How are NFTs Classified as “Spam” and Why?

Written by Killiane Menand

Published on October 1, 20242 min read

---

In the world of NFTs, spam collections can clutter user wallets and create confusion. To maintain a clean and trustworthy environment, Alchemy uses a set of criteria to identify and flag spammy NFT collections. These collections typically exhibit unusual behavior, break common standards or engage in fraudulent activities.

Below, you’ll find details on how NFTs are classified as “spam” and how you can understand why a particular collection has been marked as such!

How are NFTs classified as “spam”?

Alchemy uses specific criteria to determine if an NFT collection is spam based on its contract behavior. Here are the factors we consider:

• ERC721 standard violations: Does the contract break ERC721 standards? For example, does it create duplicate tokens or transfer tokens to multiple recipients during a single transfer?

• Honeypot mints: Does the contract mostly mint tokens to popular addresses (honeypots) like vitalik.eth?

• Dishonest total supply: Does the contract misrepresent its total token supply, where the result of totalSupply() is vastly different from the actual number of tokens in circulation?

If any of these conditions are met, the NFT collection will be classified as spam.

How can I find out why a particular NFT collection is marked as “spam”?

When using Alchemy’s getNFTs method, the response object contains a field called classifications inside spamInfo. This field provides specific reasons why an NFT collection is considered spam.

The possible classification tags are:

• Erc721TooManyOwners: A token in the ERC721 collection was transferred to multiple owners, suggesting fraudulent activity.

• Erc721TooManyTokens: The collection has many duplicate tokens, indicating spam-like behavior.

• Erc721DishonestTotalSupply: The contract misrepresents its token supply, with a big discrepancy between totalSupply() and the actual tokens in circulation.

• MostlyHoneyPotOwners: Most or all tokens are owned by popular addresses (honeypots), implying unwarranted airdrops.

• OwnedByMostHoneyPots: A significant portion of honeypot addresses own tokens from this collection, indicating potential spam.