Crypto scam scanner
check a token, wallet, or contract
The complete guide to checking whether a token, wallet, or contract is a crypto scam. Learn the scam types and warning signs, then run the right on-chain check for each, all from one investigation.
Start a free scam investigationFree · No sign-up · EVM · Bitcoin · Solana · Tron
Every scan is powered by the XemaS Semantic Intelligence Platform · answers carry their evidence and coverage state
What is a crypto scam?
A crypto scam is any scheme designed to take your funds through deception rather than a fair trade. Most fall into a handful of repeatable patterns. Knowing which pattern you are looking at tells you exactly which check to run.
Honeypots
A token you can buy but cannot sell. The contract blocks sells with a 100% tax, a blacklist, or a trading flag only the owner controls.
Rug pulls
The team drains liquidity or dumps a hidden allocation and exits, leaving holders with a worthless token and no way out.
Wallet drainers
Malicious sites and contracts trick you into a signature or approval that lets an attacker empty your wallet in one transaction.
Fake airdrops
A "claim your tokens" page that actually requests a transfer or signature, sending your assets to the scammer instead.
Approval phishing
You grant an unlimited token approval to a contract that looks legitimate, and it spends your balance whenever it likes.
Impersonation
Fake accounts, sites, and tokens that copy a real project to capture deposits, presale funds, or approvals.
Fake presales
A presale or mint that collects funds and never delivers, or delivers a token engineered to trap buyers.
Malicious contracts
Hidden mint, upgrade, pause, or blacklist logic that lets the deployer change the rules after you have bought in.
Signals that cut across every scam
The specific mechanics differ, but the early tells repeat. Any one of these is a reason to scan before you trade, deposit, or sign:
- Anonymous deployers with no verifiable track record
- Liquidity that is unlocked or still held by the deployer
- Manufactured social proof: bought followers, bot engagement, paid hype
- Top holders co-funded from the same wallet, or a single launch token
- Requests for unlimited token approvals or a blind signature
- Sudden, coordinated whale activity right before a move
- Urgency, guaranteed returns, and pressure to act now
Which check should you use?
Match the question you are actually asking to the check that answers it.
One investigation, every layer
No single check is the whole answer. A real verdict comes from stacking them.
Token
Scan the contract for honeypot behaviour, owner permissions, taxes, and a proxy that could swap the code later.
Wallets
Read the deployer and top holders: shared funding, single-token concentration, and links to known scam actors.
Contract
Resolve upgradeability and privileged functions, so a clean read today cannot be quietly changed tomorrow.
Liquidity
Confirm liquidity is real, paired against a genuine asset, and locked or burned rather than pullable.
Verdict
Combine every layer into one evidence-backed read, with the confidence behind each signal, instead of a single opaque score.
Coverage and limits
No tool catches everything. A scan reads on-chain behaviour and known patterns. It is strong on contract, liquidity, and wallet risk, but it cannot see an off-chain exit scam, a compromised website, or a brand-new pattern with no history yet.
Absence of evidence is not safety. A clean read on a fresh token or wallet often means there is little to judge yet, not that it is safe. New projects earn trust over time.
Coverage varies by chain. Checks run across EVM, Solana, Tron, and Bitcoin/Lightning, but depth differs per chain. XemaS states what it could and could not determine rather than implying certainty, so you can weigh the read with your own judgement.
Start a free scam investigation
Paste a token or address and XemaS runs the contract, wallet, liquidity, and ownership checks together into one evidence-backed verdict. Free, no account required.