07/03/2020 [EDU] Faucet risks

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Bitcoin Forum > Economy > Marketplace > Service Announcements > Micro Earnings > [EDU] Faucet risks

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shorena [EDU] Faucet risks

Copper Member May 01, 2015, 03:31:31 PM #1
Legendary Merited by LoyceV (2), bitbollo (1)

Intro
Activity: 1484
Merit: 1345 Today (01.05.2015) this section was created due to the strain this topic caused in other sections.

The purpose of this thread is to offer guidance when using the services in this section and understanding the
downsides and risks involved. They are known by a variety of different names, but to make things easier I will
just call them faucets. The shared principle is that you visit a homepage filled with advertisements and perform
small tasks. That may be solving a captcha, answering a question, watching a short video or filling out a
questionnaire. For these small tasks you get a very small rewards, typically a few hundred or thousand satoshi at
No I dont escrow a time. 1000 Satoshi equal roughly 0.3 cent USD (Nov 2015). Those running the service get their money from the
anymore. advertisements shown to you. There are certainly other concepts and other profit strategies, but it would be too
much for this thread to discuss them all.

This thread will be updated as needed, feel free to suggest things to add, corrections and discuss possible issues
here.

Risks involved
#1 Fees and dusty inputs

The most common problem when using faucets is the small payment. Every time you receive a bitcoin payment to
your wallet you have a new input to spend at a later date. Think of this like a lump of bitcoin you can use later.
When you later want to use these lumps of bitcoin they need space as part of the transaction your wallet creates
for you. This is usually 180 bytes per input. A bigger (in terms of byte) transaction will need more fees in order to
be confirmed in a reasonable amount of time. Each block offers only a limited amount of space (currently 1 MB)
and if you need a big chunk of the space a big chunk of your available funds will be used as fee for the miners.
Faucets try to counter this by creating payout limits, but they are often set very small. A reasonable fee for a
transaction with less than 1000 byte in size is 10,000 Satoshi. If the payout limit is 100,000 Satoshi and you try
to spend this input, you will have to spend 10% on fees. If you want an example how bad this can end, I helped
someone recover from this a while back, in numbers:
~0.5 BTC from faucets, collected over ~2 years, ~2000 inputs, ~350,000 bytes, ~0.09 BTC in fees.

#2 Fraudulent faucet operators

Faucets operate on a very slim profit margin. Its easy to balance the rewards with the income from the ads, this
can be done on a per user basis. If one can expect 750 Satoshi for someone viewing all ads, one can safely
reward 700 Satoshi and still make a profit. It is however difficult to balance the monthly costs, e.g. for the server.
These can only be balanced over a certain amount of users. Whenever a faucet turns unprofitable the operator
can easily vanish. Thus its desirable to withdraw early which might increase problem #1. As a rule of thumb
popular faucets are less risky in this regard.

#3 Referal spam

Many faucets offer a bonus payment if you refer other users to it. Keep in mind that this board has a strict anti-
spam policy. If you create a post for the sole purpose of posting a referral link it will get removed. If your member
rank is high enough, you can use a ref link in your signature. If your post is only a reference to your signature its
still considered ref spam though. Some cropped quotes from the admin that is going to ban you if you fail to
understand this concept:

Quote from: BadBear on March 13, 2015, 09:32:02 AM

Do not make topics or replies just to share your referral link. Whether it's in your sig, avatar, personal message,
profile, within the post itself, or tattooed on your forehead is irrelevant.

Quote from: BadBear on March 13, 2015, 09:03:44 AM

Quote from: ETFbitcoin on March 13, 2015, 08:03:47 AM

You are allowed to put your refferal link on your signature

So, when you make promotion, ask users to join through refferal link on your signature

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07/03/2020 [EDU] Faucet risks
And you might want to use link shortener, so every user can't know the refferal link

Any you should know it already when you join this forum

Still referral spam.

Quote from: Bardman on March 13, 2015, 08:30:41 AM

If you pay people to register under your ref link it works on games and rounds, also sometimes when people find new promos
or giveaways they give their ref link and a non ref link, seems to be allowed aswell.

Still referral spam.

#4 Downloads

Some faucets require you to download a program or app to your computer or phone in order to be eligible for
payment. These tools can hide trojan horses or other malware. Your anti virus software might not know about
new malware and might fail to protect you in this regard. You can mitigate this risk by using a virtual machine,
sandboxing software or even a dedicated machine like an old laptop.

#4.1 Faucet Scripts/Bots

Faucet bots and scripts are closely related to downloads. A faucet script is usually provided by a 3rd party. The
idea is that the script or bot solves the tasks for you in order receive payment. Good scripts can solve captchas,
have a programable downtime to suggest the user is sleeping and add little variance to the response time. A well
written script is indistinguishable from a human to the faucet operator. As with everything you download from a
3rd party, a faucet script or bot may contain malware and may have hidden costs e.g. for the captcha solving API.

#5 Malicious ads aka malvertising

A malvertisement is an ad that is able to infect a machine loading said ad. This is typically not done by the person
running the faucet but by the party booking the ad. Depending who you ask this is the most common source of
malware and is a general problem for many homepages running ads. You can counter this with an ad
blocker, which would at the very least harm the faucet. If the operator is not getting any revenue the faucet is
doomed to fail sooner or later. This will most likely disqualify you for payments as well. In terms of faucets an ad
blocker is no option. The best defense is to keep your software up to date at all times as malvertising relies on
security vulnerabilities in your browser. Advertisements from services are often nested, thus no service is 100%
safe. The picture below shows a possible attack on the flash player (SWF) on your computer.

#6 Clickbait

Clickbait is closely related to malvertising. Its an ad that is not using a vulnerability, but your curiosity. Its
designed in a way that you want to click it. There are different techniques. Some try to lure you with promises
(bitcoin, sex, etc.); some try to scare you with warnings (outdated software, infected system, etc.); some try to
imitate the site they are on and many more. They all have in common that you are lead to different site which is
either filled with further clickbait and/or malvertising or directly asks you to download something (see #4).

#7 Tracking

There are many ways we are tracked online. That can be cookies storing what products we watched on amazon,
that can be single pixel pictures in mails that reveal when we read them, that can be browser fingerprints, that
can be the log files on the servers we communicated with and more. You can easily prevent cookies via the
browser settings or special plug-ins. You can change you mail client to only display pictures on demand to prevent
tracking pixels. Regarding browser fingerprints I suggest you visit the EFF -> https://panopticlick.eff.org . You can
however never know what the server owner logs about you. Unless you take measures to prevent it (like Tor)
they will e.g. know your IP-address(es) and could link them to the bitcoin address(es) you use. From my personal
experience most faucets will not work over Tor. Keep this in mind if you value your privacy.

Local thread rules

#1 No links to faucets, this thread is not for you to adertise your service here.

changelog:
Code:
2015.09.26 - added tracking - thanks to jonasl
2015.05.02 - added "botscripts" under "downloads" - thanks to twister
2015.05.02 - corrected spelling / grammar - thanks to BadBear
2015.05.01 - several rephrasings, corrected spelling / grammar
2015.05.01 - added malvertising picture - thanks to Muhammed Zakir
2015.05.01 - added clickbait - thanks to Muhammed Zakir
2015.05.01 - added malvertising - thanks to Muhammed Zakir
2015.05.01 - added Downloads - thanks to minifrij
2015.05.01 - added a comparison satoshi USD - thanks to Quickseller
2015.05.01 - added referal spam
2015.05.01 - added local rules

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07/03/2020 [EDU] Faucet risks
2015.05.01 - added fraudulent faucet operators
2015.05.01 - started thread

todo:
Code:
-

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shorena Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#2
Copper Member May 01, 2015, 03:55:52 PM
Legendary
reserved

Activity: 1484
Merit: 1345

No I dont escrow
anymore.

marcotheminer Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#3
Legendary May 02, 2015, 06:35:25 AM

Thanks for taking the time to make this thread. Maybe talk about the (few) benefits of faucets?
Activity: 1554
Merit: 1024

Newbies may msg me!

If you're legit, things
work.

Today (perhaps as always?) iniquity reigns; righteousness fades.

Trying to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism; even onto my own beliefs. Trying to better my ways.

sho_road_warrior Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#4
Member May 02, 2015, 08:44:54 AM

Quote from: marcotheminer on May 02, 2015, 06:35:25 AM

Activity: 114 Thanks for taking the time to make this thread. Maybe talk about the (few) benefits of faucets?
Merit: 10

PMs blocked, send Are there any besides "free" bitcoin? I mean thats the obvious one, you get some coins for work that can be done
answers to main. by almost everyone. I know some people argue that faucets are a good way to understand bitcoin by using and
testing them, but I dont see the point to be honest. My main problem with this benefit is that bitcoin behaves
differently at different amounts you have available. I used to grind faucets as well and thought bitcoin had a
rather highish fee scheme (see risk #1). I think its better to invest a small amount of your local currency into
bitcoin in order to see how it behaves, feels and works with everyday amounts.

If you have any specific benefit in mind I can certainly write a paragraph about it and add it.

┏(-_-)┛┗(-_- )┓┗(-_-)┛┏(-_-)┓

naturelle Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#5
Member May 02, 2015, 01:08:48 PM

most stupid OP ever.. nothing but pure speculation, yes because faucets need servers to run on, no you dumb ass
you can run it on a $1/month hosting plan
Activity: 112
Merit: 10
Quote

It is however difficult to balance the monthly costs, e.g. for the server. These can only be balanced over a certain
amount of users. Whenever a faucet turns unprofitable the operator can easily vanish

OP are you 12?

minifrij Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#6
Legendary May 02, 2015, 01:15:39 PM

Quote from: naturelle on May 02, 2015, 01:08:48 PM

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07/03/2020 [EDU] Faucet risks

most stupid OP ever.. nothing but pure speculation, yes because faucets need servers to run on, no you dumb ass you can run it
Activity: 2142
Merit: 1214 on a $1/month hosting plan

Quote
In Memory of Zepher It is however difficult to balance the monthly costs, e.g. for the server. These can only be balanced over a certain
amount of users. Whenever a faucet turns unprofitable the operator can easily vanish

OP are you 12?

I've ran several faucets and GPT sites and helped to make some others. Everything in the OP is true.
Sit down.

shorena Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#7
Copper Member May 02, 2015, 01:54:58 PM
Legendary
Quote from: naturelle on May 02, 2015, 01:08:48 PM

most stupid OP ever.. nothing but pure speculation, yes because faucets need servers to run on, no you dumb ass you can run it
Activity: 1484 on a $1/month hosting plan
Merit: 1345
Quote

It is however difficult to balance the monthly costs, e.g. for the server. These can only be balanced over a certain
amount of users. Whenever a faucet turns unprofitable the operator can easily vanish

OP are you 12?

No I dont escrow
anymore. Feel free to contribute with constructive criticism.

aniko11 Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#8
Sr. Member May 02, 2015, 04:03:23 PM

I have a question about point 3. Many people make faucet lists and rotators and they use their referral links
there. They advertise it on this forum. Is it a referral spam? I think it a good way for faucets to get some free
Activity: 336
Merit: 250 advertisement and get more traffic. It is a good way for the owners of new faucets to get many people to visit
their sites.

Visit my faucets to earn multiple cryptocurrencies

minifrij Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#9
Legendary May 02, 2015, 04:07:14 PM

Quote from: aniko11 on May 02, 2015, 04:03:23 PM

Activity: 2142 I have a question about point 3. Many people make faucet lists and rotators and they use their referral links there. They advertise
Merit: 1214 it on this forum. Is it a referral spam? I think it a good way for faucets to get some free advertisement and get more traffic. It is
a good way for the owners of new faucets to get many people to visit their sites.

In Memory of Zepher I believe that referral spam is only when posting your referral link directly on the forum. If you post your site
which contains referral links I doubt it is counted as referral spam.

shorena Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#10
Copper Member May 02, 2015, 04:43:01 PM
Legendary
Quote from: minifrij on May 02, 2015, 04:07:14 PM
Quote from: aniko11 on May 02, 2015, 04:03:23 PM
Activity: 1484 I have a question about point 3. Many people make faucet lists and rotators and they use their referral links there. They
Merit: 1345 advertise it on this forum. Is it a referral spam? I think it a good way for faucets to get some free advertisement and get
more traffic. It is a good way for the owners of new faucets to get many people to visit their sites.

I believe that referral spam is only when posting your referral link directly on the forum. If you post your site which contains
referral links I doubt it is counted as referral spam.

This is my impression as well. Keep in mind though that any low quality posts that are only written to promote a
No I dont escrow service will also be considered spam. Thus if you go around and create posts to advertise your service you might
anymore. get banned as well. Its perfectly fine to create a single thread to announce a new service though.

twister Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#11
Hero Member May 02, 2015, 05:41:42 PM

Great educational post shorena, it will help newbies keep safe from falling in some traps. I saw some people also
providing some bots for faucets and promising hands-free-income but in the end these so called bots are
Activity: 672
Merit: 501 programs which contain malicious codes that can steal a user's sensitive information and/or bitcoins and people
should refrain from using these.

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07/03/2020 [EDU] Faucet risks

shorena Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#12
Copper Member May 02, 2015, 06:33:41 PM
Legendary
Quote from: twister on May 02, 2015, 05:41:42 PM

Great educational post shorena, it will help newbies keep safe from falling in some traps. I saw some people also providing some
Activity: 1484 bots for faucets and promising hands-free-income but in the end these so called bots are programs which contain malicious codes
Merit: 1345 that can steal a user's sensitive information and/or bitcoins and people should refrain from using these.

Thanks, added a few sentences in regards to that.

No I dont escrow
anymore.

shulio Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#13
Legendary May 02, 2015, 08:11:05 PM

Quote from: naturelle on May 02, 2015, 01:08:48 PM

Activity: 1540 most stupid OP ever.. nothing but pure speculation, yes because faucets need servers to run on, no you dumb ass you can run it
Merit: 1016 on a $1/month hosting plan

Quote

It is however difficult to balance the monthly costs, e.g. for the server. These can only be balanced over a certain
amount of users. Whenever a faucet turns unprofitable the operator can easily vanish

OP are you 12?

this is an EDU thread which means that it is for education, if you dont wish to be educated for your own good,
then you can leave this thread since no one will be forcing you to do what is written here.

OP is not 12, he is a long standing member that has made a lot of good thread for educational purposes such as
this one

marcotheminer Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#14
Legendary May 03, 2015, 02:59:55 PM

Quote from: shulio on May 02, 2015, 08:11:05 PM

Quote from: naturelle on May 02, 2015, 01:08:48 PM
Activity: 1554
Merit: 1024 most stupid OP ever.. nothing but pure speculation, yes because faucets need servers to run on, no you dumb ass you can run
it on a $1/month hosting plan

Quote

It is however difficult to balance the monthly costs, e.g. for the server. These can only be balanced over a
Newbies may msg me! certain amount of users. Whenever a faucet turns unprofitable the operator can easily vanish
If you're legit, things
work.
OP are you 12?

this is an EDU thread which means that it is for education, if you dont wish to be educated for your own good, then you can leave
this thread since no one will be forcing you to do what is written here.

OP is not 12, he is a long standing member that has made a lot of good thread for educational purposes such as this one

He still could be 12.

Today (perhaps as always?) iniquity reigns; righteousness fades.

Trying to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism; even onto my own beliefs. Trying to better my ways.

ACCTseller Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#15
Hero Member May 03, 2015, 09:10:07 PM

Quote from: sho_road_warrior on May 02, 2015, 08:44:54 AM

Quote from: marcotheminer on May 02, 2015, 06:35:25 AM
Activity: 532
Merit: 500 Thanks for taking the time to make this thread. Maybe talk about the (few) benefits of faucets?

no longer selling
accounts Are there any besides "free" bitcoin? I mean thats the obvious one, you get some coins for work that can be done by almost
everyone. I know some people argue that faucets are a good way to understand bitcoin by using and testing them, but I dont see
the point to be honest. My main problem with this benefit is that bitcoin behaves differently at different amounts you have
available. I used to grind faucets as well and thought bitcoin had a rather highish fee scheme (see risk #1). I think its better to
invest a small amount of your local currency into bitcoin in order to see how it behaves, feels and works with everyday amounts.

If you have any specific benefit in mind I can certainly write a paragraph about it and add it.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1044399.0 5/7
07/03/2020 [EDU] Faucet risks
One "benefit" to using faucets is that if you use some kind of faucet rotator, or other site that lists a large number
of faucets, then you are bound to come across a faucet that actually has a good amount of information about
bitcoin and how it works. This is somewhat different from someone actually receiving a small amount of bitcoin to
get to "play around with" when they receive the "earnings". IMO this is really just a way to get people to click
more links (which involve in viewing more ads), however it would be a real benefit IMO.

grosminer Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#16
Hero Member May 04, 2015, 08:03:15 PM

Faucets are EVIL!! Stay away....

Activity: 721
Merit: 500

Get 5000 sats every day: Tutorial

Bitcoin faucet Satoshis Online

superiorus Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#17
Legendary May 05, 2015, 08:45:40 AM

Faucets are trendy and I own one of the best ( I dont write this post to advertise my faucet )
Activity: 1358
Merit: 1000 It is not so easy to manage a faucet (I mean a decent one with serious intentions)

Bitcoiner since start, There are many things you must set : website design/script , dedicated server, custom modifications, security,
and continue to love it!
etc.

Also the balance between revenue and payments could be a problem (must test and test to find the right value)

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gogxmagog Re: [EDU] Faucet risks
#18
Legendary May 05, 2015, 08:51:51 AM

Faucets aren't going to go away, I'm glad someone has taken the initiative to educate about the ins and outs. I've
tried them in the past and gave up pretty quick because they pay shit, but I never had any idea about
Activity: 1330
Merit: 1004 malvertizing so you can always learn something new obviously.
I'm curious though, how much can one make by running a faucet? It's passive income so you could have several
going all the time, but if everyone avoids clicking your ads you won't make anything. It would be interesting to
see a breakdown by a successful operator, but I doubt it could be very much...

Anyway, just discovered the whole micro-payments child board. A very welcome addition to bitcointalk nice!

EDIT- superiorus posted at the exact same time as me, half answering my question. Can you quote $$$ amounts
of your earnings?

shorena Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#19
Copper Member May 05, 2015, 08:59:19 AM
Legendary
Quote from: superiorus on May 05, 2015, 08:45:40 AM

Faucets are trendy and I own one of the best ( I dont write this post to advertise my faucet )
Activity: 1484
Merit: 1345 It is not so easy to manage a faucet (I mean a decent one with serious intentions)

There are many things you must set : website design/script , dedicated server, custom modifications, security, etc.

Also the balance between revenue and payments could be a problem (must test and test to find the right value)

Would you be willing to publish an example calculation? E.g. a list of expenses, the profit per user/day or /visit,
No I dont escrow the (typical) payout. I think an example would greatly improve #2. Maybe even an estimate about the time it
anymore.
takes to take care of the faucet (reloading the wallet, promotion, updates, improvements, etc.)

Quote from: ACCTseller on May 03, 2015, 09:10:07 PM

-snip-
One "benefit" to using faucets is that if you use some kind of faucet rotator, or other site that lists a large number of faucets, then
you are bound to come across a faucet that actually has a good amount of information about bitcoin and how it works. This is
somewhat different from someone actually receiving a small amount of bitcoin to get to "play around with" when they receive the
"earnings". IMO this is really just a way to get people to click more links (which involve in viewing more ads), however it would be
a real benefit IMO.

I had some time to think about this, but I still dont get the point tbh. Its not a given that you will find a faucet
that will provide good information. I would argue that most faucets tend to focus on games rather than
information. Its easier to keep someone entertained with a game than with infobits. I certainly agree that faucets
can be an entry point into bitcoin as with more bitcoin in your possession comes more interest in the details and
the rest of the bitcoin world.

Quote from: marcotheminer on May 03, 2015, 02:59:55 PM

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07/03/2020 [EDU] Faucet risks

-snip-
He still could be 12.

I could be, but I dont think my age matters. In fact the way naturelle tried to attack me only shows their
immaturity.

gogxmagog Re: [EDU] Faucet risks

#20
Legendary May 05, 2015, 10:29:09 PM

lol I am 12 and what is this?!?!

Activity: 1330
Merit: 1004 no, not really...faucets sure seem to make some people mad though. I could care less, if there's money to be
made they will continue, which leads me to believe that there must be some money to be made running faucets...
Of course, in some parts of the world 5$ a day is actually a sustainable income...not where I live, I just spent 20$
on two coffees and a danish!

Anyways, I look at anyone using faucets the same way I look at someone picking a penny up off the sidewalk. If
its worth it to you to do it, be my guest, I've known what its like to be destitute....

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