Fake celebrity tokens: how to spot the "official" one from a fake in a minute

Any celebrity-related news trigger spawns an instant wave of fake tokens: identical names, stolen images, inflated metrics. Speed is their weapon: the fake launches minutes before you manage to check anything.

A one-minute checklist

• Primary source: the contract address must be published on the verified account of the celebrity/project. Not "in the comments," not "in a fan channel" - in the primary source. No address in the official post - all versions are fake.
• Deployment time: a contract created BEFORE the announcement is either insider activity or a scammer's setup. Check the timestamp in the explorer.
• Ticker squatting: hundreds of tokens with the same ticker is normal; screeners show them all. Rank by liquidity AND verify the address, not the name.
• Metrics that are too fast: "10 thousand holders in 20 minutes" for a token with no official announcement means seller bots.
• Links from reply posts: replies under a viral tweet with an "official address" are the main channel for spreading fakes.

An inconvenient truth

Verification often saves you twice: after filtering out fakes, look at the "original" with the same eyes - distribution, insider buys, team history. A token's official status doesn't make it a good bet - see genre statistics.