How to Identify Memecoin Scams
The red flags of rugs and honeypots, mint authority, locked liquidity, holder concentration, and how to check them.
By Cheetah Research · Published 2026-08-18 · Updated 2026-08-18
Most memecoin losses are not bad trades, they are scams. Before buying, check four things: can the team mint or freeze tokens, is the liquidity locked or removable, is supply concentrated in a few wallets, and can you actually sell? Any single red flag is a reason to walk away.
On this page
- The main scam types
- Red flag: mint and freeze authority
- Red flag: unlocked or thin liquidity
- Red flag: holder concentration
- Red flag: honeypots (you can’t sell)
- Social and hype red flags
- A pre-buy checklist
- Risks & limitations
- Sources
The main scam types
The vocabulary is worth knowing because the defenses differ:
- Rug pull: the team removes liquidity or dumps supply, collapsing the price
- Honeypot: the contract lets you buy but blocks or taxes selling
- Soft rug: no single dramatic exit, just the team quietly abandoning and dumping
- Impersonation: a fake token copying a real project’s name and logo
Red flag: mint and freeze authority
On Solana, a token can have a mint authority (the ability to create more tokens) and a freeze authority (the ability to freeze your balance so you cannot move it). If those authorities are still active and held by the team, they can inflate the supply or lock your tokens. Reputable tokens usually revoke both. Check whether mint and freeze authority are disabled before buying.
Red flag: unlocked or thin liquidity
Liquidity is the pool of funds that lets you trade in and out. If it is small, you may not be able to exit without enormous slippage. If it is not locked or burned, the team can pull it and leave you holding a worthless token, the classic rug pull. Look for locked or burned liquidity, and enough of it to actually exit.
Red flag: holder concentration
If a handful of wallets hold most of the supply, a single one of them selling can crater the price. Check the top holders. Be especially wary when the top wallets are freshly funded or appear connected to each other or to the deployer.
Red flag: honeypots
A honeypot lets you buy but prevents selling, or applies a punishing sell tax. The chart may look like it only goes up, because nobody can get out. The practical test is whether real holders are successfully selling, and whether tooling flags the contract.
Social and hype red flags
- Anonymous team plus aggressive, coordinated shilling
- Guaranteed returns or “can’t lose” language, a scam tell every time
- Bought engagement: lots of followers, no real conversation
- Copycat name/logo impersonating a known project
- Urgency: “buy now or miss it” pressure designed to skip your checks
A pre-buy checklist
Check authorities
Confirm mint and freeze authority are revoked. If either is live, be extremely cautious.
Check liquidity
Confirm liquidity is locked or burned and deep enough to exit. Removable liquidity is a rug waiting to happen.
Check holders
Look at top-holder concentration and whether the top wallets look connected or freshly funded.
Confirm you can sell
Verify real holders are selling, screen for honeypot behavior before you enter.
Use tooling, then decide
Run a rug/liquidity check such as Cheetah’s liquidity checks, but treat them as a filter, not a guarantee , then make your own call.
If in doubt, skip it
There is always another token. The cost of missing a winner is far smaller than the cost of buying a rug. When the checks are ambiguous, the safe answer is no.
Risks & limitations
No checklist or automated rug check catches every scam, attackers actively work around detection, and a token that passes every check today can still be abandoned or dumped tomorrow. These checks reduce your odds of buying an obvious scam; they do not make any memecoin safe. This is education, not financial advice.
Sources
Mint/freeze authority and the SPL token model on Solana: Solana Docs , docs.solana.com.
Cheetah’s rug and liquidity checks: security.