Bitcoin Forum

Not sure where to bring this up, questionable activities going on with ICO Bench.

Unsure what is happening, 5 months now, there are rumours floating around, that ICOBench is currently under SEC investigation - section 17b violation? - I was contacted when I attempted to question what is going on by one of the team/reviewers in private, who stated the platform was under investigation and that he had been contacted based on one of his reviews, to understand how ICOBench functions.

Tried to address my concerns with a lead team member/admin Dr. Rex Yeap profile - http://ye.sg/bio - @dryeap telegram

https://ibb.co/hZTk5x8

I can't seem to find much information on him, but he appeared to be the only authoritative person in ICOBenchOfficial - https://t.me/icobench.
When questioning on the funds paid to ICOBench for KYC which has not responded to an email, he was very defensive/deflective.

At the moment it appears many of us are affected - supplied KYC documents, out of pocket for services not honoured, complete lack of transparency and movement.

Advise caution.

Not really shocked at all ... I am seeing clearly now that these guys have been running a scam operation taking money to promote and write reviews since the ICO run of 2017. Now the gravy train has run out of steam or the SEC is on their backs.

Icobench "experts" ? What a joke! The big question is what exactly makes them "experts" in the eyes of icobench? I don't see them in any significant blockchain expo or conference showcasing their weight the last time I looked. If you take a closer look at their profiles there is nothing really "expert" about them. Just a bunch of nobodies offering "expert" 5 star approvals and fomo chat at a price. I wonder ... what happens if you don't pay up when they come knocking.

I don't think you are going to get any answers from the lead team member/admin Dr. Yeap let alone any of the others over there. Whatever's left of them are trying to bail water out of sinking ship so they can save themselves.

Take down the ICOBenchOffical website and any chat forums I say before more people get stung and left out of pocket.

Check out these links:

1. https://hackernoon.com/ico-bench-exposed-7d99335a63b3

2. https://hackernoon.com/who-is-behind-ico-bench-1fb7afb8e7e7

Just another review site sinking only this time it took longer.

I think you should move this thread to here:

Service Discussion (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=85.0)


I didn't know about these rumors and I don't understand about US laws, but does the US SEC have that power?

About ICO Bench, I never trusted them and I never use this site

SO ... ICOBench states they list top experts and influences in the crypto world?

I don't know if they have 404'd but is looks like the main website is down since the chat openned up about them.

Well if the rumors are are true then it looks like ICOBench team, experts and all involved may face the same heat as ICOratings.

Check this link...
 
https://www.coindesk.com/sec-settles-with-ico-service-over-undisclosed-payments-for-positive-reviews

I agree I don't trust any of those people in ICOBench when it looks like they start to deflect on real questions about funds paid for KYC. What makes them the authority to KYC anything for that matter? This is where it all starts down the rabbit hole .

What's the bet the admin team are trying to cover up?

I think this discussion should move to a larger group as this will surely blowup as things keep moving in this direction.

Website is definitely dead. Not sure if they haven't paid the bills for the site but I suspect they felt the heat around the corner and 404'd with shutdown.

Just posted a new thread to warn everyone about ICObench.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5261649.0

The website didn't load for me anymore. This is the code.


And for their LinkedIn account, they've been last active since 7 months ago.

The website's domain name has expired already


https://whois.domaintools.com/icobench.com

But it seems it has been updated, but most likely it will not be renewed because of the heat or pressures. Depending on where it comes, maybe from SEC or from crypto enthusiast. And SEC has been really putting a lot of crypto related platforms on their radar and taking them down slowly one by one if they see that it has violated their regulatory policies.

Ever since I've seen that ICOBench has this "premium listing" on their websites for ICO projects to ba shown more I know that they will have some kind of bias going on their website since you won't really see any kind of fairness when this happen. Way back 2019 as well SEC also charged them on having paid reviews in their website which just shows how dirty they are in showing their viewers the ratings they have in their website are not tainted in any form. Also if they are still under investigation with the SEC I don't think it is good time for you to contact them right now since you really don't want to be connected with ICOBench when the authorities are under their noses.

Its already dead which is understandable considering that ICO market is pretty much dead to me and theres no reason for them to continue.

Also they have been involved  in various issues in the past on getting up some money out of those shady projects to be listed which would result

into misleading out investors to fund or support scammy projects which is really disgrace.

The modus operandi of ICO Bench was always questionable! During the height of the ICO market, they have made millions and money was the only thing that mattered to them over the quality and practicality of a project. They have promoted scam projects throughout their lifespan without looking into the credibility of any project. If you had few ETHs to spare, ICOBench was always ready to provide the promotions you want. I am glad they are now being investigated by SEC. Justice delayed by not denied, it seems!

But their website is down because of their domain has expired as noted by Yaunfitda already. They are probably trying to have a different name as ICObench has lost credibility big time. 

Agreed, It was always a racket, some of them appear to have done very well out of it, but it has been ongoing for years at this point.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5065117
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5258372

They are dead for sure together with their main content and reviews which is the ICO. There is no place left for them anymore and they don't want to create something for the continuation of their service.
They chose to leave.

I also paid for a team kyc for one of my projects and they have not honored it. And now they are ignoring my messages for a refund.