Free Crypto Airdrops --- Are they Safe?
December 8, 2021 - If you got here for Zero Friction's ZFX airdrop, unfortunately we are informing you that there is no such airdrop. However, if you receive other airdrop invites, you must read on!
Every month or so, you may be one of the lucky fews who received some cryptocurrencies in form of 'free' airdrops. The deposit typically consists of small amount of cryptocurrencies with a message or a note (in memo text field) requesting the recipient to visit a designate website via a URL to receive the official airdrop. In more extreme cases, custom tokens have been created with names that mapped to specific web sites.
Unfortunately this is a classic scam that plays on the user's greed. When the user arrives at phishing web site, the site then asks victims for permission to access their Metamask crypto wallet. If the victim approves, the scammer can drain the user funds.
Another variant of attacks may be to ask the users to enter the wallet phrase or seed words to receive the deposit from the airdrop. Once the seed words are entered, the scammer sweeps the user wallet and transfer the funds into a wallet controlled by them.
Unfortunately due to the nature of blockchain technology, you cannot truly avoid having these airdrops landed in your wallet. However, if you exercise some prudent, you can keep the coins if you take the following actions:
Do not take any further actions to transact the coins from any provided links from the memo. Leave the deposit there and do not move it.
If a token name has a domain name in it, that is a big red flag and you should not to go to that website and get phished.
Avoid interacting with any smart contract that randomly sends you free tokens.