How to spot fake tokens and poisoned addresses

Most crypto losses don't come from hacks of the blockchain itself. They come from sending to the wrong address or buying the wrong token. These are the two scams behind many of them, and the habits that stop them.

Fake tokens

Anyone can create a token and call it “USDC”, “Tether” or any other name, with the same logo. Only the contract address tells the real token from the copy.

• Check the contract address against the issuer's official website. For USDC that is Circle, and for USDT it is Tether.
• Be suspicious of tokens that appear on their own. Scammers send worthless tokens to many wallets. Some link to websites that ask you to “claim” or “swap” them. Ignore them, and don't visit those sites.
• Watch for prices that look too good. If a token you are buying costs far less than it should, you are probably looking at a copy.
• Use the token lists in the swap panel. It warns you when you import a token that isn't on its lists. Take that warning seriously.

Address poisoning

This scam relies on the habit of copying an address from your recent transactions.

1. The scammer creates an address whose first and last characters match one you often send to.
2. They send a tiny or zero-value transaction to your wallet, so their look-alike address appears in your history.
3. Next time you copy “your usual address” from the history, you copy theirs instead, and your funds go to them.

Wallets usually show only the start and end of an address, which is exactly the part the scammer copies. In one reported case a single person lost about $68 million in wrapped bitcoin this way.

Habits that stop both scams

• Never copy an address from your transaction history. Copy it from the original source, such as your exchange's deposit page or a saved address book.
• Check the whole address, including the middle characters, not just the start and the end.
• Save trusted addresses in your wallet's address book and send from there.
• Send a small test amount first and confirm it arrived before sending the rest.
• Hide or ignore tokens you didn't buy, and never interact with them.

Nothing here is financial advice. Crypto transactions cannot be reversed.