In 2017, the average number of monthly airdrops was 2. You’ll probably agree that’s not much. However, with time, airdrops found their way to the crypto community, and today, an average of 3 airdrops are released daily.
Crypto and blockchain startups recognized airdrops as an effective method for raising popularity and awareness of their project. This was especially helpful since Facebook banned ads related to cryptocurrency and ICOs in January 2018.
Airdrop scams
The problem is that with the rise of ICO’s and airdrop popularity also came numerous frauds from people trying to get information: for example, your private key. The crypto market became flooded with ICO scams, such as Bitconnect and OneCoin, and airdrops were no exception.
Let’s take CORBIT as an example of a typical airdrop scam. CORBIT is supposed to be a new, decentralized exchange with low fees. You could participate in the airdrop by signing up to their Telegram and Twitter channels. At the end of their ICO, each participant would receive 30 coins worth around $6.
In less than a week, over 80,000 people joined the CORBIT community. If you took a look on their website (which is now gone), you would see typical alerts pointing out a scam: the whitepaper wasn’t finished, and the team info was missing.
Overnight, the entire CORBIT project, including their Telegram channel, website, and social media profiles, simply changed into a new airdrop channel.
Although joining airdrops has benefits and offers many possibilities, it also means you could run into an airdrop scam. So, how can you protect yourself? Here are some tips that will help you.
Five tips for staying safe:
- Keep an eye on our website. There, you can find a researched list of verified and unverified airdrops, and airdrop scams.
- Never share your private keys. A typical sign of airdrop scams is asking for your private key.
- Research the project. Check out their website, white paper and team info.
- Don’t download unknown wallets. Remember, installing unknown software can be risky. Consider using hardware wallets instead.
- Use a hardware wallet address to secure your coins (for example, Trezor or Ledger).
Wrap up
As the crypto market is heating up with more and more new airdrops, the number of fake airdrops is also growing. However, this doesn’t mean that there are no worthy and successful airdrops. Don’t let the scams pull you away from joining one of them. Follow our tips to stay safe, and enjoy airdrop distribution.
Find Alerts for legitimate & good airdrops on the bigger Telegram Channels.
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What is the first airdrop in history?← P R E V I O U S
N E X T → Hot Airdrops of May 2019
