Pearl has a live token and a public community, which makes it a target. Below are the scams actually being run against projects like ours, and how to spot each one.
The single rule that defeats almost all of them: never share your seed phrase, and never connect your wallet to a site you didn't navigate to yourself.
Fake support agents
How it works: you post a problem in Discord or reply to a Pearl tweet. Within minutes someone DMs you offering help. They may have a matching avatar, a similar username, and a "Support" or "Mod" label. They'll ask you to verify your wallet, share your seed phrase, or open a "ticket" on a site they link.
How to spot it: we do not DM first. Ever. Support conversations only happen in a ticket you opened, or publicly.
What to do: don't reply, block, report to us.
Fake airdrops and giveaways
How it works: a post or DM announces a PRL airdrop, a "community reward", or a giveaway. To claim it you must connect your wallet, sign a transaction, or send a small amount of PRL "to verify your address".
How to spot it: real distributions are announced on our official channels and never require you to send funds or sign an approval to receive anything. You never have to pay to receive.
What to do: check pearlresearch.ai and @prlnet. If it isn't there, it isn't real.
Fake wallet and recovery tools
How it works: you search for help with a wallet problem and find a "Pearl Wallet Recovery Tool", "balance fixer", or "sync repair utility" — often with a polished site and good search placement. It asks for your seed phrase to "restore" your balance.
How to spot it: no legitimate tool ever needs your seed phrase. We publish wallet software only through our official website and GitHub.
What to do: see Verifying official Pearl links, domains, and downloads.
Fake exchange listings and presales
How it works: a site or DM offers PRL at a discount, an "exclusive presale", or an "early listing allocation". You send funds and receive nothing.
How to spot it: we announce listings on our official channels. We never sell PRL by DM or through a form someone sends you.
Impersonated team members
How it works: an account copies a Pearl team member's name and photo, then contacts you privately — often after you've interacted with the real person publicly.
How to spot it: check the account age, history, and exact handle. Impersonators use lookalike characters, extra underscores, or a zero for an O. Then remember: real team members don't DM first.
"Your wallet is compromised, move your funds"
How it works: an urgent warning that your wallet is at risk and you must immediately move funds to a "secure address" they provide.
How to spot it: manufactured urgency plus an address to send to. We will never ask you to move funds to an address we give you.
Malicious "mining software"
How it works: a third-party miner or optimisation tool promising higher rewards, which instead steals keys or mines to someone else's address.
How to spot it: see Third-party mining software: why we don't endorse it.
Warning signs, in general
- They contacted you, privately, first
- Any request for a seed phrase, private key, or passphrase
- Any request to send PRL in order to receive PRL
- Urgency, countdowns, or "limited spots"
- A link that isn't on our official channel list
- Pressure not to ask anyone else about it
Reporting a scam
Please tell us — it protects other people. Report in our Discord or open a support ticket with:
- The username, handle, or URL involved
- Screenshots of the messages
- Which platform it happened on
If you've already shared credentials or sent funds, open a ticket immediately and see How Pearl will and won't contact you for what to do next. We can't reverse transactions, but we can help you secure what remains — and we take action on impersonation.