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.