Verifying that an NFT is genuine

Start from what identifies an NFT: which contract, and which token ID within it. The image itself usually is not on-chain at all — the token points at an image held elsewhere. So building a different contract that points at the same images produces a visually identical collection. That is why listings cannot be told apart by name and picture.

Begin with the official contract address, taken from the project's site, its documentation or a pinned post on its own account. The same principle applies here: not through a search advert, not through a third party's roundup. Open that address in an explorer and look at the collection's supply and transaction history.

Then compare, character by character, against the contract address shown on the listing you are considering. Marketplaces normally display the contract address and token ID in the details section. If they do not match, it is a different thing however identical it looks. Do not decide on a verification badge alone: it reflects the marketplace's judgement, and genuine collections go unbadged while mistakes in the other direction are possible too.

Then look at where the metadata lives. The contract's read functions or the marketplace's detail view will often tell you where image and attribute data are stored. Content-addressed storage on a decentralised network and an ordinary web server differ considerably in how easily the content can be replaced later. This is less about authenticity than about whether what you bought stays what you bought.

Finally, the limits. Confirming a collection is genuine says nothing about whether its price holds, and the rights attaching to it are a separate matter entirely. And NFTs that arrive unsolicited are typically there to draw you to a fake site, or to extract an approval through an attempt to sell. Leave anything you did not expect alone.