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We see many scam ICO bounties in the forum. But there is no way to understand what is Scam, which is not Scam. Is it possible to catch anything by following it?  ???

I think it's really difficult to know which one is the scam ICO project. Maybe you'll find out scam project by searching for their team member or from some ICO analyze website like icobench. Although a good ICO project also can provide a scam bounty campaign as well. LOL. For example Refereum is a very good project but they have a scam bounty campaign, they don't pay enough the amount of token they promised to their participants :))

I think what most people fait to do is to see bounty campaign as an investment, if you see it as an investment, can you just throw your money into any project that doesn,t worth investing, so before you join any campaign research it as if you want to invest into it, more scam ICO will still surface in the space

Of course you can see from various aspects. Suppose you can see from team, vision, mission and teamwork in a project. Because of the good ICO that the teams are always active to attract investors. If you can judge from there you may know which ICO scam and ICO are really serious.

Many projects show that they are crooks. There are a lot of factors here, of course you can not guess the ideal but you can reduce the chance of getting scammers to a minimum.

They start by showing their token price or value first in order to attract people, of course if the coins is worth one dollar or more, anyone would like to have the token to hold, and what more if they get 50% discount in per-sale date, sound good isn't it, sometimes you don't have to read their paper to determine they are scam, intuition of people work sometimes too.

It's hard to identify these scam ICO's but at least find always those reviews about the ICO that you are interested. I'm sure that everyone wants to help others by identifying if these ICO's are helpful and scams so there are blogs that are giving ideas and free reviews for the potential investors. Also check the profile of those people involve in that ICO and that makes  the project less interesting if these people are using fake identities.

You must do a lot of audit to catch the scam ico. If you are seeing myriad project which has been used fake identity of other person from youtube. If you are not only just following it but try to learn more about it. There are some points must need to be considered as a good measures. Started from try to identify ico's creator. That becomes a responsibility for those ico investors.

For me - its a check to team, MVP and documents and business model.
If this people create something more than promises - I hope they plan make real things after ICO)

Always look at the team, are they trying to be anonymous. I'd understand if there is one or two who decides to be, but you should atleast know who's behind the project and research about them.
Try to find news about them being linked with the company you are about to join in.

Next is their product, do they have a product already, working, can be tested etc. or are they a start up. MOST startup companies does not have a product yet and the money they will get from the ICO will be the source to prove their concept so the whitepaper is nothing but a whitepaper. BE CAREFUL in joining those, look for real use cases, and again who is behind the project, are they know succesful folks? Hard working? do they have a portfolio of the succesful projects they've been in.

At the end of the day the cryptoverse is all about people, invest in people behind these ideas and make sure you are in it to win it.

Beware of to good to be true ICOs., companies that guarantees revenue on day 1 without any product that is just plain worthless. Be careful out there my friend.

If the project team is hidden, then this already deserves a thorough ICO check before investing.  The poor quality of the site also leads to suspicion.  It is important to look at the team's answers to questions about the project.  If you do not like something, then it's better not to invest in this ICO.

Ways to Spot a Scam ICO
Does the company have a business plan? Read the whitepaper.
Is everyone getting rich but you? Follow the money
Who’s on the team? Look for entrepreneurial leadership and a solid crypto team.
Do you believe in the idea and its potential? There must be a great underlying product.
Is the ICO regulated? Regulated ICOs are safer.
Are you blindly following the crowd? Don’t be a sheep.

Sometimes scammers make very simple mistakes - they use photos of people from social networks. There are services that allow you to find a person from the photo. You can use this service and understand this. This is one of the simplest ways.

Come watch this white paper, read...preferably 2-3 times to understand. In General, better off, get some crypts, a top 100 pick and sit on the priest exactly. I did so for example in 2 months x3.

A lot of ico’s projects are scam. First the most important thing is look how fast you can get tokens from it. Because minimum time to get profit is few months, not weeks. So you can find good ico project looking on profit

You need to make some kind of investigation, to catch scam ICO. First of all you need to check project team and advisors, check profiles in social media pages and write to them or make voice or video call. If they dont wanna contact with you , need to run away from that kind of ICO.

There are a lot of factors and there is not one that will help you determine what the project is, you need to look at the design of the project, the team on the white paper on the manager and only than join to the project. But even this will not give you a 100% guarantee that the project is not a scam.

Now it is very difficult to distinguish scam ICO from truthful. It is necessary only to rely on an intuition.

Hi, in my opinion, if they talking about how much money you`ll make , its a scam ICO bounties. Only scammers promise big returns.

Now there is no reliable way to determine this. Very high quality make fakes.
Of course you have to look at the quality of the site, the idea of ​​how ICO is conducted, but this may not be enough. So until the end of the ICO it is often not clear whether the company is normal.

IMHO first of all team must be checked if these real persons or not. If they have social activity for a long time I don't think they will run with your money on islands;)

You can sure do a personal research on the people behind the ICO and do a background check on them is a good start in learning if the ICO is a scam of not, But I think the most important will be the hype of a certain services and products of that ICO if the ICO will be successful with there  pre-sale is really impossible to predict, Well I am saying this because if a certain ICO would not make a success they might tend to drop the project.

What I'm about to say is pretty basic stuff, but it's always good to remind oneself about it.

The only information available to most of us about a project/company is the information that is on the internet. Based on the information that the team released in different forms (product documentation, team bio, interaction with the community through media, ...) you can draw some simple conclusions and distinguish the "complete trash ICOs" from "there might be something behind this".

Now the next step is to evaluate the quality of given information and to form some criteria which will help you decide if it's something "you want to bet on" or it's a pass

Quality of information and criteria examples:
Is the information about the team available and viable? Where is it available (there are some "industry standards", i.e. LinkedIn)? Does the team experience cover areas necessary for success?
Do I understand their whitepaper and are their goals clear? If not, can I find more valuable info about it? What are the obstacles, what are other people saying? And so on.

Sometimes you have to go through a lot of crap information, but with time and experience people learn to separate what's important and what's a distraction.

Making a plus minus list with your criteria (or google someone elses criteria) can be a simple and organized way to make a decision.
Hope I helped you a little.

Identify scammers very falsely! all projects are good! But you can read a white paper to understand the future prospects of this company

an ico scam. will be a non-product project. dev team is not clear. and roadmap and white paper copy. I think so 8)

The most important thing before investing in ICO is to take time and study first the project. Reading, complete research and analysis is the work. Read the whitepaper carefully and search about the persons in the team.

it's really difficult to know that bounty / ICO is scam or not , but you can always check their project development progress and pre-sale / token sale raised fund amount, check their team member and project whitepaper

It's a good thing to check and maybe reduces the risk but there are still many who have used their true identity and then run away with funds.

The thing is with ICOs is you're never going to know for certain if it's a scam or not so you just have to do all of your due dilligence and take everything under consideration. After that I like to assign my potential investments a 'risk' score which is a % chance that they're a scam. I then factor this in to any decision to invest or not.

Put simply if the risk score is 50% I won't invest unless I expect a minimum return of 2x etc etc

Here's a list of things I would suggest to do to decide whether ico is a scammy one:
- check out their website, make sure it looks fine and has at least a whitepaper and team members with some info about them
- google the project to see the rates and reviews people might've already given to it
- check the scam accusations on bitcointalk
- if the project ran any kinds of bounties or campaigns before, make sure that they payed the participants
Finally, if you want to participate in an airdrop or something like this: never give anyone your private keys, passwords or send any money in advance.
I think these tips are pretty much enough to save one from most of scammy projects.

There are many ico going on today. Just you learn that you will know what ico will scam. ico scam is usually the ico no product.. roadmap, whitepaper

At the moment, on the forum and on the Internet, you can find a lot of information about ICO projects that interest you. There are sites where statistics of successful ICOs are kept. The community is growing, and everyone shares their opinions and experiences, it's now easier to distinguish fraudsters from earlier.

To be honest, it is not that easy to identify whether a project/ICO is scam or not. It takes a good amount of time to research about a project. We have to find out what the project is aiming for, we have to know who its developers are and the team behind it and identify whether they are legit or not. Further more, the ICOs which claim to give guaranteed high returns are more or less the scam ones and we should never invest in such projects.

Most of the ICOs are revealed as a scam when they get to the middle phase of their project. When the developers suspect that they are revealed they pack their bags and run. You could do your own investigation about the certain ICO and try to distinguish if it is the valid or not. Most of the scam ICOs have a bad whitepaper, false advisors, and big market cap. Even then when you think that all is good you could end up with a loss no matter if you invested into the ICO or if you are advertising for them.

If the project team is hidden, then this already deserves a thorough ICO check before investing.  The poor quality of the site also leads to suspicion.

Not easy to know the ico scam project. I think you should follow the road map of ico if the ico is not true with the road map can ico is scam.

For me I would say that ICO bounties will sca m if they we asked them a question then they dont know how to explain a certain refere nce to answer our question.Then I shall do a research so that I will know how secure thei bounty ico implemented

Today it's really hard. Even if you google with "project-name scam" you may find too much marketing copywrites with such titles but you will find explaination inside why this project is cool and you need to invest in it :) Novaday scams hide more and more smart.

This is necessary because of the scam project is getting more and more. First, I think we should check the team information and their roadmap. The transparency and credibility of the team members is essential. Keep track of the official theme of those projects in this forum, if there are more supporters and discussion then it would be better. Besides, some ICO review sites like trackico, icobench can also help you. This is just my advice, surely it can not help you avoid it all, it just helps you to understand some parts.

Check their website first. Because any good projects team will try their best to make the websit impressive. Try to collect information about this ico, if its look not comfortable for you avoid it. Also check their Roadmape and take a look on their salling progress.

Just check 2 things: team and product, if team is with russians you got extra chance for scam, and if there is no github with product then too.

Scam ICOs will make a prpmise about everything but you get nothing in the end. It is the same as investing on anything that does not have any means of returning what is right for you. To avoid these, conduct some proper research with the projects that you are interested in.

To understand scam ico firstly you have to check their website.Then you will check their roadmap and whitepaper.Also check the activity of the team members in social media.Then you will understand it.  8)

They will get your attention that will said that they will gaurantee bigger return when you invest and also give you false information but if you done your research you can exclude those scam and avoid being a milking cow to them

with increasing no of icos there are so many scam icos. for differentiating good one and scams you must be a better researcher. don't depend on websites/ico reviews and other posts on the web. based on your research. I will tell you how to identify good ico with an example.my example is cvproof ico.
cvproof is an ico based on job market.it connects job seekers and human resource managers via a website called cvproof.com.first of all you have to study white paper
https://www.cvproof.com/white-paper.html
after studying whitepaper you can realize whether its real project with ground level value or another shit concept.always choose only projects with brand new ideas.next important thing is the team.see the team involved with cvproof..all are well-known experts with talent. another thing if its a real project it must have a website and other social media links. these are only basic study more about this whitepaper and cvproof is a typical example of good ico
happy future

It depends on what you identify as a SCAM.

They take your money and fail, which has 96% probability, is not always a SCAM.

Let us define SCAM as a deliberate act, evil intent. The best way to avoid it is to scan the team. Are they real? Do they have corresponding experience? It's better to gather feedback on them - just write to somebody on Linkedin who knows them. Once I wrote developer of the ICO and he said: "oh, it is a bullshit, they do only marketing and no development at all, thanks for reaching out to me and reminding, I should exclude this from my resume". Check Github as well. Are there any regular essential updates?

However, sometimes I see the level of goodwill incompetence that is worth naming SCAM as well.

You need to look at the very structure of the ICO project, investors and sponsors. If you can not find any mention of these people before, then be wary.

I can tell one think, all ICO which himself find you its scam.
Really good projects dont need ads, hes tokens sold out on presale

to know the project failed or always we say scam ICO thats can not predict it early but if want to invest in good ICO  we have to thoroughly examine the ICO program and the product to be generated whether it will be accepted in the global market. research and learn about whitepaper, roadmap, the team work and marketing promotion. and who is the Bounty Manager.

At the end of the day, it's just research.

You can even research the million articles and guides on how to avoid scam ICOs. ;D

It’s really not easy for one to identify whether Ico a scam, if it’s easy I can say for sure that all of us can get lots of benefits. I think the way to know which ico scams ,it depends much on every people experience. I’ve seen some way to identify, firstly you can know that it’s scam if the developers are unknown, because this network is not basic on trustworthiness, so you’d better get away from them. Secondly,  If the developers have no foundation to clear a use case for the token. That’s all I knew.

It is easiest to identify fraudsters by searching for ICO members for different projects, conferences etc. If by people there is no mention then and most likely it is a scam project

It is very difficult to understand this. But for me there are several criteria by which I define it for myself:
1. Cloud mining.
2. Bank cards.
3. Russian projects 99% scammers.
4. Ideas that copy from other projects.

I believe that to determine the scam you need to rely on several factors.
The first is a general view of the product, its purpose.
The second is to analyze the opinions of the experts and look at the ratings.
The third is to look at the opinions of investors. After this, it will be understood whether it is a scam or not, and it will be easier with time.

The project is of great importance here. If the project is well studied and confident, the probability of fraud is very low.  8)

The most important thing is the team, check all the members of the photo through Google pictures, if there is a mismatch, it means cheating! If everything is fine, look at the site design, if there is a working product is very good, and then you can get acquainted with the ratings. I do like this.

I agree with the first answer to your question. Indeed, it is extremely difficult to recognize unclean scammers. Even there are projects serious and solid that at the end of the ICO are lying to you.

currently in a scam category, ico developers are hard to detect even more if some developers use famous artists to attract investors, like the current news about centra.
it's so hard that we can avoid the scam, especially on ico which gives an unreasonable bonus amount like 100% or 50%. and even if ico is seamless and inserts its tokens on the market, the result is that the token will drop so much because so many gifts from every investor

Almost all ICO's are scam. So that I advise playing with them in the short term. Search for a project that will bring around enough participants to raise the price of the token and then sell it

You can not be sure that ICO project will be profitable. Putting money in ICO is a risky deal with the potential of getting high income. But often there is a chance to get nothing from this project.

I advice you have to first search the project and look out team and read the whitepaper.

Use cases do not require a blockchain
Not all projects need blockchain, and not all things need to be decentralized. This seems obvious, but everyone is talking about blockchain technology and its subversive potential. In this context, when the white paper of the ICO project mentions that the blockchain is being applied to a large industry, this idea is very easy. Get people's attention.
Even if the project requires cryptocurrency as a means of payment (such as Steemit, which is a writing platform, creators can get rewards from Steem's native "Digital Score System"), they can also use existing cryptocurrencies (such as Bitcoin and Ethereum survived very well.
In evaluating the ICO, a good question to ask at the beginning is: “Does this project require blockchains or native tokens?” If the answer is not required, the project is likely to be an example of solutionism. : That is to say that all problems have a technical solution, here means to encrypt the currency for cryptocurrency, or a scam.

Initial Coin Offerings, also known as ICOs is the cryptocurrency version of crowdfunding and are a part of the crypto world that is most likely here to stay. It's one of the easiest and most efficient methods for companies and individuals to fund their projects and for regular users to invest in projects they see value in. ICO investors benefit from the opportunity to create significant amounts of profit while supporting the development of disruptive decentralized platforms.

Signs of an ICO Scam

* Poor Presence
   One of the essential elements to consider when assessing a potential ICO scam is the individuals behind it. A robust initial coin offering will present potential investors with a detailed team breakdown, listing founders, developers, advisors, security experts, and anybody else associated with the project.

* Guaranteed Profits
   Of all the red flags that identify a potential fraud ICO, guaranteed profits are the most obvious. There are no certainties in the blockchain ecosystem, and no proven, reliable, or guaranteed methods of generating profits.

* No White Paper, Bad White Papers, or Blatantly Plagiarized White Papers
   A white paper is the most important element of any initial coin offering. In a white paper, an ICO will present an outline of what it plans to achieve, a breakdown of how the technical aspects of the platform function, and delineate its token distribution model.

* Shady Premines
   Premining is a common practice in the initial coin offering ecosystem that refers to tokens that are made available to a small group of individuals before the project or crowdsale goes live.

*  No Roadmap / Unrealistic Roadmaps
   Moreover, if the roadmap includes plans of using ICO capital to develop a prototype or makes any references to future token price, it’s probably a scam.

* Too Good
If an ICO appears to be too good to be true, it probably is. Maintaining a skeptical perspective when assessing initial coin offerings will help you to avoid getting scammed.