Honeypot

A honeypot is a type of crypto scam where a token or smart contract allows users to buy but not sell. It is the most common scam and serves as a deceptive trap designed to drain Ethereum’s native asset, ETH, from smart contracts. When a user invests their funds, they become locked, and only the creator of the honeypot can access and retrieve them.

Sophisticated honeypots often present themselves as smart contracts with a seemingly exploitable flaw that would enable anyone to drain Ether from the contract by sending a specific quantity beforehand. However, when the user attempts to take advantage of this apparent weakness, a hidden trapdoor activates, preventing the draining of Ether.

The intention is to divert the user’s attention solely to the visible vulnerability while disregarding any indications of a second weakness in the contract.

Honeypot attacks succeed because people are easily deceived, similar to other forms of fraud. Greed and assumptions often cloud people’s ability to accurately assess risks involved.