Fraudulent? Hamster Coin and Wall Street Pepe as an example
In 2024 and 2025, fake airdrop scams targeted projects such as Hamster Kombat, Wall Street Pepe, and others, resulting in millions of dollars in losses for users and contributing to a global increase in damages from cryptocurrency fraud to over $9.9 billion.
Fake airdrops impersonate legitimate projects, tricking users into revealing their private keys, signing malicious contracts, or paying upfront fees that lead to irreversible cryptocurrency theft.
Major warning signs include: lack of official announcement, suspicious links, requests for private keys, grammatical errors, and unrealistic reward promises.
Future revenue streams are moving toward activity-based models, retrospective rewards, and AI-powered monitoring that reward meaningful user engagement and reduce exploitation.
While airdrops in the cryptocurrency space are a legitimate way to increase project publicity and user acquisition, scammers exploit this opportunity to extort funds from users through fake campaigns. In 2024 and 2025, airdrop scams related to projects such as Hamster Kombat and Wall Street Pepe resulted in massive losses. According to Chainalysis, estimated global losses from cryptocurrency fraud and counterfeiting, including fake airdrops, reached $9.9 billion in 2024.
It's important to pay attention to warning signs to protect your money from fake returns. This article discusses the main warning signs and practical tips to protect your money.
