Arc Mainnet, T-minus 6: the scam wave arrives before the chain does

Six days out, fake-ARC activity is already observable; expect the peak in launch week itself.

What it means

Forecasts, from pattern history rather than prophecy. Expect counterfeit ARC tokens to appear on DEXes across every major chain — and on Arc itself within hours of deployment opening — because Arc will be in every headline while no real token exists; the fakes launch precisely because the real thing cannot contradict them by trading.

Expect wallet-draining claim sites to buy ads against launch-week searches, polished pages offering ARC eligibility checks for a signature, where the signature is the theft. Expect cloned announcements — Circle branding on lookalike domains, urgency language, claim windows. And expect fake first-tokens-on-Arc, since new chains' early hours are historically rug season and scammers know early buyers suspend diligence to be early — the five scam patterns in one lesson.

• Only arc.io and circle.com make ARC news real.
• Nothing legitimate needs a signature to show you information.
• Every DM about claiming anything is hostile.
• Urgency is itself the tell — real infrastructure does not expire in 48 hours.

One more for launch-week token buyers specifically: the first verifiable fact about any new Arc token is whether its liquidity is locked, readable on Arcscan, and that is checkable on-chain, not a vibe. We will document Arc-specific scams as we observe them — send what you see.