Bitcoin Forum

As a newbie i could go skeptical on investing my hard earned money on tokens. Is there any advice from you that i can get to determine a token that could go scam in the future? thanks in advance.

Well, if an altcoin development team doesn't update the code for half a year on github, you have to be careful.Currently, half a year of ICO token, many teams have stopped updating the code on github and should say that they have disappeared.I didn't target any team.

Check the code is updated or not just one step. They might have new code not working so no update, so we can check their respone to community question.

Tokens are made for something related to a project so To determine it you must assess all aspects of the Project of tokens such as developments, updates, etc

You can tell it like some fake if its somethings fishy. Also if you understand well the project but the tokens has a different use of it or just a copy.

In order to spot fake/scam tokens, analyze that particular token. And you can also ask for the experts in this forum about that token. Sharing the information here will also be helpful for all of us.

Deep project research is the only way. As investor you should be able to dig very deep to know everything about project. I think that the team and well known advisors is the best evidence of legitimness of any project.

Warning signs:

1.) "We'll be listing on bittrex shortly".
2.) Their dev team of 3 spends the entire day in Telegram non-stop.

Pay attention to the ICO if you do not want to lose money, most of the time that's where the scam come from.
The main rule is to always be reassured that there is a real team behind the project and that the project in itself will be adopted in the future,  of stay away of scam like Bitcoin or Onecoin who are obviously ponzi and  always be sure that the project have new features.
If you have a doubt about a project you can post a message on the forum and we will all discuss together to help you make the best choice and it will be beneficial for all of us

you should see the ins and outs of the token project,
if you want to buy token ico find that has escrow it will make secure your money

You can never really tell.For some it has a great start then before the payment takes place then boom manager just disappered from nowhere.

Keep track on those token that you want to invest in. Do some deep research before putting your money into high risk. If the dev and mod is always active, then that's a good sign. Check if there's a development in their project. Ask the experts in what they think about the project, if it's worth investing. But this is all not sure, we don't know what they have up their sleeves. 

Thanks for the replies. Appreciate it much.

question, why would a dev team spending his entire day in telegram be a problem? maybe thats his assignment and they want to answer any enquiries for the community? just a thought.

Never invest in some coin just because some of your friend will suggest you to invest in that coin and claims it will be big in next few months.

Don't take suggestion about coin you will get from this forum or in trollbox.

Go through different ICO review site and check their unbiased review and take your own decision.

Make some search about the team member listed and make sure they are using real names and actually project is based somewhere with real company backing it.

I dont think we will know if it is a scam before it happens to be a scam
Most scammers are pro, they are doing it as their daily job
This is the risk we need to cope with in crypto, easy to earn money but easier to lose it all

Best way is to check with people here. Research and read their white paper. Go ask the hard questions in their customer support box. You can consult with people here, this forum is actually very helpful with anything related to crypto currencies.

Well, the reality is that it can't be done 100% accurately so there will be wins and losses anyway. But expierience can increase the nukber of your wins; there's no "secret" about determining coins...

Because you are a newbie, I will advise you to start your portfolio with coins/tokens from first Top 25 from www.coinmarketcap.com There are where they are for good reasons: they are popular, have good community and already proved they are not scam. You can't go wrong with them. It would be nice to diversify your portfolio for example:
60% BTC
20% ETH
20% Tokens you chose Dash, Monreo, Lisk, Neo.

If you really want to know how to spot SCAM:
- you need to do your own research (always)
- check their website, whitepaper, bitcointalk ann thread, youtube reviews, and community channels like slack and telegram, read as much as you can and don't forget about comments
-if your unsure ask here on the forum I am sure some more experienced user will always help you
-each project will have at some point false accusation here on the forum (FUD), at least I always seen this happen
-google for reviews and ICO rating
-visit YouTube and search Ian Balina (he is very good in review new ICO's)

It's really hard to determine without experience which project is dodgy/scam, just try to invest small first in ICO, and always not more than you can afford to lose.    

From their white paper and the Dev team behind the project.

Some sites review the projects and label them as scams - but how to know if that is genuine? You will have to do your own research on the team and project.

Hmm.. some wrote that its better to look github. This is brilliant idea. Github confesses what happens with the project. Also dev communication makes me realize as if they are doing good or bad. Some icos dont even use their social media at all.

Checkout the project. Study its whitepaper - is it crating more questions than providing answers?
Checkout the website scrutinizing every detail, click on every link. Is it an empty shell?
Checkout the people behind it. Check their activity. Check their LinkedIn profiles. Are they just fronts? Fake identities? Were these people successful in something else? Do they have the experience and know-how to achieve what they are promising?
What about what the project promises to deliver? Is there a real need for it? Will people be willing to even pay to get what the project is offering? What is the project's potential audience size?
Hope these questions help you spot the fakes and avoid a catastrophe...

I would recommend you to focus on 4 big points.
1. Team(background, previous project)
2. Technology.( you can ask people about technology on thematic forums and other communities)
3. Legal status of the token/coin.
4. Legal entity, location of the business.

Good ICOs hire higher rank members in order to manage their bounty campaigns and they pay high amount of money to campaign managers so that's one on how to spot that an ICO is fake is when a campaign and announcement is started by a newbie or junior members.

Indeed, the best way to check wether an ICO is legitimate is when the core team itself are successful developers in their previous work and has enough experiences to support a cryptocurrency project.

But sometimes even these points are met but still a project has more chance to become failure or tagged as scam because the competition is very tight these days.
And also in addition to that, moat scam ICOs are started or managed by low ranked members like Newbie and Junior Member.
Some of them are conducting Airdrops and in the end you'll receive nothing but time wasted

Then how would you know if there is something fishy? Be more specific please. You can't tell whether a token is a fake or a scam by just looking at it or reading some descriptions because even the other old users had been fooled by these scams. Just stick to what is legitimate and have advice from your trusted co-users.

Also in addition, fake ones  has no clear roadmap. People behind the project are secretive of their identity ans usually  its a one man show. I mean only one person running all the project.

You tell if its fake if first in foremost, it does not have plan and if the project's goal is not that clear. You need to thoroughly check the team, whether they are reliable or not. And lastly, assess carefully the project if its promising or just merely illusional

read number  of total tokens / github codes / read more about how they plan for future and if they say you will win fast they Scam you

most of the fake projects are usually poorly executed. Which means their website, whitepaper and idea are all made in a rush, which is usually the case. Another good indicator that a project has an idea that is "too good to be true", I've recently seen a start up that wants to focus on flying taxis (like flying cars). I mean, I'm all down to fly and go from one place to another real fast, but the goal has to be somewhat attainable, if flying cars have not been fully developed yet, then it's unlikely that a coin start up will all of the sudden find the solution and create the infrastructure necessary to attain that. The goal has to be both realistic and tangible, the consumers have to be able to adopt and developers should be able to build on something realistically.

Study the project itself, if it has growth prospects. Look at the composition of the team, but to assess the ability of the team is difficult. Look at the advisers, they should be known and experienced people. Well, if there is an initial version of the product and the start of sales soon begins

i will see the project and team, some project not success i will avoid, sometime bank concept is good to pick, it is more popular than health or game project, that is just my opinion