This page explains terms that come up repeatedly in our articles, in three groups: scam methods, wallets and on-chain actions, and account security and platforms. Where the site has a page on a term, the last column links to it.
Scam methods
| Term | What it means | Page that covers it |
|---|---|---|
| Phishing | A scammer poses as someone you trust (an exchange, support, an official page) and gets you to enter your password or a verification code somewhere fake, or to click a malicious link, and so takes over your account or assets. | Domain checker, for comparing an address with the official one |
| Social engineering | Manipulating the person instead of breaking into the system. It uses your trust, fear ("your account has a problem"), greed ("guaranteed returns"), sympathy or sense of urgency to get you to take the damaging action yourself. | Police Call Says Move Crypto to a “Safe Account”: Is It a Scam? |
| Pig butchering | The scammer, often posing as a romantic partner or an "investment mentor", first spends time building a relationship with you, then leads you to a fake platform that looks like a sure thing and has you deposit more and more. In the end the money can't be withdrawn and the person can't be reached. "Signal mentors" and VIP signal groups work the same way. Our guide describes the whole process in seven stages. | Pig Butchering Scams: 7 Stages and What You Can Check |
| Honeypot token | A token contract whose code lets you buy but not sell. You see a gain on paper that you can never cash out. | — |
| Rug pull | After drawing in a large amount of money, the project team suddenly removes the liquidity from the trading pool or simply leaves with the funds, and the token's price falls to zero at once. | — |
| Ponzi scheme | A scheme with no real source of profit that keeps going by paying earlier participants "returns" out of later participants' money. When not enough new money comes in, it collapses. If someone promises a few percent a day, you can convert that to a yearly figure first. | Compound return calculator |
| Recovery scam | A scam aimed at people who have already been scammed. Posing as a "recovery team" or a "hacker who traces funds", the scammer offers to "get your losses back", has you pay a fee or deposit first, and defrauds you a second time. | Crypto Recovery Scams: “We Can Get Your USDT Back” |
Wallets and on-chain actions
| Term | What it means | Page that covers it |
|---|---|---|
| Airdrop | A project sends free tokens to wallet addresses. A genuine airdrop never asks for your private key or seed phrase, or for a payment first; if the wallet pop-up is an approval and not a claim, cancel. | Fake Airdrops: Wallet Approvals and How to Revoke Them |
| Token approval | When you tap "Approve," you're granting a smart contract permission to move a particular token in your wallet. Theft can happen when you give a malicious contract an "unlimited approval" and it then moves all your tokens out in one go. Approvals can—and should—be revoked periodically. | Fake Airdrops: Wallet Approvals and How to Revoke Them |
| Signing vs. approving | Two actions that are easy to mix up. Signing uses your private key to prove "this is me" or "I agree to this message"—it doesn't necessarily spend anything. Approving hands a contract the power to spend your tokens. But beware: certain malicious signatures (like off-chain approvals) can also be used to move assets. The takeaway is simple—if you don't understand what you're signing or approving, don't tap. | Fake Airdrops: Wallet Approvals and How to Revoke Them |
| Private key / seed phrase | The ultimate password to your wallet. A seed phrase (usually 12 or 24 words) can restore your private key directly, and whoever has it can move every asset you hold. Whoever the other person says they are and whatever reason they give, never hand over a private key or seed phrase. | Fake Airdrops: Wallet Approvals and How to Revoke Them |
| Cold wallet / hot wallet | A hot wallet is online and convenient (a phone or browser-extension wallet) but more exposed; a cold wallet keeps your private key offline (a hardware wallet)—safer, but less seamless. The common approach: small everyday amounts in a hot wallet, large long-term holdings in a cold wallet. | Fake Airdrops: Wallet Approvals and How to Revoke Them |
Account security and platforms
| Term | What it means | Page that covers it |
|---|---|---|
| 2FA (two-factor authentication) | A second gate beyond your password—logging in or withdrawing requires an extra one-time code. Prefer an authenticator app (like Google Authenticator) over SMS, because text messages can be hijacked. Even if your password leaks, 2FA buys you another layer. | Safety checklist |
| Withdrawal address whitelist | An exchange security setting. Once it is on, you can withdraw only to addresses you registered in advance, and an unfamiliar address can't receive a withdrawal. If the account is taken over, the other side cannot simply withdraw to an address of their own. Worth turning on. | Safety checklist |
| KYC | "Know Your Customer": a platform's compliance process for verifying a user's real identity. KYC is done only inside the platform's official channels. Treat a "KYC verification" or "identity review" link that someone sends you as phishing. | — |
| Proof of Reserves (PoR) | A public way for an exchange to show that it holds enough assets to cover users' withdrawals. It addresses the worry that a platform might collapse or disappear with the funds, and it is one input into judging whether an exchange can be relied on. | How to Tell If a Crypto Exchange Is Legit: 5 Checks |
| Homograph (IDN) domain | Scammers register fake domains using look-alike characters (for example, a Cyrillic "о" standing in for the Latin "o") that can't be told apart by eye. Rely on bookmarks and a password manager that matches the domain automatically. You can also paste the address into the domain checker, which adds a warning when a domain contains non-English characters. | Domain checker |
| Repackaged app | A copycat web page or a scammer's fake backend, bundled into an app installer that looks legitimate and pushed to you by direct message or a web page for installation outside the official stores. To download an app, open the exchange's official website, follow its link to the app store, and check the developer name. | Fake Crypto Exchange Apps: TestFlight, APK Files, How to Check |
When someone uses a term you don't know to hurry you
Stop and look the term up before you decide. If it is the whole situation you are unsure about and not one word, go through the scam self-check.
To look things up by type of scam, see the Scam Field Guide. If you have already sent money or given out a verification code, see Scammed in Crypto? What to Do and Where to Report It.