts below break down real cases—what went wrong, who got burned, and how to spot the next one before you click "Connect Wallet."
