How can you tell if you are buying an NFT from the exact collection and not a cheaper replica?
How to ensure that your next NFT purchase is not a scam attempt from a bad actor on the other side of the blockchain?
Soon anyone from anywhere in the world will be able to create and sell an NFT on Swappable without approval from any central authority. Radical transparency is at the core of the crypto project. This, however, demands more attention and responsibility than usual.
Here are a few tips on how to check and be certain that you are not being tricked and scammed in the vast wild west called Web3.
Double-check the smart contract
Checking the smart contract info is a great way to be sure you’re buying the correct NFT. Reach out to the creator for clarity on the smart contract and token ID, and make sure it’s the same as what you see in the Chain Info section on the NFT page.
Look for the verified collection badge
Some high-profile collections on Swappable such as Jani Leinonen’s will have a verified collection badge. Look for those as extra proof that the artwork indeed belongs to the author.
Check the artist’s social media accounts
Normally, an artist would add his social media links on his collection page. If that is not the case, feel free to check with him. Locate his Facebook or Instagram page and drop him a DM. See if the artist has provided a link to his NFT collection. This would bring him more exposure so there is barely any excuse for not doing it.
Check if the price appears too low
Every popular good NFT collection has a high trading volume and a matching price. In case you are getting a piece ridiculously below its perceived value, you may not be getting a good bargain; you may be getting plagiarism of the original.
Do a reverse Google Image search
Use Google reverse check to find out important info about a photo: to see how many variants of an image have been flying on the internet, how long the image has existed, etc. the process is simple, you visit image.google.com, use the camera icon to upload an image and then see how many variants there from the same image across various locations are on the Internet.
Watch out for shady drops
Have you ever heard of so-called dusting attacks? A malicious activity performed by scammers when they send tiny amounts of coins or tokens (dust) to thousands of addresses on the network. There are different reasons behind these attacks, mainly to track the transactional data of the wallets sufficiently enough to deanonymize the owner of the wallet and perform a targeted phishing attack on the victim to get hold of users’ crypto.
Scammers can drop thousands of NFTs to unsuspecting users for the same reason. Each NFT has a contract, and some scammers make these agreements include authorizations to access your crypto wallet. Never accept a free NFT from someone you don’t know and trust.
Beware of fake Web3 wallet prompts and phishing attempts
Fake Metamask interfaces are a common way to scam people and trick them into sharing their seed phrase. You’ll usually encounter this type of page after following a link in a scam DM. Fortunately, MetaMask’s wallet has phishing protection enabled by default, and it also alerts you to incoming transactions (like airdropped NFTs).
Ask for help on the official channels.
The only place you will get quality help and assistance on all things Swappable are our official Twitter and Discord channels. If you decide to ask for help from broader channels not created by us, practice caution.
Limit smart contract approvals
In case you are a Metamask user, remember to frequently check your spending limit when approving transactions. Doing so is safer because if a smart contract has an unlimited spend limit for one of your tokens, say USDT, it can drain your entire USDT balance if the contract is malicious or has a backdoor Remember to use Ethereum’s token approval checker to review and revoke token approvals for every dApp you’ve used before.
Are you a more confident NFT trader now? Make sure you check our upcoming NTR-Meta NFT shoes drop— 5,000 pairs of sneakers handmade and designed in Italy will be offered for sale as NFTs and redeemable for physical pairs. Join our Discord to stay tuned for NTR-Meta and future NFT drops from world-class artists and celebrities.
