Scams and rugs: the field guide

Twelve common traps, what they look like, and the 30-second check for each.

Rug pull: the liquidity is pulled. A coin climbs for a day with a busy chat. Then the price falls to almost zero in minutes. The chart is a cliff, and when you try to sell, you get almost nothing back. The creator removes the SOL from the pool. This is called pulling liquidity. Your tokens still exist, but there is nothing left to sell them into, so there is no real price.

Dev dump, or soft rug. The team says they are building. The price drifts down for hours, then drops hard. Holders ask questions in chat and get no replies. The dev's profile goes quiet or disappears. The creator kept a big share of the supply and sells it into buyers, slowly or all at once. The pool stays, but your price keeps falling as their tokens flood in.

Honeypot: you can buy but can't sell. Your buy goes through. The chart looks great and others seem to be winning. But when you try to sell, it fails every time, or only a tiny amount gets through. The token's code blocks most wallets from selling, while the creator's wallet can still sell. Buys keep the chart green, and trapped buyers keep adding to it without knowing.

Bundled supply: one person behind many wallets. A new coin shows hundreds of holders in the first minute. The holders list looks healthy. But the price stalls after a small rise, then drops as a group of wallets sells together. One person can hold the supply across many wallets, so the holder count looks spread out when it is not. When they sell, the sales come from all of those wallets at once.

Fake volume and wash trading. A coin shows huge volume and a flood of trades, yet few real people are talking about it. It sits on a trending list and you feel late. The buys arrive in very regular sizes. A few wallets trade back and forth with themselves to inflate volume. This is called wash trading. The aim is to reach trending lists and attract real buyers, who then become the exit.

Paid callers and KOL pump and dumps. A big account posts a coin with strong words and a rocket emoji. The replies fill with the same message. The price jumps within minutes, then falls just as fast. Some callers are paid, or already hold the coin before they post. Their audience buys, and the caller sells into that demand. The post is an advertisement, not research.

Fake CA copycats: same name, different coin. You search a famous name and find a coin with the same name, logo, and ticker. A reply in a thread gives a CA that looks right. You buy, and the price never moves like the real one. Anyone can launch a coin with any name. Copycats borrow a real coin's name and image so you buy the wrong contract. Only the contract address is unique.

Wallet drainers: fake airdrops and connect-wallet sites. A message says you qualify for a free airdrop. It links to a polished site that asks you to connect your wallet and approve something. A timer pushes you to hurry. The site is built to look like a real project. An approval on it can give a scammer permission to move your tokens. Connecting is the first step, and approving empties the wallet.

Fake support DMs: send your seed phrase to verify. You ask a question in a public chat. Within minutes a support account messages you privately. It says your wallet has a problem and asks for your seed phrase to verify or fix it. Nobody real needs your seed phrase. Whoever has it controls the wallet and can empty it in seconds. Scammers watch public chats and message anyone who sounds confused.

Send me SOL, I'll trade for you. Someone with big profit screenshots offers to trade for you. You are asked to send SOL and promised a share. A small payout comes back first. Then they ask for more and go silent. Profit screenshots are easy to fake. The early payout is bait to build trust. Once you send a larger amount, the account vanishes and the funds cannot be reversed.

Snipers and insiders at launch. A coin launches and within seconds the price is already up several times. You see it a minute later and buy. The early wallets are already selling to you. Snipers use automation to buy in the first block, and insiders may know about a launch beforehand. They get cheap tokens, and later buyers become their exit.

Mint and freeze authority traps. A coin looks fine, with good liquidity and holders. Later the supply grows without warning and your share shrinks, or your tokens suddenly cannot be moved. Nothing on the chart warned you. Mint authority lets someone create more tokens. Freeze authority lets someone lock wallets. If the creator still holds either, they keep power over your tokens after you buy.