Bitcoin Forum

Nowadays, Many scam projects exists it is because lack of securities/regulations i think Bitcointalk  should implement this Rules and Regulations for the sake of us investors, Bounty Managers, Community Hired Admins, as well as Bounty hunters who give their full effort to promote the running projects.

Tips on how to avoid scam projects;
• You should better look their Website read each carefully thus the implementation of views, missions, and concepts of the project's is realistic.
• Look for the information that is real and should fit to their goals.
• Look on the Whitepaper for full information if you see lack of information that is need and seen not realistic.
• Look their Community and Social Links weither it is exists and running not fake.
• Look for transparency as well.
• Concised ideas and implementation
• Real acccounts and exists Team members on their different Socials.
• Running Activities and Should look if they Stick to their plans accordingly to the Roadmap & Whitepaper.
• Do your Own Research as well.

Well, the best way is to actually read the whitepaper.
Normally, if the whitepaper has an actual white background and is dense, boring, and hard to understand... You should be good!

If the whitepaper is more like a sales pitch or super short without technical details- then its most likely a scam.

Thanks for this very simple but actually can be a good idea on looking for a non-scam ICO. Yes, indeed when reading the WhitePaper and it can be boring the reason can be because things are really technical and sometimes beyond our full grasp but then again there are also those who are really good in presenting their project in the WhitePaper and can be easily digested. What should be obvious is the fact that the project is making a great effort in the formulation of the WhitePaper. Well, to me, another good factor in looking at a good ICO are the people behind the project as well as the advisers. The presence of popular advisers can be a good factor except in some cases where they are just doing it for the money (this can be an exemption, of course). Now, having said those, it must be clear that there is no guaranteed way we can be avoiding scams in this deregulated market where anyone (even your dog maybe) can start an ICO anytime. And it is easy really these days to fake anything including having an ICO...that is the sad truth.

the best way to avoid scam is investing in ICOS with all-start team and advisors (wprled in top companies such google and facebook....) known VCs involved and big partnerships.

Well said. Pretty sure a few ICOs were created by dogs...

And yes, scammers be scammin' and finding new ways to do it.
Just make sure you feel confident in your investment and either shoot for a lambo or plan to take the tokens to the grave

Thank you for these wonderful tips. You saved a lot of newbie investors from being scammed with these helpful tips. Researching is indeed your greatest weapon against scam ico's. Always take the time to check and research to avoid not wasting your time and money. Reading the whitepaper also helps you a lot, I know it can be long and boring but you have to go through it in order to know the ico very well.

Not all,  sometimes there's a real.
Most  of them that you need to look is the team member, if they have an experience, real accounts and of course it exists.  You should look if the community are truly supported their project.

My way is through ICO rating and Google search, which is the easiest way.

Usually developers may try to simplify or hype up their product on the announcement or website and detail the actual tech behind it on the whitepaper. However, if the whitepaper is full of buzzwords with no clear meaning, no actual tech is discussed and only high-level descriptions are given, then this is definitely a scam.

Whitepapers usually explain how the platform works both on the high-level and specifically. This often includes charts, calculations, simulations, specifications and so forth. If your project claims that it is building some sort of decentralized service or token with new features and actually provides no explanation of how it works specifically, then just close the document and walk away.

A perfect example of this is deClouds. An ICO that turned out to be a complete scam with no product whatsoever. Their whitepaper is full of nonsensical claims which fooled many less than tech-savvy users

Well we could never know. I Joined the Myriads Bounty.
At first if im going to use your pointers. Its possible i could check it all.
And the bounty has been good for a couple of weeks.
Until Someone, has figured out something.
One of the Team Members of the project was actually copy pasted from another Project.
At this point all the, when the team was confronted on telegram and the thread. They are not replying or even explaining to defend their self.
And later they was gone.
Its just i think we could really know, when its a scam or not. But your pointers is really helpful. Just saying.

Your easier way is make you a mistakes, there is a high chance to find an scam ICO. You should make a research man, read the whitepaper carefully, look at their team member if it's real and exists.

Bitcointalk doesn't really need to provide regulations for it since these bounties are just there, using the forum as a way of promoting/advertising their project. Bitcointalk doesn't have any relation to these bounties or projects at all. Also, campaign managers cannot predict if a project is a scam or not, they're not fortune tellers. Although the bounty hunters (some) are doing what they can to reveal scam projects.

I agree with your feedback about ICO which is now a lot of scam ..
more heart "again in choosing ICO.
chat telegram bounty manager ask his vision and mission clearly or not

Thank You for compliment and a very well said ideas as well yours. 😊

This is just the basic tips but sad to say most of us are hardly following these. Checking if their accounts on the social media are really realor just a dummy account that used in scamming. We shall reconsider this basic informations if we do not want to be scam by those ICOs. Anyway, appreciate the tips you have mentioned.

I think if the advertisement is superb then it's likely to be a scam. It's not really easy to identify a fake from a real on this days

As I always say, do your research well before investing either your time or money. It's always worth it, prevention they say is better and cheaper than cure.

Looking at their real world social activity is another way to prove their credibility. This categorizes of ICO are generally successful.
A real and legit project would get involved in presentation, seminars and conference around the world to popularize their project and look for real investors.

I think most of the time it's hard to tell if a project is a hoax.
The best thing to do is check the open source code for this project.

Your tips are much appreciated.. Altough we might not need to exert too much effort in doing research soon since a decentralized ICO marketplace called Menlo.one is launching its token sale soon. How is this related to stopping scams? Its CEO, Matt Nolan, mentioned that they have found a way to help with the various issues most investors fear about ICOs. Link to their whitepaper: https://www.menlo.one/

I disagree, I would not want some third party deciding who gets to list their ICO's on bitcointalk. I think the current rules they have work just fine. As an investor it is up to you to do your own due diligence on the ICO's prior to investing. If you see an ICO you are considering investing in check the "Scam" section of Bitcointalk to see if anyone has found any issues with the ICO.

I would like to add, if they list any partners. You can verify if it's true by sending an email or asking directly in TG of their partners.

ICOs are inherently risky because they are not regulated, making them vulnerable to fraud. Scammers offering an ICO will attempt to drive the price of the cryptocurrency up to a particular point, at which they will sell their entire interest.

These are some of the signs:
1. Weak Website or White Paper
2. Absence of Named Developers or Team Members
3. No Clear Roadmap
4. Skewed Mining Structure
5. Uncapped Fundraising Goal
6. Evidence of a Pyramid Structure

How hard would it be to copy some projects whitepaper and then alter it's content to an extent that the people believe that it's a real whitepaper.
A good project has a whitepaper as you mentioned above but then there are still other things that should be kept in mind while inspecting an ICO for whether it is a genuine one or a fake one. OP has mentioned some good points which could benefit our research over ICOs.

quite usefull tips. however, i`d like to add few from myself. watch carefully for project`s idea. it should solve real problems like blockchain does

Very useful, thank you. The only thing that I am doing in is this purpose, is sticking with particular bounty manager, or a couple of them, that I would be sure that they are leading a non-scam Bounty.

We must understand that there are indeed many ICO scams in reality. I personally think that before investing, we must start by carefully reading the white papers of the ICO project, check the authenticity of the team, the legality of the ICO project, and carefully evaluate the prospects of the ICO project. Help avoid ICO fraud

The tips are spot on and I learned a lot from it
But the issue truly is who are going to follow those tips

Nowadays we have newbies who will go extreme just to get a token
Without proper research work
So there’s less that can be done to persuade people to learn

I think the development team will be the best choice to see the ICO SCAM or not because all of that will be clear.
For example, in the ICO project, there is Vitalik Buterin, so I don't think the ICO will become a SCAM.

For avoiding scams you first check that the projects is creative or it is just a copy paste project and identifying scams is not an easy but it requires time and work so i would like to use crypto and before investment or buying some investment we must check the kyc report and then world on the value and potential of that coin for future.

good idea, Bitcointalk must tighten the rules for every ico that will promote through this forum, there are many scam projects that deceive investors, we realize the crypto world does not have a security agency that guarantees all this