🛡️ Security & Safety
Common Scams & Red Flags
Phishing, fake support, rug pulls, and how to spot them.
7 min read
Phishing and fake sites
The most common way people lose crypto isn't fancy hacking - it's being tricked into signing a transaction or entering a seed phrase on a fake site. Attackers clone real wallet and exchange pages, then drive traffic with ads, DMs, and lookalike URLs.
No legitimate service will ever ask for your seed phrase. Not support, not a giveaway, not an 'account verification'. Anyone who asks is trying to steal from you.
Rule zero: never type your seed phrase into any website or app that asks for it. Ever.
Malicious approvals
When you use a dApp, you often sign an approval letting a contract move certain tokens. Scam sites disguise a 'connect' or 'claim' button as an approval that grants access to everything in your wallet.
Read what you're signing. If a simple action asks for unlimited spending permission on your most valuable token, stop.
Rug pulls
In a rug pull, a token's creators hype it, attract deposits, then pull the liquidity and vanish - leaving holders unable to sell. Warning signs include anonymous teams with locked-away control, promises of guaranteed returns, and liquidity that isn't locked.
Extraordinary yields with no clear source of that yield are the loudest red flag of all.
Check your understanding
3 questions from this lesson, with the correct answer already marked.
1. A 'support agent' asks for your seed phrase to fix your account. You should…
- Give the first 6 words only
- Never share it - no legitimate service asks
- Share it if they have a verified badge
- Email it encrypted
No legitimate service ever needs your seed phrase. Anyone asking is a scammer.
2. What is a rug pull?
- A network upgrade
- Creators draining a project's liquidity/funds and disappearing
- A type of hardware wallet
- A staking reward
A rug pull is when insiders pull the liquidity or funds and vanish, leaving holders stuck.
3. Which is the loudest red flag of a scam token?
- A public team
- Locked liquidity
- Guaranteed high returns with no explained source
- An audit report
Guaranteed, outsized returns with no real source of yield is a classic hallmark of a scam.