Thanks for the warning. Although a little to late maybe...
So what's wrong with a sociopath with a gun?? I see no problems.
There are some simple methods to check for ICO scams :
- Check escrow conditions, if there is no milestone, don't invest.
- Check the identity of each team member, the photos are not enough, check their social accounts, google them, do anything to get their ID. if not, then it is 90% a scam.
- Don't waste time on whitepaper, it is made for technical users who can understand the content.
- If somone invites you to invest, and wears their signature, beware, he may be paid to get investors (at the moment just a few users do this)
- Ask them the ICO scam killer questions like : Where is your business plan ? what is your expected realisation delay ? Where is your financial plan ? ...
With these, you can easily avoid ICO scams, but even Bust them.
..the problem isn't about the escrow it self, because yes, the escrows are trusted, but when they release the funds, these escrows are no longer responsible for their usage. There happens the scam. What ever you say, an escrow never engages his reputation in a project, he is just a middle man holding funds for a short time.
You are not the first or last. Check this out.
nemgun & Co. and Enjin coin
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.20747524Hi guys, CTO of Enjin Coin here. We are being open and thoughtful about our coin and I welcome productive criticism and feedback. You guys seem to care about the direction of the project, based on 30 days of constant posting on our threads. But we draw the line when there is clear trolling and toxic behavior.
I would like to explain why NEMGUN is upset:
I spoke to him over a couple of days on video chat, thinking NVO might help us do our crowdsale. After a few interactions, we noticed some disturbing behavior from him and decided it was best not to work with this person. I understand rejection is upsetting, and that NVO wanted to use Enjin Coin as an example for their own project, but it is difficult to understand NEMGUN's aggression.
Here is part of what scared our entire team off from working with him:
"I love sociopaths, it is great, I am a sociopath so apreciate people without emotions it is best for reflections."
"for now I am in algeria, and attacking me, means attacking the algerian government."
His behavior on Skype video was rude, constant cursing at us while trying to force the project in his own direction. By chance, I was passing through the city which Ton (NVO founder) lives and I was planning to have an in-person meeting with him, but after our team did some background checks on NEMGUN we decided it was best to focus our resources elsewhere.
I understand that his feelings were perhaps hurt, however his present behaviour leaves us confident we made the correct choice.
