Differentiate between an ICO and a scam

[alexcopper]

I know this may not always apply to all ico's, but i like to look for existing platforms. If they have an already working idea/platform, then it's in their best interest to make it work.
An ex. of this is unikoingold ico and the esports betting platform unikrn.

[toandanchucong]

project scam is have first echange dev dump and never come back

ICO have plan, clear roadmap ,more information

so easy to you can know Different between an ICO and a scam.

[CryptoFinn]

actual products and services instead of promised and imaginary ones?

[ipanks]

ICO is the abbreviation of Initial Coin Offering. It means that someone offers investors some units of a new cryptocurrency or crypto-token in exchange against cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Since 2013 ICOs are often used to fund the development of new cryptocurrencies. The pre-created token can be easily sold and traded on all cryptocurrency exchanges if there is demand for them.

Advantages of ICO:
1. Non-lengthy listing process
2. Low listing cost and yearly maintenance
3. Access to global liquidity

Disadvantages of ICO:
1. No due diligence process
2. Lack of regulations

There are many good ICOs out there.
Its an excellent platform for those who are holding a million dollar idea to expand and execute with funds yet improving the economy with investors. However what its lacking is the due diligence we see in IPOs. New developed platforms definitely lures scammers into the game, but with caution/practice due diligence like finding out more about the whitepaper, development team, address of the company, analyzing the project will lower the risk of being victimized.

Tips to identify and analyse a good ICO:

1. Whitepaper
Read up the whitepaper, spot for any discrepancies or any thing that doesn't make sense. Identify the key idea of the project and analyse if the idea will work out or make any sense.

2. Founder Team
Do some research on the founder team members, spot if their names are short names like "Tony" compared to "Tony Jim Rodriguez". Many ICO scams out there uses very short names.

3. Contact and Address
Practice due diligence, research and look through the contact numbers and address of the project, check if they are using a legit one.

4. Read up forums
Usually scams might be identified by other victims, do a thorough research on the project you wish to participate. You might find some tell tail signs of a scam.

All in all, practice due diligence to avoid being the next victim.

thank you op for sharing this to us. i am impress with the four tips you give and i am fully agree with the tips. there is too many ico now which want raise investor money and they are working hard with it but for a good ico they are really taking serious with their project so they don't want to make their investor disappointed.

and that tips is really useful to us which want to join into ico so we can prevent from the scam ico. beside that, we can know how to choose the good ico and avoid the scam, we can read the details from their whitepaper so we have understand their project in future.

[nelsledma]

A failing ICO might cause the team to bail with the cash, but that was not there initial plan, just the way they recoup the lost funds that they used to build the ICO. There are hundreds of things that scream scam and many times they are still off target.

[Coldsnap4457]

I know this may not always apply to all ico's, but i like to look for existing platforms. If they have an already working idea/platform, then it's in their best interest to make it work.
An ex. of this is unikoingold ico and the esports betting platform unikrn.

Agreed. They should have some working software, such as Stockbet

[abcd7]

nice advise my mate  we agree 100%

[ritsel02]

Nowadays it's hard to trust right a head in terms of engaging to a certain business,work or ICO.We must be guided on how to identify which is legit and scam. This post is really relevant for me and for everyone who wants to know if the ICO's they're joining is legit or scam. It's my first time to join an ICO and I'm searching for some tips to determine a legit ICO. I'm glad I've found this article. Thanks for sharing.

[matico]

Regulation will kill any crypto not to talk of ICO! I think it high time crypto community solve it's own problem! We could decentralize oversight and due process on these ICOs, What I 'm saying in essence is that we could create tech that will serve as an audit with no third party! Smart contract is a case in point!

[hanlieuiypm9832]

I think the difference between the ICO and scam is whether you have do some deep research and also some good luck.

[kaeluxdeuz]

It's all important when it comes to Investing in any ICO. There are so many scams around these days, 90% of ICO's could be scams or frauds. Must be very cautious these days indeed!
When looking into an ICO, you must check the website, the whitepaper which would be found on the website of course, look at the roadmap and see if that is achievable, if the goals are realistic.
It's important to look into the board of members and the advisors too, they could be a bunch of random people found on google. You need to make sure their profiles are legit and have some background and experience in the field.
Finally check forums and the official telegram group of the ICO, you might find some information there that might interest you or persuade you to invest in or not.
Good luck on your search!

[artmen007]

thanks for the info. Very useful.

BUT I don't really like ICO there's a lot of minuses
- running into a Scam
tokens some projects pay Toko through the floor, and more
- sometimes I wait for the shot after ICO price and it goes down

I think it is better to invest in projects where there is at least some sort of product

[t3hpwnographer]

In general I try to avoid ICOs. It's a shame really because I'm sure there are some that actually mean well, but most of what I see involves people never receiving their coins, coins being drastically under the ICO value, and/or the ICO team straight up vanishing. It's pretty hard to judge anything posted on here because I just feel like most of the positive comments are from phony accounts so I tend to believe the negative ones more (though there are plenty of obvious spam attacks, too).

Does anyone have an ICO success story?

[FrankNoland]

The information that you just provided is so accurate and understandable. I personally consider it to be informative since it provides us investors with aspects to look for before we can actually participate in ICOs so that we can avoid getting scammed. Its sad how some ICOs scam investors their hardly earned money and I hope they also find it informative for the sake of their own investments.

[siddartha1492]

These are indeed some very useful tips to get early hints of scammy projects. Usually the cover letter tells everything, and of course more details reveal if you read the whitepaper. And if we follow the linkedin/FB links of the team members, then also we get a lot of info. For example scammy ICOs won't have working links of team members, or their team members won't have profile pics etc. But of course, these methods are still not enough. Scammers are always a foot ahead of most of us.

[Red Lanterns]

Thanks for the tips. Quite a good note especially for newbies. However, sometimes even at first good looking ICO that corresponds all the criteria can occur a scam.

[RNGfight]

Yes, I agree with you. I think that Whitepaper and Founder Team are the main factors that determine the quality of the project. Generally, I decide whether I should invest in this ICO by judging these two factors.

[JohnBitCo]

ICO is the abbreviation of Initial Coin Offering. It means that someone offers investors some units of a new cryptocurrency or crypto-token in exchange against cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Since 2013 ICOs are often used to fund the development of new cryptocurrencies. The pre-created token can be easily sold and traded on all cryptocurrency exchanges if there is demand for them.

Advantages of ICO:
1. Non-lengthy listing process
2. Low listing cost and yearly maintenance
3. Access to global liquidity

Disadvantages of ICO:
1. No due diligence process
2. Lack of regulations

There are many good ICOs out there.
Its an excellent platform for those who are holding a million dollar idea to expand and execute with funds yet improving the economy with investors. However what its lacking is the due diligence we see in IPOs. New developed platforms definitely lures scammers into the game, but with caution/practice due diligence like finding out more about the whitepaper, development team, address of the company, analyzing the project will lower the risk of being victimized.

Tips to identify and analyse a good ICO:

1. Whitepaper
Read up the whitepaper, spot for any discrepancies or any thing that doesn't make sense. Identify the key idea of the project and analyse if the idea will work out or make any sense.

2. Founder Team
Do some research on the founder team members, spot if their names are short names like "Tony" compared to "Tony Jim Rodriguez". Many ICO scams out there uses very short names.

3. Contact and Address
Practice due diligence, research and look through the contact numbers and address of the project, check if they are using a legit one.

4. Read up forums
Usually scams might be identified by other victims, do a thorough research on the project you wish to participate. You might find some tell tail signs of a scam.

All in all, practice due diligence to avoid being the next victim.

No way to know. Even the most reliable information can be suspect. There is no telling at all sometimes. Many times it is not even a scam but a poorly handled launch. Bad marketing, bad rumors, or whatever can ruin a new launch. Bad thing is that even the legit ICO seems to be scam as there are so many scam ico these days and very few are real and good ones.

[MacRohard]

ICO is the abbreviation of Initial Coin Offering. It means that someone offers investors some units of a new cryptocurrency or crypto-token in exchange against cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Since 2013 ICOs are often used to fund the development of new cryptocurrencies. The pre-created token can be easily sold and traded on all cryptocurrency exchanges if there is demand for them.

Advantages of ICO:
1. Non-lengthy listing process
2. Low listing cost and yearly maintenance
3. Access to global liquidity

Disadvantages of ICO:
1. No due diligence process
2. Lack of regulations

There are many good ICOs out there.
Its an excellent platform for those who are holding a million dollar idea to expand and execute with funds yet improving the economy with investors. However what its lacking is the due diligence we see in IPOs. New developed platforms definitely lures scammers into the game, but with caution/practice due diligence like finding out more about the whitepaper, development team, address of the company, analyzing the project will lower the risk of being victimized.

Tips to identify and analyse a good ICO:

1. Whitepaper
Read up the whitepaper, spot for any discrepancies or any thing that doesn't make sense. Identify the key idea of the project and analyse if the idea will work out or make any sense.

2. Founder Team
Do some research on the founder team members, spot if their names are short names like "Tony" compared to "Tony Jim Rodriguez". Many ICO scams out there uses very short names.

3. Contact and Address
Practice due diligence, research and look through the contact numbers and address of the project, check if they are using a legit one.

4. Read up forums
Usually scams might be identified by other victims, do a thorough research on the project you wish to participate. You might find some tell tail signs of a scam.

All in all, practice due diligence to avoid being the next victim.

No way to know. Even the most reliable information can be suspect. There is no telling at all sometimes. Many times it is not even a scam but a poorly handled launch. Bad marketing, bad rumors, or whatever can ruin a new launch. Bad thing is that even the legit ICO seems to be scam as there are so many scam ico these days and very few are real and good ones.

To be honest, it is hard to choose the right ICO to invest. There are many factors effect in a succesful project. the devs team can't control all of them. However, let research carefully with his advice, you can increase success's rate.

[danmoris]

ICO is the abbreviation of Initial Coin Offering. It means that someone offers investors some units of a new cryptocurrency or crypto-token in exchange against cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Since 2013 ICOs are often used to fund the development of new cryptocurrencies. The pre-created token can be easily sold and traded on all cryptocurrency exchanges if there is demand for them.

Advantages of ICO:
1. Non-lengthy listing process
2. Low listing cost and yearly maintenance
3. Access to global liquidity

Disadvantages of ICO:
1. No due diligence process
2. Lack of regulations

There are many good ICOs out there.
Its an excellent platform for those who are holding a million dollar idea to expand and execute with funds yet improving the economy with investors. However what its lacking is the due diligence we see in IPOs. New developed platforms definitely lures scammers into the game, but with caution/practice due diligence like finding out more about the whitepaper, development team, address of the company, analyzing the project will lower the risk of being victimized.

Tips to identify and analyse a good ICO:

1. Whitepaper
Read up the whitepaper, spot for any discrepancies or any thing that doesn't make sense. Identify the key idea of the project and analyse if the idea will work out or make any sense.

2. Founder Team
Do some research on the founder team members, spot if their names are short names like "Tony" compared to "Tony Jim Rodriguez". Many ICO scams out there uses very short names.

3. Contact and Address
Practice due diligence, research and look through the contact numbers and address of the project, check if they are using a legit one.

4. Read up forums
Usually scams might be identified by other victims, do a thorough research on the project you wish to participate. You might find some tell tail signs of a scam.

All in all, practice due diligence to avoid being the next victim.

You will need to determine the legitimacy of the ICO, by checking the site, vision and mission, check the team and what they plan to do to support this ICO.
But most of the comments you already stated is enough.