Were you a victim of any scam ICO in 2018?
I was and I learned some serious lessons.
You can't completely stop scam ICOs in the crypto space but you can avoid it. Here are some ideas:

First, understand that 5 out of every 10 new ICO offers are complete scam.
This is not to discourage you. But to serve as a caution. The cryptocurrency world is full of stories of people who are either getting hacked for their precious digital currencies, or they are falling into scams and traps.

Because of the decentralized and open nature of the cryptocurrency world, protection is not freely offered. Users are rather expected to be savvy enough to not fall for scams and traps, but that takes some work.

Below are important things you must know about scam ICOs and some tips on how to avoid them.

1. Scam ICOs are not that easy to spot, as some believe themselves that they are legitimate. What you should be looking for is proof of endorsements and involvement from reputable figures, as well as a legitimate team.

2. Scam ICOs do not have comprehensive Whitepapers.
When it comes to ICO investing, the Whitepaper is your go-to to determine if the company has a clear plan and idea, or if they are simply waffling on about nothing particular.

3. Scam ICOs do not provide honest answers to questions on their social media communication channels. Engaging supporters in an honest and direct communication is a cornerstone of building a successful ICO. Be attentive to the way projects communicate and react because there can be some clear telltales that something is not right. The team gives hazy and unclear answers to straightforward questions, and suddenly a throng of people with the same name appears on the project’s communication channels, claiming to be part of the team.

4. Scam ICOs do not provide clear and well-defined terms of participation. You should pay attention if contribution ETH address is published only in one, public place (don't send your funds to any addresses that have been sent to you via DM or email), while bonuses and all relevant dates must be set and predefined well in advance.

5. Scam projects will often make bold claims about their product even though the said project offers nothing new or disruptive. It’s not likely that a certain blockchain platform or cryptocurrency will end poverty, fix global warming or replace the internet. This can also be true for how they expect the community or markets to respond to the product. If someone claims their cryptocurrency will
replace Bitcoin, get a disproportionate amount of users, or increase by 100x in the price charts, you can add that project to the scam list.

6. Scam ICO projects parade fake team members. They use fake photos of people who don't even truly exist. Check out those people on Google. Visit their social media profiles. If you cannot get any meaningful information about their experience in the crypto industry or related fields, you may be about to throw away your money. To better vet team members, remember to check all social profiles. Do they look real? Anyone can create a social media account to get credibility, so you need to check when the account was created and the activity it has so far.

7. Scam ICOs are usually spotted by experts. Before you make any financial commitment talk to other experts. There are experts around who specialize in financial research. Seek advice from them. Check online forums for reviews of the project.

I hope this helps.

A while ago I read this quote: "All secrets are visible." I really liked it. It's so simple, yet powerful.
For me, it means that every success is replicable if you just observe seriously.

The guy who is legitimately earning 6 or 7 figures in his internet marketing business for instance, is no better than the man who's flat broke and still struggling to pay his bills.

If the impoverished guy would just observe this man, he would realize that he can replicate his business model, marketing strategies, sales funnel, niche system, how he uses his time and grows his email list, and so on...

Maybe if he's bold, he'd even request for mentorship and ASK him how he converts traffic to buyers, promotes other people's products or even sell his skills online.
Then, he'd only have to COPY and ADAPT what he learned from this other successful guy.

All secrets are visible, easily accessible for the CURIOUS business fellow who can implement them.
We live in an open world where everyone will tell you what he/she does to be successful.
 
But some people get pissed off by this. "There  must be something else he's not telling!" they say.

It happens a lot when people who earned their wealth from scratch say the secret to their wealth is that they just worked hard and invested their money wisely.

When asked how they knew how and what to invest in, they usually answer that they educated themselves by reading and started small, learning from their mistakes.

But again, people get pissed off. It can't be that simple!
There must be something else...

No, there isn't. With the application of common sense, success in business is simple. And all successes are easily replicable, because "all secrets are visible".

WHAT A CRYPTO COMMUNITY CAN TEACH YOU ABOUT CHEATING
 
I was part of the beta-testers for CoinBundle.com (a crypto asset management and investment platform)

Users were to test and promote the platform for a couple of months via a special bounty program called "crypto fever contest".

The incentive was pretty fetching so a lot of crypto enthusiasts jumped into the game.

While some participants were honest with the gig, others devised wicked means of cheating by creating multiple fake accounts, cheating with the bounty tasks and using fake referral accounts.
They probably had one goal: to exploit the system and escalate their rewards.

But guess what?

At the end of the bounty period, fraudulent accounts were detected, disqualified and deprived of any rewards while those who played fair ended up doubling their rewards.
4 months of hardwork, time and money wasted on grounds of cheating.

Are you a bounty or airdrop hunter and you want to outwit the Airdrop providers by cheating, creating fake referrals and making multiple entries?

Like the fraudulent CoinBundle beta-testers, you might just be setting yourself up to lose valuable assets that the universe has prepared for you.

BUZZEX is a cryptocurrency exchange that aims to build a multifunctional, safe, fast and user-friendly ecosystem with innovative features such as daily dividends, virtual masternode and up to 100% discount on fees.



The Buzzex Exchange will set the pace in becoming a dependable digital asset exchange and financial system for all and this will be achieved by providing the best customer experience for their users.

The Buzzex Coin which has been developed to function as a utility coin on the Buzzex Exchange enables traders to earn passive income for life in form of daily dividends by holding at least 20,000 BZX.

Buzzex Coin Specifications:
Coin Name: Buzzex Coin
Coin Ticker: BZX
Algorithm: Quark / POS
Masternode Collateral: 10,000
Initial Supply: 750,000,000
Pre-Mine: Divided according to the whitepaper
Block Reward: 30 MN / 10 Strike / 10 Budget
Block Time: 60 Seconds
Annual inflation: 3.504% Year 1



Buzzex Coin (BZX) Advantages:
- Get discounts on trading fees, from 5% to 100%
- Earn BZX with strike & masternode rewards
- Up to 80% of trading fees are shared with investors
- Vote for your favourite coin to be listed on the exchange
- Vote for proposals to improve the ecosystem.

Current contests / bounties:
- Earn 100 BZX with registration and KYC verification on the exchange
- Vote for your favourite project to be listed on the Exchange and earn 500 BZX if selected.
- Airdrop, Twitter, Telegram, Facebook, Reddit, LinkedIn, YouTube, Article & Signature campaigns
- Guess the trading volume in the first week after opening and win 1,000 to 1,000,000 BZX
- Earn 1,000 BZX with answering 5 questions
- Buy BZX in the pre-sale and get lifelong BZX with the profit share from strike revenues of the company.

Need additional information?
Drop your questions in the thread, and I will answer them personally!