Fake Crypto Projects: How to Spot Scams and Avoid Lost Money

When you hear about a new crypto coin promising 1000% returns with no team and no code, you’re probably looking at a fake crypto project, a digital asset created only to trick people into buying it before the creators vanish with the money. Also known as exit scam, these projects have no real purpose, no users, and no future—just a website, a whitepaper full of buzzwords, and a rush to sell before the price crashes. They’re not bugs in the system—they’re the system being abused.

These scams come in many forms. Some, like Deutsche Mark (DDM), a fake stablecoin with zero circulating supply and fabricated trading volume, pretend to be serious financial tools. Others, like UniWorld (UNW), a token with no trading activity, no team, and no updates for years, are outright dead—called zombie tokens because they’re technically still on blockchains but have no life left. Then there are crypto exit scams, projects that raise funds through hype, then disappear overnight, like PayCash Swap or LocalTrade, which vanish after collecting deposits. And don’t forget the fake airdrops, false promises of free tokens that steal your wallet keys or trick you into paying "gas fees"—they’re everywhere, especially when people are desperate for free crypto.

Real projects have transparency: a public team, active GitHub commits, real trading volume on at least one major exchange, and a community that talks about the tech—not just the price. Fake ones hide behind anonymous devs, use stock images for their team photos, and boast trading numbers that don’t match what you see on CoinGecko or CoinMarketCap. If a coin’s price jumps 500% in a day with no news, it’s likely being pumped by bots. If the website looks like it was built in 2017, it probably is. And if the whitepaper reads like a sci-fi novel with no technical details, walk away.

You don’t need to be a blockchain expert to avoid these traps. You just need to ask: Who’s behind this? Where’s the code? Is anyone actually using it? And why would someone give me free tokens? The answers are almost always the same: no one, nowhere, no one, and because they’re stealing from you.

Below, you’ll find real breakdowns of projects that looked promising but turned out to be empty shells. Some were outright frauds. Others were just poorly executed and died quietly. Either way, they all share the same warning signs. Learn from them—before you lose your money to the next one.