How can I spot Ponzi schemes?

[carlisle1]

I'm pretty new to Bitcoin and the idea of cloud mining seems pretty appealing. However I keep hearing about Ponzi schemes which rely entirely on new members to stay alive.  Besides the blindingly obvious, what are the main signs that a service might be a Ponzi?

I guess, It isn't hard to spot or determine if a certain website is a scam such as cloud mining services etc. once you notice that they are offering a high return or ROI then they are surely is that is the very first sign that a site is a ponzi schemes . and some of them are offering a free capital to start in order to try their fake investment system which they think that can convince people to input more amount .

[olubams]

I'm pretty new to Bitcoin and the idea of cloud mining seems pretty appealing. However I keep hearing about Ponzi schemes which rely entirely on new members to stay alive.  Besides the blindingly obvious, what are the main signs that a service might be a Ponzi?

This is the simplest thing to answer. Just ask yourself one simple question, this thing this people or site is offering, in a sane society, is it even possible and if not bolt but if you are still not convinced, just go type in Google xxxx review and be watchful of the date of the review you are reading and from there you can make a decision whether to part with your money or not. Furthermore, if you do decide to move forward, just know that you have 99% chance that your money is not coming back...

[BlackPanda]

ponzi scheme is a thing that hurt many people. ponzi characteristic feature is that you promised to get huge profits. when you are only required to save capital there. that is the hallmark of Ponzi. we must be able to distinguish what is a ponzi and which are not. benefit from an investment of only about 5%. and Ponzi promised more than it.

[Xenophoto]

There is no safe or legit investment opportunity online, think about it why would the people capable of earning profit want to share their profit with people like us? they are not idiots but they think we are that's why they offer these cloud mining or profitable investment opportunities.

Apparently that's one of the hardest thing for other people to believe. There's no safe opportunity in this world. Every investment have its risk and the more risk an investment has, the more profits it can give you. Ponzi site has overused the words: "safe", "legit", "lifetime", and "investment". Those are total opposites of what they actually offer..

It's not legit since they don't even have any proof as to how do they multiply money in such short period of time. It's not a lifetime opportunity because they only run for a couple of months and run away when they think the time is right. And of course it's not safe since it's a total scam.

[kidoseagle0312]

I'm pretty new to Bitcoin and the idea of cloud mining seems pretty appealing. However I keep hearing about Ponzi schemes which rely entirely on new members to stay alive.  Besides the blindingly obvious, what are the main signs that a service might be a Ponzi?

Well , that's a nice question for a newbie like you here. So you may not be a victim by the Ponzi scheme. It is a kind of business or coins who give any promises  big in return in your small capital in a quick period of time only. And the profit always comes from the capitalist. then in the long run they will runaway.

[gabbie2010]

Well my own method of identifying ponzi scheme is to google search and check reviews of that particular site, their ROI is another factor to be considered, high rate of ROI is clue and indicator of the scheme not lasting.

[favdesu]

How to Spot obvious Scams in Crypto - https://steemit.com/scam/@ash/how-to-spot-obvious-scams-in-crypto

[fravia]

ponzi scheme is a thing that hurt many people. ponzi characteristic feature is that you promised to get huge profits. when you are only required to save capital there. that is the hallmark of Ponzi. we must be able to distinguish what is a ponzi and which are not. benefit from an investment of only about 5%. and Ponzi promised more than it.

well it does not always hurt people because the early investors sometimes make some money out of it, but all in all it is a bad thing and if something sounds too good to be true then it is most probably just a ponzi.

[cengsuwuei]

if you have not money, and you want mining use create cloud mining site and real mining
i think is not profitable, except you can give return to investor very low, but is very low return nothing people interest youre service

[crazydeadmoth]

Ponzi scams are offering very high interest per year, generally if you see some programs offer very high interests, they must be ponzi scams.

[lottery248]

for cloud mining, in a nutshell, if they are offering referral bonus, it is a scam.

for PTC, http://www.scamdetector.info/scam-portrait.html has all the information, but in a nutshell, if the need of investing before cashing out, it is a ponzi.

for investment, if they are refusing to provide the source of income, like how they are to be used, they are likely a form of ponzi.


so on, AFAIK.

[el kaka22]

for cloud mining, in a nutshell, if they are offering referral bonus, it is a scam.

for PTC, http://www.scamdetector.info/scam-portrait.html has all the information, but in a nutshell, if the need of investing before cashing out, it is a ponzi.

for investment, if they are refusing to provide the source of income, like how they are to be used, they are likely a form of ponzi.

In summary, any services which are having improper income generation methods and trying to circulate existing member's money to attract new people should be concluded as ponzi. When are looking at their business model, we can make this conclusion.

Unfortunately ponzis are now coming backed by a known business concepts. Cloud mining must be a good example here.

As spotting obvious ponzi has become as an easy task for everyone, now abusers are coming with covered ponzi. We can realize their actual business only after certain period of time. I am not finding any working idea to identify them other than staying away from them for some time but watching them closely.

[Papski]

its easy to spot
1. affiliate commission
2. daily % earning
3. No risk
4. No real identifcation of the company

[voltesbit777]

I'm pretty new to Bitcoin and the idea of cloud mining seems pretty appealing. However I keep hearing about Ponzi schemes which rely entirely on new members to stay alive.  Besides the blindingly obvious, what are the main signs that a service might be a Ponzi?

For you to find  out the Ponzi scheme sites or coins, they will offered something better or more than you invested unto them. They are also great to make promises to their investor. If there are no proof of evidence that they have a farm of business neither the identity of the owner of the project better stay away from them.

[adzino]

Ponzi offers users things which are too good to be true. So we should be very skeptical about those. They have ridiculous returns, like they will say that they can double your bitcoin in 24 hours. 200% return in 24 hours - something is obviously fishy. All ponzi operators keep their identity secret. They never reveal their true identity.

[lottery248]

for cloud mining, in a nutshell, if they are offering referral bonus, it is a scam.

for PTC, http://www.scamdetector.info/scam-portrait.html has all the information, but in a nutshell, if the need of investing before cashing out, it is a ponzi.

for investment, if they are refusing to provide the source of income, like how they are to be used, they are likely a form of ponzi.

In summary, any services which are having improper income generation methods and trying to circulate existing member's money to attract new people should be concluded as ponzi. When are looking at their business model, we can make this conclusion.

Unfortunately ponzis are now coming backed by a known business concepts. Cloud mining must be a good example here.

As spotting obvious ponzi has become as an easy task for everyone, now abusers are coming with covered ponzi. We can realize their actual business only after certain period of time. I am not finding any working idea to identify them other than staying away from them for some time but watching them closely.

even ponzi is now easily revealed, it is still annoying. as you can see in this site, the referral spam is often popped out. as well, bitcoin bans referral spam but not the scam to prevent moderator abuse.

[Yuhee]

its easy to spot
1. affiliate commission
2. daily % earning
3. No risk
4. No real identifcation of the company

Affiliate commission depending on the % every invite that will invest in the site this is considered as ponzi.
Daily % earning, without a proof that they can sustain their capital to run the site for a long term.
Don't risk if you can't afford to lose.
All identification of some PONZI are all made with lies to entice potential investors.

[Slow death]

It is not so easy to detect ponzi schemes, you have some that you can easily detect, but there are others that you will not suspect that this is ponzi scheme


The first thing you should investigate When you see any website that promises X returns:

- Is there real business?

Second thing you should investigate:

- What is the revenue from this real business?

Then investigate more details such as:

- Real name of site owner

- company headquarters

These rules apply to cloud mining sites,  bitcoin double sites, normal hyip sites that promise 3% per day or that say they have a trade bot



PS: do not be fooled when you read "registered company in the UK"

[fullypak]

Well my own method of identifying ponzi scheme is to google search and check reviews of that particular site, their ROI is another factor to be considered, high rate of ROI is clue and indicator of the scheme not lasting.

No need to worry much on ROI but first look for where they want to invest your money and from that business is it possible to generate so many profits. Because some of the sites paid to people for more than a year before they close the site. So when they are paying if you google it surely you will get a good opinion about these sites but at the end, they will surely close the site. If you think that they do not have any good working business module, then don't invest your money in those sites.

[ultrloa]

its easy to spot
1. affiliate commission
2. daily % earning
3. No risk
4. No real identifcation of the company

Affiliate commission depending on the % every invite that will invest in the site this is considered as ponzi.
Daily % earning, without a proof that they can sustain their capital to run the site for a long term.
Don't risk if you can't afford to lose.
All identification of some PONZI are all made with lies to entice potential investors.

that surely a big indicator to us to point out that the site is a ponzi scheme since how can a legit site earn on that if they give huge affiliate commission on his affiliators? Well thats a big red flag to us and we should be warned to avoid on investing on that sites since its super obvious that they will deceived and scam our money.

And in addition to that we should avoid investing at cloudmining or whatsoever like that so we can save our money from dirty handed person.