How to recognize scam - page 20. | Bitcointalksearch.org

J Gambler

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Quote from: aleksandra_kickcity on December 05, 2017, 06:03:48 AM

Hello everyone!

Today I've read a couple of articles and I've noticed that the most people are used to label each ICO as a scam. That is not fair, I know. Especially when you work in a startup launching ICO and do your best to make a project successful. However, having worked in ICO industry I learned how to recognize a scam just from one conversation with a Founder. I don't know how to explain this feeling. Probably, my subconscious translates knowledge, but I could not say a have a large experience.

So I decided to make a list of scam signs: (and this is just my own opinion)

- A founder and a team are not open.

Talking with a founder is always nice. They are usually full of energy and ready to talk about their project for hours. No matter how tired he/she is: when one is asking about a project, a founder starts talking about it with eyes burn with a fire. No matter who you are. When a founder deflects, tries to escape and avoids it makes you think that he/she just can't tell you anything important. What is more, it is crucial talking to a team. When a team member doesn't know how to answer a simple question about a product, it is also a bad sign.

In case of the lack of opportunity to visit an event and to talk to a team, you always can contact a founder and a team online. They should be open and answer patiently all your difficult questions. Even if you ask it every minute.

- Spending a lot of money on marketing isn't always show professionalism.

Just think. A company needs ICO to raise money for a company development. Isn't it a little bit queerly when an unknown company is too fancy. How? And Why? Why do they need ICO if they already have money on expensive advertisement? I don't know too Huh

- You know nothing about a founder. And you cant find any information about him/her.

Always google the founder. Always. And now I'm not talking about his/her FB page. I'm talking about his experience, education, photos, events he took part in. A founder should not be a mysterious person who came from nowhere. His background should be open to everyone.

- They don't have a readymade product.

Let's make a sober recognition. The competition is high. In the end of 2017 - the beginning of 2018 you just can't appear with an idea and ask for money. You need to develop your product before ICO. It should not be an amazing one. It could be just prototype. But investors need something real. They need to touch and try your product. However, just 16% of all ICO has a product.

And what do you think about it? What are your signs of a scam?

YOu can recognize a scam once you see that everything is too good to be true. If the rewards are great and the prerequisites needed are too low or so easy to get then that would mean that you would be needing that this is a scam and a trick

genology

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If it's too good to be true, most likely, it is a scam. If it is a company, try researching the company profile first. Include also its members. Look at its history, accomplishments and issues before. Also, bitcointalk has recently exposed scammers through email. Check also your messages here for more updates regarding scammers.

BusyBeaverHP

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Quote from: @ngelcryptopia on December 14, 2017, 09:22:16 AM

there are so many such scammy project in bitcointalk. some just disappear from the radar after a while. maybe there should be some sort of warning about such projects in bitcointalk.

You are right on your own way but I think this is too difficult to recognize scam because it hurt and break the person to invest with his hard work and then someone scam then this is not fair that’s why people didn’t accept scam, but the way to recognize is only when you start forgetting about these things only.

youdacapt

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GOD is TRUE

there is nothing specific unless there is a coherent collaboration between the campaign manager and the project developer / founder, many managers lose communication and the participants ask more about bounty in thread ann. The most important factor is how successful they are promoting the ICO and how strongly the project they are offering, if it looks unreasonable and lonely from the community's response it can be disuspect as a fraud.

I do not think all projects intend to cheat, but many of them choose to disappear when there is no enthusiasm from the campaign participants and potential buyers in the forum / telegram.

Swenna

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I agree with this one. Everything all comes down to research. Research. Research. Gaining personal knowledge about these things will be helpful. you have noting to lose, only something to gain more. I've encountered a scam project because I was all about applying and investing before, I didn't bother to research about the projects and its team. But in the end, I also learned a lot from it. But please, don't learn things the hard way just like I did. Research.

fulmetal08larz

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Google is your friend when it comes to researching about scams and other ponzi schemes lurking out there. Also, the community here in bitcointalk forum is a great help wherein you will get insight from those who have experience. If it is too good to be true, then there is a high probability that it's a scam.

aleksandra_kickcity

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Quote from: @ngelcryptopia on December 14, 2017, 09:22:16 AM

there are so many such scammy project in bitcointalk. some just disappear from the radar after a while. maybe there should be some sort of warning about such projects in bitcointalk.

That's a brilliant Idea. You should create a talk here!

Bryan13

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First of all, you need to check or make a research about that thing is. See some proofs, or talk to someone had experienced with it.

jrrigs

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Still boils down to due diligence. You can't just really on what they show on their website specially the whitepaper. Lots of people are offering to write one in fiverr. Research is a must.

@ngelcryptopia

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Staker.network - POS Smart Contract ETH Token

there are so many such scammy project in bitcointalk. some just disappear from the radar after a while. maybe there should be some sort of warning about such projects in bitcointalk.

vergel24official

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There's a lot of it, after they gather a member invest in there website they just close without notice. For me just be sure if you invest money do some many research about to that site and look if this site has capability to pay back ask people using that site if it's real.

aleksandra_kickcity

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Quote from: Mandoy on December 14, 2017, 08:52:59 AM

It is hard to determine if an ICO is a scam or not. But as investor we must also be careful in joining any ICO's to protect our investment. To check we must always read the whitepaper and the roadmap of the coin. Also, you must check if it has a pysical asset or a guarantee that when you invest on it you will earn. A good ICO does not depend on the volatility to be successful there must be a income generating programs behind to sustain the program. And lastly, trust your intuition and consult the experts.

In your opinion, what is crucial for a roadmap?

Mandoy

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Aurox

It is hard to determine if an ICO is a scam or not. But as investor we must also be careful in joining any ICO's to protect our investment. To check we must always read the whitepaper and the roadmap of the coin. Also, you must check if it has a pysical asset or a guarantee that when you invest on it you will earn. A good ICO does not depend on the volatility to be successful there must be a income generating programs behind to sustain the program. And lastly, trust your intuition and consult the experts.

aleksandra_kickcity

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Quote from: De Suga09 on December 06, 2017, 08:33:08 AM

Quote from: Bryan13 on December 05, 2017, 07:09:40 AM

If you will read carefully about the forum or transaction. You need to be sure first of all if there is so many active by that thing. And most important check if there is a proof of transaction or what for many people.

If it's too good to be true. It is probably a scam. If you think that it is too ideal,it can be a scam. We also need to do further research about the company and even in the processes of the investment to be familiar with it. We are still talking about money in investment so we should be wise in spending it.

I absolutely agree. You need to research, research and research some more. I think you can also ask some experts about a project

De Suga09

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Quote from: Bryan13 on December 05, 2017, 07:09:40 AM

If you will read carefully about the forum or transaction. You need to be sure first of all if there is so many active by that thing. And most important check if there is a proof of transaction or what for many people.

If it's too good to be true. It is probably a scam. If you think that it is too ideal,it can be a scam. We also need to do further research about the company and even in the processes of the investment to be familiar with it. We are still talking about money in investment so we should be wise in spending it.

losik43

newbie

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I can agree about all the points, first of all team should be opened and it regards to all the members of the team, not only founder.
You can text community manager or marketing director and you should get a normal and full answer.

Second thing for me is participation in the events. Sure, not anyone can afford visiting all the global conferences all around the world but team should appear there at least every 1-2 months and community should know them and their project.
If I come to some event, i can easily ask people from the community whom I know and trust if they've heard of such a project - that will be a plus.

Also I pay attention to the website, to the whitepaper. It should be prepared well and look solid.

Existence of working product is a huge advantage but let's not forget that sometimes even big and rather known companies has gone broke or lied to their customers.

Bryan13

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If you will read carefully about the forum or transaction. You need to be sure first of all if there is so many active by that thing. And most important check if there is a proof of transaction or what for many people.

aleksandra_kickcity

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Quote from: bear100 on December 05, 2017, 07:01:56 AM

It is a very good list. And this information can be easily found in the web. You just make some structure for it.
I can add something about marketing. Avoid projects, which make pre-ico. Usually pre-ico needs for 2 reasons: selling LOTS of tokens to invest founds or raising money for massive marketing campaign. Both options are not very good for private investor, especially the first one. As these founds will dump the price of token in a minutes after it goes to exchanges.

thank you =) this came up with my experience

However, I disagree about Pre-ICO. Firstly, investors have an opportunity to buy tokens with discount. Secondly, a project can invest this money for development and advertisement. Projects still need to promote their ICO campaign

aleksandra_kickcity

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Activity: 406

Merit: 100

Quote from: Dendy69 on December 05, 2017, 06:45:46 AM

Quote from: aleksandra_kickcity on December 05, 2017, 06:03:48 AM

Hello everyone!

Today I've read a couple of articles and I've noticed that the most people are used to label each ICO as a scam. That is not fair, I know. Especially when you work in a startup launching ICO and do your best to make a project successful. However, having worked in ICO industry I learned how to recognize a scam just from one conversation with a Founder. I don't know how to explain this feeling. Probably, my subconscious translates knowledge, but I could not say a have a large experience.

So I decided to make a list of scam signs: (and this is just my own opinion)

- A founder and a team are not open.

Talking with a founder is always nice. They are usually full of energy and ready to talk about their project for hours. No matter how tired he/she is: when one is asking about a project, a founder starts talking about it with eyes burn with a fire. No matter who you are. When a founder deflects, tries to escape and avoids it makes you think that he/she just can't tell you anything important. What is more, it is crucial talking to a team. When a team member doesn't know how to answer a simple question about a product, it is also a bad sign.

In the case of the lack of opportunity to visit an event and to talk to a team, you always can contact a founder and a team online. They should be open and answer patiently all your difficult questions. Even if you ask it every minute.

- Spending a lot of money on marketing isn't always show professionalism.

Just think. A company needs ICO to raise money for a company development. Isn't it a little bit queerly when an unknown company is too fancy. How? And Why? Why do they need ICO if they already have money on expensive advertisement? I don't know too Huh

- You know nothing about a founder. And you cant find any information about him/her.

Always google the founder. Always. And now I'm not talking about his/her FB page. I'm talking about his experience, education, photos, events he took part in. A founder should not be a mysterious person who came from nowhere. His background should be open to everyone.

- They don't have a readymade product.

Let's make a sober recognition. The competition is high. In the end of 2017 - the beginning of 2018 you just can't appear with an idea and ask for money. You need to develop your product before ICO. It should not be an amazing one. It could be just prototype. But investors need something real. They need to touch and try your product. However, just 16% of all ICO has a product.

And what do you think about it? What are your signs of a scam?

Vitalik Buterin has good scam filter. He, on one of conferences, just said: "Dear scammers, don't use ICO for your bad scam projects, please."

So. Do the same. You see ICO? Just have a contact with them and ask if they are scammers? If they answer no, everything is ok. You can participate))

Could you please tell more what Vitalik said?

bear100

newbie

Activity: 56

Merit: 0

It is a very good list. And this information can be easily found in the web. You just make some structure for it.
I can add something about marketing. Avoid projects, which make pre-ico. Usually pre-ico needs for 2 reasons: selling LOTS of tokens to invest founds or raising money for massive marketing campaign. Both options are not very good for private investor, especially the first one. As these founds will dump the price of token in a minutes after it goes to exchanges.

Topic: How to recognize scam - page 20. (Read 3159 times)