# Fake tokens, spam airdrops and trading scams > Fake tokens copy real names, spam airdrops lead to phishing sites, look-alike addresses trick you into sending to scammers, and fake buyers never pay. URL: https://docs.fxwallet.com/security-and-scams/fake-tokens-and-offline-trading-scams Last reviewed: 25 September 2026 Scammers use tokens and transfers as bait: fake tokens with real names, tokens you can buy but not sell, airdrops of spam tokens and NFTs, tiny transfers from look-alike addresses, trades with strangers who never pay, and fake balances on networks they get you to add. None of them can take your crypto unless you send it, approve it, or reveal your mnemonic phrase. ## Fake tokens Anyone can create a token called USDT or ETH. A fake one has a different contract address and is worth nothing. Check the contract address on the project's official website or a block explorer before you buy, receive or add a token. FxWallet warns you about tokens it hasn't catalogued: "Token is uncatalogued and may be risky, please verify its safety and proceed with caution." See [Add a custom token](https://docs.fxwallet.com/wallet/add-tokens-and-networks#add-customized-token). ## Tokens you can't sell A token that you can buy but can't sell is usually a scam, often called a honeypot: its contract blocks sales, or takes most of each sale as a tax. If only one token keeps failing when you sell it, stop buying more, and don't keep raising the slippage or paying gas to try again. - On networks where FxWallet has security data for a token, it marks a honeypot as high risk ("This token possibly contains malicious code. It might not be available for trading.") and won't let you buy it. If you already hold one, FxWallet asks you to confirm before you try to sell it, and the sale may still fail. Before a swap, it also checks the token's buy and sell tax: it asks you to confirm a high tax, and won't swap a token whose tax is very high. See [Why can't I swap this token?](https://docs.fxwallet.com/swap/why-cant-i-swap-this-token) - Before you buy a token you don't know, take its contract address from the project's official website, and try selling a small amount first. - You usually can't get your money back out of a honeypot. Anyone who offers to unlock sales for a fee, or for your mnemonic phrase, is running a second scam. ## Spam airdrops and NFTs Tokens and NFTs that you didn't ask for often point to a site where you can "claim" a reward. Claiming means approving a contract that can take your real tokens. Don't open the links, don't approve anything, and ignore the token. On networks where FxWallet detects spam, it hides spam airdrops and phishing transactions from your history (**Hide Spam Transactions**). You can't delete a token from the blockchain, but you can take it off your home screen: long-press it on the **Wallet** tab and tap **Remove from the list**. To hide it in **Me** → **Assets Discovery** as well, open **Discover Assets**, select it and tap **Hide**. Neither costs a fee. Don't send, sell or approve a spam token to get rid of it. ## Look-alike addresses Scammers send tiny amounts, or worthless tokens, from an address that starts and ends like one you use, hoping you'll copy it from your history next time. Copy the address from the recipient or your address book, and compare the whole address before you send. See [Send crypto](https://docs.fxwallet.com/wallet/send-crypto). ## Trading with strangers A stranger offers to buy your crypto above the market price, or to sell below it, if you send first. Once you send, they disappear, and nobody can get the crypto back. Don't trade with strangers without a trusted third party, and don't scan codes or open payment links they send. ## Fake balances on a custom network A large balance that shows up on a network someone told you to add isn't real, and a request to pay a fee before you can withdraw it is the scam. FxWallet reads each network through its RPC URL, the server named in the network's details. When the scammer runs that server, it can show any balance they like, but the real blockchain doesn't have it. - Scammers get their network into FxWallet in two ways: they send you its details to add by hand, or a site you open in the **Discover** tab asks FxWallet to add it, and FxWallet asks "Wallet has not added chain …, add and continue?". FxWallet won't add a network it already has, so the fake one is a separate network, often named after a real one, such as "Ethereum". - Don't pay any fee, tax or deposit to unlock the funds. Check your address in a block explorer that you open yourself, not one they send you. - Remove the network. See [Edit or remove a custom network](https://docs.fxwallet.com/wallet/add-tokens-and-networks#edit-or-remove-a-custom-network). No real platform, and not FxWallet support, asks you to add a network before you can receive money.