Spamming with worthless tokens, what's the point?

[examplens]

I noticed that I received some kind of airdrops on a Polygon address, although I'm not sure when I applied. It doesn't matter.

Can someone specifically explain what the purpose of these tokens is and why someone does this at all?
I have no intention of dealing with that token, but I see that it was sent to many addresses, I believe that someone will think that they can get something out of there.

The address from which it was sent is labelled as Fake_Phishing3312



If it's a type of scam, how is it realized?

[mu_enrico]

It's phishing if the token ticker is similar to its original (valuable) token that they tried to mimic. If it's only a random ticker or unpopular token, it's just for marketing purposes, kinda like spam with emails or airdrops. The purpose is just "views" so the address owner searches or knows about the token existence. This practice has been common ever since ETH, and then BSC.

[bitmover]

I noticed that I received some kind of airdrops on a Polygon address, although I'm not sure when I applied. It doesn't matter.

Can someone specifically explain what the purpose of these tokens is and why someone does this at all?
I have no intention of dealing with that token, but I see that it was sent to many addresses, I believe that someone will think that they can get something out of there.

The address from which it was sent is labelled as Fake_Phishing3312



If it's a type of scam, how is it realized?

I have received some tokens which have URL as their names, something like xxxairdrop.io or whatever.

So , those tokens can also be phising to infect your computer and steal your coins.

[Learn Bitcoin]

If it's a type of scam, how is it realized?

I don't know exactly, but I believe this is one kind of scam attempt. Usually, these scammers use a note for the receivers so you can read it. They send those fake tokens to victims so they check if those coins have value or not and if they can be swapped for USDT or not. Sometimes those scammers provide links to their website so that the victim can visit their website and try to swap the coins. Here is the main part, when victims connect their web3 wallets to their website, these websites drain their entire wallet within a minute. So, you have to be careful when you connect your wallets to a website. Look at the screenshot below that I shared. This is one of my wallets with a bunch of phishing tokens with notes. Basically, they are requesting me to use their website to claim rewards! LOL. In your case, fortunately, someone leveled it as phishing already.

[PX-Z]

If it's a type of scam, how is it realized?

I don't know exactly, but I believe this is one kind of scam attempt. Usually, these scammers use a note for the receivers so you can read it. They send those fake tokens to victims so they check if those coins have value or not and if they can be swapped for USDT or not. Sometimes those scammers provide links to their website so that the victim can visit their website and try to swap the coins.

If someone newbie who receive such amount on their wallet, they will be probably shocked, excited and be tempted to send the tokens to what exchange its available, then boom, fund wiped.
Well, some newbie have common sense and wary so they are saved on such tricks, DYOR will always save the day.

[Stompix]

If it's a type of scam, how is it realized?

Sometimes those scammers provide links to their website so that the victim can visit their website and try to swap the coins. Here is the main part, when victims connect their web3 wallets to their website, these websites drain their entire wallet within a minute.

Yup, this is the most common thing if it's targeted as a scam, you rush to an exchange to cash out and you get fleeced for everything! I wonder how lucrative this thing still is, you have to pay some fees while dropping those tokens and the ones tricked by this are not usually carrying that much in coins in their wallets.

Oh, and there is another kind of spam that is less aggressive where exchanges do this for promotions, just to get you on board, the price of those coins is usually below cents value and even if you sell them you won't be able to cash out since you don't have the minimum withdrawal so from here it goes like this
- not a scam and you deposit a bit to make the quota, the exchange has the fee, and your KYC data
- pure scam and the moment you deposit your money is gone

[Learn Bitcoin]

Oh, and there is another kind of spam that is less aggressive where exchanges do this for promotions, just to get you on board, the price of those coins is usually below cents value and even if you sell them you won't be able to cash out since you don't have the minimum withdrawal so from here it goes like this
- not a scam and you deposit a bit to make the quota, the exchange has the fee, and your KYC data
- pure scam and the moment you deposit your money is gone

I am not aware of this type of scam attempt BTW. I don't think any reputed exchange will do something like that. Usually, I use DEX to swap and bridge currency that is EVM compatible. But, I also use CEX to exchange coins like Bitcoin. I don't remember receiving any kind of these spammy token CEX wallets. But I know that Binance has dropped some tokens named NFT which have no value. So, I always ignored that token. I mostly use Binance and Kucoin but I didn't received such coins except for the one that I mentioned.

[ABCbits]

It's phishing if the token ticker is similar to its original (valuable) token that they tried to mimic. If it's only a random ticker or unpopular token, it's just for marketing purposes, kinda like spam with emails or airdrops. The purpose is just "views" so the address owner searches or knows about the token existence. This practice has been common ever since ETH, and then BSC.

Actually such practice was common on BTC as well. Those spammer/scammer would use either OP_RETURN or multiple addresses and then send dust to your Bitcoin address. But it looks like they stopped doing that due to relative high Bitcoin TX fee.

[Stompix]

I am not aware of this type of scam attempt BTW. I don't think any reputed exchange will do something like that

Reputed,no! Shadier ones, ones that just started, rug pull ones, yeah!
It was more common during the ICO/airdrop madness, I guess it died down because cost versus potential revenue doesn't make it attractive anymore as a promotional method. Plus right now there are so many chains, so many tokens so much stuff I think it's way more beneficial to simply buy your way in the game on social media.

[Learn Bitcoin]

Reputed,no! Shadier ones, ones that just started, rug pull ones, yeah!
It was more common during the ICO/airdrop madness, I guess it died down because cost versus potential revenue doesn't make it attractive anymore as a promotional method. Plus right now there are so many chains, so many tokens so much stuff I think it's way more beneficial to simply buy your way in the game on social media.

Currently, the airdrops are in hype again. It started only a couple of weeks ago, and if you have followed any of the groups or channels, you will notice how many new projects are launching every day. Twitter is full of spam at this moment. But, you have to engage if you want more updates about these things.

If airdrop hunters start doing the tasks, they do it for every project. A couple of new chains has been launched lately and some new projects on those chains has been launched as well. But fortunately, I haven't been in those scammy projects yet and I hope I won't fall for those scams.

[Crwth]

I have been receiving those types of airdrops in my wallet not on Polygon, but with BASE chain. I think it's just because it's easy to create new projects and then make meme coins or something that would be distributed to all NFT holders or something.

I have traded only once that I received and traded it, nothing happened to my account though.

[TomPluz]

Sometimes those scammers provide links to their website so that the victim can visit their website and try to swap the coins. Here is the main part, when victims connect their web3 wallets to their website, these websites drain their entire wallet within a minute.

This is actually already a popular scam method which victimized many in the past and that's why it is good never to touch something like that otherwise your wallet will be zero in no time at all. I once read horrifying stories along this scam strategy and in many cases those who are new in crypto industry can easily be deceived as who would not want to receive something for free even if the value can just be $10. This was popular in both ETH and BSC network and until now I still see some tokens and coins coming my way without me knowing where they really come from. In Twitter or X, airdrops is always popular but I am careful in there as we don't know if they are still employing the same scam way to victimize people. We are certainly living in the good and the bad of the cryptocurrency industry and categorizing which can be a little bit challenging.

[yhiaali3]

I have dozens of these scam tokens in my wallet on the Binance network. If you put your wallet address on the X platform or sign up for Airdrop, you will receive dozens of these scam tokens.

In addition to everything mentioned above, some of these tokens give a large fictitious value to the token, and when someone tries to sell it, he must do an approval first, and this requires high fees ranging between $4-10, while it usually does not exceed cents. These fees will go to the wallet of The creator of the token, therefore, the more he publishes these tokens, the more he earns thousands of dollars through fees alone. Of course, the victim will not be able to sell the token because it is a scam.

[jeraldskie11]

If it's a type of scam, how is it realized?

I don't know exactly, but I believe this is one kind of scam attempt. Usually, these scammers use a note for the receivers so you can read it. They send those fake tokens to victims so they check if those coins have value or not and if they can be swapped for USDT or not. Sometimes those scammers provide links to their website so that the victim can visit their website and try to swap the coins.

If someone newbie who receive such amount on their wallet, they will be probably shocked, excited and be tempted to send the tokens to what exchange its available, then boom, fund wiped.
Well, some newbie have common sense and wary so they are saved on such tricks, DYOR will always save the day.

I agree. Newbies must be guided with this kind of stuff to avoid losing funds. Scammers in crypto keeps improving to lure anyone. I have a friend who has been in crypto for years and always taking care of his actions every time he transfer funds but still being victim of scamming or hacking. Maybe his computer is infected by clicking suspicious links, so DYOR is must and don't always rely on the knowledge of a friend.

[Learn Bitcoin]

Well, I have been spreading awareness everywhere about phishing; unfortunately, I was the victim last night when an email was phished at midnight, and I did not have access to my desktop or laptop. I did not doubt the email because it was exclusively for airdrop farming. Since I was on my mobile, I did not check that email's URL and sender. I clicked on the link and went ahead and connected the metamask wallet. It takes only a few seconds to drain my entire wallet. Fortunately, The contract did not drain all the chains. The blast and Arbitrum chains were drained, and the ETH and Avalance chains weren't affected.