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<p class="crumb"><a href="/guides">Guides</a> / Scams and staying safe</p>

  <div class="card hero">
    <div class="card-body">
      <h1><span class="grad">Testnet scams and staying safe</span></h1>
      <p class="lede">Testnet coins are free and worthless, which removes most of the risk. But the habits you build here protect real money later, so here are the scams to recognize.</p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div class="toc">
    <p class="toc-title">On this page</p>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="#golden-rule">The golden rule</a></li>
      <li><a href="#doublers">Fake coin sales and doublers</a></li>
      <li><a href="#phishing">Seed phrase phishing</a></li>
      <li><a href="#trojans">Trojaned downloads</a></li>
      <li><a href="#poisoning">Address poisoning</a></li>
      <li><a href="#fake-support">Fake support and DMs</a></li>
      <li><a href="#habit">The habit that beats most of it</a></li>
    </ul>
  </div>

  <div class="card"><div class="card-body prose">
    <h2 id="golden-rule">The golden rule <a class="anchor" tabindex="-1" href="#golden-rule" aria-hidden="true">#</a></h2>
    <p>Testnet coins are free and effectively unlimited. You can get them from a <a href="/faucet">faucet</a> in seconds, or <a href="/mining">mine</a> them yourself. That single fact defeats most scams before they start: <strong>anyone selling testnet coins, doubling them, or promising they'll be worth something later is running a scam.</strong> There is nothing to buy, because the whole point is that they have no value. If you're ever unsure why, read <a href="/why-no-value">why testnet coins have no value</a>.</p>

    <div class="callout tip">
      <p class="co-title">One question stops most scams</p>
      <p>Ask yourself: "Why would anyone pay for something that's given away for free?" If the answer involves you sending money, coins, or a seed phrase, walk away.</p>
    </div>

    <h2 id="doublers">Fake coin sales and doublers <a class="anchor" tabindex="-1" href="#doublers" aria-hidden="true">#</a></h2>
    <p>The classic version is the "doubler": send 1 coin and get 2 back. You send, and nothing comes back. On testnet this is almost funny, because you could have gotten those coins from a faucet for nothing. But the same trick runs on mainnet with real money, so it's worth spotting the pattern now.</p>
    <p>Related versions to ignore:</p>
    <ul>
      <li>Paid <strong>"premium" faucets</strong> that ask for a deposit or a fee before they'll release coins. Real testnet faucets are free.</li>
      <li>Marketplaces or listings <strong>selling testnet coins</strong> for real currency. There is no legitimate reason for these to exist.</li>
      <li>Anyone claiming testnet coins will "convert" to mainnet coins one day. They won't, and they can't.</li>
    </ul>

    <h2 id="phishing">Seed phrase phishing <a class="anchor" tabindex="-1" href="#phishing" aria-hidden="true">#</a></h2>
    <p>This is the most dangerous one because it's the habit that hurts you on mainnet. A fake wallet or faucet site asks you to "import," "verify," or "sync" your wallet by typing in a seed phrase. The moment you do, whoever runs that site has full control of that wallet.</p>
    <p><strong>A real service never needs your seed phrase.</strong> Faucets only need a receiving address. Wallets generate and store your seed locally. Nobody legitimate will ever ask you to type a seed into a website, a chat, or a form.</p>
    <div class="callout danger">
      <p class="co-title">Build the reflex on throwaway seeds</p>
      <p>On testnet, every seed should be a throwaway you don't care about. Never enter a real seed phrase anywhere, on any site, for any reason. See <a href="/keys-and-seeds">keys and seeds</a> for how this works and why the seed is the whole wallet.</p>
    </div>

    <h2 id="trojans">Trojaned downloads <a class="anchor" tabindex="-1" href="#trojans" aria-hidden="true">#</a></h2>
    <p>A fake wallet app or node binary can look identical to the real thing and quietly steal keys or coins in the background. On mainnet, a trojaned wallet drains real funds. Practicing safe downloads now keeps you safe later.</p>
    <ul>
      <li>Download only from the <strong>official project site</strong>. For the browser wallet used across this site, that's <a href="https://testnetwallet.net" class="ext" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testnetwallet.net</a>.</li>
      <li>Be wary of <strong>search ads</strong>. Scammers buy ads for common wallet names and point them at look-alike domains. Check the address bar carefully.</li>
      <li>Be wary of <strong>random GitHub forks</strong> and reuploads. A fork can contain modified, malicious code. Stick to the official repository linked from the official site.</li>
    </ul>

    <h2 id="poisoning">Address poisoning <a class="anchor" tabindex="-1" href="#poisoning" aria-hidden="true">#</a></h2>
    <p>This one is sneaky. A scammer generates an address that looks like one you use, matching the first few and last few characters, then sends you a tiny amount from it. Now that look-alike address sits in your transaction history. Later, when you copy an address from your history to reuse it, you might grab theirs by mistake and send real coins to the scammer.</p>
    <p>The defense is simple: <strong>verify the full address, every character, not just the ends.</strong> Never trust an address just because it "starts and ends right." When in doubt, look the transaction up on an <a href="/explorer">explorer</a> like <a href="https://testnetscan.com" class="ext" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testnetscan.com</a> and confirm exactly where funds came from.</p>

    <h2 id="fake-support">Fake support and DMs <a class="anchor" tabindex="-1" href="#fake-support" aria-hidden="true">#</a></h2>
    <p>You post a question in a public channel, and within minutes a friendly "support agent" slides into your direct messages offering to help. This is almost always a scam. Fake help desks, cloned support bots, and unsolicited DMs all lead to the same ask: your seed phrase, or a "validation" payment.</p>
    <p>Two rules cover most of it:</p>
    <ul>
      <li><strong>Real projects do not DM you first.</strong> Help happens in public channels where others can see it.</li>
      <li><strong>No real support agent will ever ask for your keys or seed phrase.</strong> If they do, they're a scammer, full stop.</li>
    </ul>

    <h2 id="habit">The habit that beats most of it <a class="anchor" tabindex="-1" href="#habit" aria-hidden="true">#</a></h2>
    <p>Almost every scam above relies on one thing: you moving fast. Slow down, and most of them fall apart. Here's the short checklist that covers the lot:</p>
    <div class="table-wrap">
      <table>
        <thead>
          <tr><th scope="col">Habit</th><th scope="col">Why it works</th></tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <tr><th scope="row">Slow down</th><td>Urgency is the scammer's main tool. There's no honest reason to rush.</td></tr>
          <tr><th scope="row">Verify addresses in full</th><td>Beats address poisoning and copy-paste mistakes.</td></tr>
          <tr><th scope="row">Use throwaway testnet wallets</th><td>Nothing valuable is ever at risk.</td></tr>
          <tr><th scope="row">Download from official sources</th><td>Avoids trojaned wallets and node software.</td></tr>
          <tr><th scope="row">Never enter a real seed anywhere</th><td>The one rule that protects real money for life.</td></tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>
    </div>
    <p>That is the real value of testnet: you practice these reflexes where a mistake costs nothing, so they are second nature by the time real value is on the line.</p>
  </div></div>

  <div class="warnbox">
    <span class="wb-ico" aria-hidden="true">&#9888;&#65039;</span>
    <div class="wb-body">
      <h3>Testnet coins are fake money</h3>
      <ul>
        <li>They have no market value, so never buy or sell them.</li>
        <li>Never use a real seed phrase or import a real wallet on testnet.</li>
        <li>Never send mainnet BTC, LTC, or XMR to a testnet address.</li>
      </ul>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div class="pagenav">
    <a href="/why-no-value"><div class="pn-dir">&larr; Previous</div><div class="pn-t">Why testnet coins have no value</div></a>
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