Just dodged a bullet last week. There was this "free mint" campaign for an NFT collection called The Freaks on Solana - looked legit at first glance, clean website, decent artwork. Turns out it was draining wallets left and right. Mine almost got hit too before I caught something fishy.

Here's the thing nobody talks about: scammers rarely build new X accounts from scratch. They buy aged ones or hijack existing handles. The account pushing The Freaks? Changed its username three times in two months. Dead giveaway.

You can actually check this stuff yourself without paying for premium tools. Go to any project's X profile, look at their @ handle, then search that exact handle on web archives or third-party tracker sites. If the account was selling dog toys six months ago and suddenly pivots to "exclusive NFT drops," run.

Most people skip this step because it takes an extra minute. That minute could save you thousands. Scammers bank on laziness - they know most users won't verify before connecting their wallet. Don't be that person.

Stay sharp out there. Not every free mint is a honeypot, but the ones that are will clean you out faster than you can say "revoke permissions."