Are ICOs scam?

[MiBambino]

Holy shitballs this is exactly what I've been talking about actually, so many of my friends keep sending me websites and stuff for new ICO's yet they don't even bother to check if the team is actually doing anything. The process you describe in that picture would honestly barely take 1 day, and you can literally make half a million dollar in 1 week doing this Most people won't fall into your trap, but some would. It's like sending out an email about being a nigerian prince and wanting to share your millions with them, provided they pay you 10K to cover expenses. if you send it to 100.000 email addresses, I'm sure 50 of them will send you the money, and boom you just made half a million bucks

Indeed. I once wanted to launch an ICO for a coin project with a client of mine, i got hold of a DEV immediately during negotiation he wanted 30% of the ICO that would be gathered.... The problems lies that ICO's are so easy to set up and you will always have suckers putting money into it. Even a retard could set up a coin with an ICO and walk away with free BTC's, it has become breeding ground for fraudsters. Just see how many pop every week hundreds....

Exactly, we're entering a completely new world, which will benefit those who want to take advantage of the less clever

Its a chain of effects , if newbies took the time to read the forums they wouldn't loose their money.

Or just read the wp and google the teammembers and the tech they're gonna use. Took me about 1 hour of research to decide to invest in Change, 1.5 hours to decide to invest in Datum, and about the same for investing in Red Pulse

[Ging]

i think that depends on the quality of the developers and their experience in the feild of cryptocurrencies aswell as the quality of the ico idea.

[Omega Weapon]

Well, from my point of view, a great deal of ICOs are questionable. I'm not saying that they are a scam, but they look shady nonetheless.
It's relatively easy to distinguish a SCAM ICO from the rest if you have a trained eye and some experience. Shady team, lack of information in the whitepaper, even the website itself can tell you to stay away from that ICO.

On the other hand, a great deal of ICOs performs rather poorly. Only a few of them manage to raise sufficient funds or even reach 100% of their intended goal. Maybe it boils down to marketing, and which ICO sparked the most hype.

I even made a super simple infographic after looking at this week's data, take a look:


From this chart, only 1 managed to raise most of its funds.
5 of them performed really poorly
and 6 of them didn't even bother to provide information on how much they've raised, so they might be scam, perhaps.

How could be a trained eye shows? Anyway,I'm not particular with ICO but I know that this isn't a scam because if you try to look on things,several people are into ICO. This means ICO has a beneficial effect towards investors or other entrepreneurs using this altcoin in cryptocurrency. We are already aware of scammers but it's difficult still to pint out which one/ones. Consequently,ICO is not a scam but try to contribute an evidence if you have experienced a scammer of ICO.

He explained that in his post, a shady ico is easy to distinguish, if it has devs no one has heard about or even worst if the images are fake and the devs are not even real, if the website looks unprofessional then that is very telling if they cannot create a website how are they going to create a good product, check the ANN thread as well many other members of the forum will check it and will be able to tell if the coin has merits or if it is just a copy of another project that already exists.

[MiBambino]

Well, from my point of view, a great deal of ICOs are questionable. I'm not saying that they are a scam, but they look shady nonetheless.
It's relatively easy to distinguish a SCAM ICO from the rest if you have a trained eye and some experience. Shady team, lack of information in the whitepaper, even the website itself can tell you to stay away from that ICO.

On the other hand, a great deal of ICOs performs rather poorly. Only a few of them manage to raise sufficient funds or even reach 100% of their intended goal. Maybe it boils down to marketing, and which ICO sparked the most hype.

I even made a super simple infographic after looking at this week's data, take a look:


From this chart, only 1 managed to raise most of its funds.
5 of them performed really poorly
and 6 of them didn't even bother to provide information on how much they've raised, so they might be scam, perhaps.

How could be a trained eye shows? Anyway,I'm not particular with ICO but I know that this isn't a scam because if you try to look on things,several people are into ICO. This means ICO has a beneficial effect towards investors or other entrepreneurs using this altcoin in cryptocurrency. We are already aware of scammers but it's difficult still to pint out which one/ones. Consequently,ICO is not a scam but try to contribute an evidence if you have experienced a scammer of ICO.

He explained that in his post, a shady ico is easy to distinguish, if it has devs no one has heard about or even worst if the images are fake and the devs are not even real, if the website looks unprofessional then that is very telling if they cannot create a website how are they going to create a good product, check the ANN thread as well many other members of the forum will check it and will be able to tell if the coin has merits or if it is just a copy of another project that already exists.

this picture should go viral in the cryptoworld

[8rch7]

I just joined an ICO, is there any possibilities that I will be scammed. They have just collected $5-10 million.

You need to be diligent enough to check on the ICO and the team. you can't just base on the collected sales to justify if they are real or scam. So do your homework to protect yourself.

Yeah, check the whitepaper, adjust between the planning (road map) in the whitepaper with the progress of progress that has been passed if it is appropriate. If not appropriate, check to the developer team why the planning is not appropriate. If there is a response with a reasonable reason, yes chances are not yet scam.
Just a personal opinion

[gtinvest]

Some are, some aren't. You just have to pick the few good ones. We're talking about investing here; so make sure to do a lot of research before sending up your bitcoin or ethereum to the ICO's address. I won't list the things what you need to find in an ICO to minimize the risks of being scammed because I've posted it in these boards a numerous times already. Read through past similar threads to find decent answers.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1478633.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1717726.0

I have the same question. But if they wew scams then so many ICOs would be out in the market. Would like to hear from senior members.

There are actually so much ICOs right now. And the number are still increasing.

Thank you bru for sharing the posted. Now i know what i need to minimize the risk of being scam.
I'll ask later then after i read it 

[elewton]

I think that 90% ICOs have problems. There are many ideas use to ICO, but most of devs can't execute what they say. Here the link you can read to protect yourself before investment:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2243157.0

[bitdos]

What's the difference between ICO and seeds investment in standard startup? You have a paper, a team a.d a roadmap to evaluate it....

I think that 90% ICOs have problems. There are many ideas use to ICO, but most of devs can't execute what they say. Here the link you can read to protect yourself before investment:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2243157.0

[babsjoe]

ICO are not suppose to be scam! If an ICO turn out to be scam, that means the issuer is a fraud and he should be prosecuted! ICO are campaign by new start up looking for funding l. The traditional funding system might not want to take a risk with new start up but angel investor will! That is why we have many of those lookng for funding rushing to bitcoin market where people's identity are not know until you dig it out!

[MiBambino]

yes it is. i have invested alot of ico and everytime when it launch the price is below ico price. every uckingg time.

Time to stop now then. You loosing money . Best you invest in established coins instead of falling for the fraudsters.

true. i no longer plan to invest in any ico again.

Invest only for the long term, it's unwise to invest hoping for quick profits, if you invest in an ICO you truly believe in, you should look at the lower price as a chance to buy in more

[Latrix]

There are sure scams out there. but remember to research and due diligent checks for our own safety. And sure there are promising ICOs that are good for investments.

[bayong]

There are sure scams out there. but remember to research and due diligent checks for our own safety. And sure there are promising ICOs that are good for investments.

Yes that's true! not all ICOs are legit and paying especially this year that has more ICOs and has more airdrops. For me it is hard to find out of which one are true and scam just make sure to research their background and team behind the project.

[alfs75]

I just joined an ICO, is there any possibilities that I will be scammed. They have just collected $5-10 million.

in my own opinion yes its true!that some ICO is scam,but not all.first we must identify if this is legit we used our own instinct,we must follow the
basic fundamental analysis,we must been become observant & deligent ,some ICO is fraud they only used for their personal interest, so we must be careful because our effort will turn to nothing.

[Defloration]

I advise you to do a lot of research before you invest into an ICO. All ICO aren't scam.

[mark.space]

I just joined an ICO, is there any possibilities that I will be scammed. They have just collected $5-10 million.

If you are looking to get into some ICO's:
1) Check out the site and the quality of the site. Does it look scamish? What the token is created for, timeline, team members and social proof.
2) Take a look at the white paper of a project. In the white paper, look for information like, prototypes, team members and the idea of the token. If the team does a good job at explaining the idea then you should have a understanding of what purpose the token was created for and why it is a great investment.
3) Watch the video on the site.
4) Research the CEO especially if they have social clout or a famous person on the team. It's best to find out what you can about the CEO as far as the background of the person and maybe even connections they have, especially if you like the idea. Check site's like Linkedin, Twitter and stuff like that for info about the CEO and maybe other crew members if you feel the need to dig further. Researching team credibility is important.
5) There is a site called picolo research that gives reviews on ICO's. They'll tell you if something is risky or not.

Hope you enjoyed the info!)

[Pab]

Yes looks like many of them are developed just for stealing money purpose
It is good to check do devs really exist,if yes it will be not so big problem to find informations about them
Check are thay are telling truth,if you find just one lie,stay away,next lies will follow

[Sarastiche]

With global regulations and rules for ICO the challenges of scammers will be minimal,We have alot of ICO  coming up daily, alot are scams,thats why you have to ensure you research before investing

[MintCondition]

I just joined an ICO, is there any possibilities that I will be scammed. They have just collected $5-10 million.

in my own opinion yes its true!that some ICO is scam,but not all.first we must identify if this is legit we used our own instinct,we must follow the
basic fundamental analysis,we must been become observant & deligent ,some ICO is fraud they only used for their personal interest, so we must be careful because our effort will turn to nothing.

Better always do some analysis and research,not all ICo that fails is a scam, and not all who'd success can't be considered scam, i mean later on after ico some projects didn't update and have no progress so better weight thing always.

[imstillthebest]

I just joined an ICO, is there any possibilities that I will be scammed. They have just collected $5-10 million.

yes there a posibility that an ico would turn into scam and wont guarantee that they would pay you after the ico has been finished. and i see there were more ico these days and mostly they are scamming users here and also outside of the forum who invested on them although theres no other way to combat them or block them , so i  suggest that youd better check their infos before joining them or its better to just avoid them.

[Al Amin]

Not all ico is a scam. Because there are also ico that failed due to certain problems. Therefore, you should be careful in investing in ico, meticulous in reading and plans made by the developer