How to Spot a Crypto Scam Using Etherscan and a Website Name

Etherscan Code Reader is a useful tool for users who want to avoid falling victim to malicious contracts and gain valuable insights about various crypto applications. It can analyze the code of any contract on the Ethereum blockchain and provide information such as its functionality, security, and popularity.

User Walkthrough 🤓

Scenario: You were told by a stranger at a local meetup to check out a cool new token. He only gave you the project's website, but it looks a bit overwhelming for you

You want to find ways to learn more about this token

Wat do? 🧵 pic.twitter.com/ZPwDUtkoFT

— Etherscan (@etherscan) June 28, 2023

ChatGPT-Powered Etherscan Code Reader

Etherscan, a popular tool for exploring Ethereum (ETH) and other blockchains that use the EVM, showed how to access and understand the smart contracts behind every dApp. This data can reveal important information about how the dApp works and what it does.

It can show all the important information about how a smart contract works and what it can do. The analyst does not have to be a coder and can use the tool with just the domain name of the app that uses the smart contract.

To learn more about a project’s smart contracts, a user can follow the steps shown by Etherscan. First, the user needs to look up the contract address from the project’s documentation. Next, the user can enter the address into Etherscan and switch to Code Reader mode. 

This will reveal various details about the contract’s functions. Especially, the user should pay attention to the functions that are limited to certain addresses. These functions can indicate whether the contract is safe or malicious.

This is how the Etherscan interface shows different events related to this smart contract, such as transferring tokens, redeeming them, minting new ones, and more. 

The interface also displays charts of the net transfer count and the total number of unique senders and receivers, as well as the distribution of tokens among different addresses, as the team guarantees.

Cryptocurrency scammers use various malicious activities to deceive people. This tooling can help expose them. For example, it can identify honeypot contracts, which are tokens that trap buyers by preventing them from selling.