How to spot a scam?

[Dimmadont]

I hope I picked the right subforum to put it in
Well I mean the obvious red flags are when there is no information about the coin, no future plans, etc. Even a noob like me knows that much.

An example, someone announced a coin called ''JFK coin''. See topic here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2233654.0
Red flags were there, so I asked him the purpose of the coin, and the future he saw with it. Basically said that I thought it was a scam. He deleted that comment, I figured I’d ask nicer and make him realize people need that kind of info otherwise it looks scammy. So again I asked him: ''What is the purpose of your coin? What do you see for it in the future? People want this kind of information before they invest into something, so telling us would be beneficial to you.''

Aaaaaaand... he deleted that comment as well. Of course he did .


But nevermind that. What are some other red flags for scams, that might not be as obvious to a newbie?

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[salterious]

Check the linkedin links if they are present. Sometimes those go to people who have absolutely zero information on linkedin. Thing is only a handful of people click those so deductively by doing your own due diligence you

will see the patterns of scams and be able to weed them out. All by trusting your process you will eliminate scams, important thing here is to have a process.

[Swinging Phallus]

Check the linkedin links if they are present. Sometimes those go to people who have absolutely zero information on linkedin. Thing is only a handful of people click those so deductively by doing your own due diligence you

will see the patterns of scams and be able to weed them out. All by trusting your process you will eliminate scams, important thing here is to have a process.

This, If the team is hidden that's a bad sign. Always check authenticity of the devs.
Another thing is to look at an explorer if possible - if the coin is premined or the owners are holding 50%+ thats a bad sign.
White paper is a big deal, If the white paper consist of less then 4 pages with mainly visual diagrams, that's a horrid sign. It's always best to read these.
Design is a big tip off too, if it looks like it was made in MS Paint in 1 hour you can tell that if they hadnt put much thought in the design they probably would do the same with the project.

The best tip off out of all is what I just quoted. Check for devs background. If there is no info on devs then tread carefully. If there is,  make sure that they are who they say they are. I've seen people linking to fake linkedin accounts.

[Hallmader]

There are no clear cut ways to know the scams right now because the projects are also raising their level of development even if these are scams. The good thing to do right now is to really ask them a lot of questions, and constantly. Let them answer all your inquiries and concerns. Legit projects are very responsive.

[v3liana]

its hard but there is several thing you could do is check the whitepaper, check the website, look into their social media whether they do a official campaign such as meetup. well its hard but this thing might help you to find whether its scam or not

[TheUltraElite]

Recognizing a scam ICO is tough according to me.

If you talk about the ICO getting good investments and the success of the ICO then it is a different thing. But an ICO turning scam later on can be tough to judge in the early stages.

Fake team members and fake profile pics - immediate red flag.
Newbie accounts making daunting tasks seem very easy by using blockchain technology - definitely a red flag. If there is a Whitepaper but with no clear goals defined or the whitepaper makes no sense at all - thats a red flag.

If their token seems similar to some other token which was successful in near past then there is a chance they may be scam.

However it is very tough to judge whether the ICO is a scam or not and you should do your own research before investing in any.

[juicejoyce]

It is not so easy to spot a scam since it is a high risk investment actually, but I think you can do much work to see the background or experience of the dev team since the dev team is the most important factor in my opinion.

[Siren]

Check the linkedin links if they are present. Sometimes those go to people who have absolutely zero information on linkedin. Thing is only a handful of people click those so deductively by doing your own due diligence you

will see the patterns of scams and be able to weed them out. All by trusting your process you will eliminate scams, important thing here is to have a process.

I always look at the team behind. So the first place I try if they have linkedin and try to see if they have accomplished something and if the resume speak for itself. And look for signs that this account was just put up to really look good so that they can attract investors. And they have then try to look at the history of their past work. If you are not quite impress then do not invest on them. Check also whitepapers. A poorly written with a lot of grammar mistakes is also a good indication. They should have hired professional writers and proof readers before releasing it. If it looks like a 11 year old boy wrote it for them, then its another red flag.

[thepo1m]

I think the question to ask is how not to be a victim of a scam, which I believe greed is the cause of most of these scam related issues is greed on the part of developers and investors

[kryptqnick]

I hope I picked the right subforum to put it in
Well I mean the obvious red flags are when there is no information about the coin, no future plans, etc. Even a noob like me knows that much.

An example, someone announced a coin called ''JFK coin''. See topic here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2233654.0
Red flags were there, so I asked him the purpose of the coin, and the future he saw with it. Basically said that I thought it was a scam. He deleted that comment, I figured I’d ask nicer and make him realize people need that kind of info otherwise it looks scammy. So again I asked him: ''What is the purpose of your coin? What do you see for it in the future? People want this kind of information before they invest into something, so telling us would be beneficial to you.''

Aaaaaaand... he deleted that comment as well. Of course he did .


But nevermind that. What are some other red flags for scams, that might not be as obvious to a newbie?

I think that unfortunately it's hard to determine scam in advance. I mean, it's quite easy to tell good and bad projects apart mostly, but bad projects are not surely those trying to scam you. Anyway, I would say that ICO which is to be considered seriously must have its website with explanation of the project and dev team with info about every member of it. It is also very good if ICO is already related to some really existing project like a casino or some company.. The quality of adverts, site's design, companies and dev team actually define whether the project has chances not to be a scam and to actualize itself.

[Morphling]

I think it's not easy to spot a scam, for many good projects are regarded as scams also, like ethereum and antshares, but if we know what the team is and what are they doing, may we judge a project scam or not

[Jalum]

There are no clear cut ways to know the scams right now because the projects are also raising their level of development even if these are scams. The good thing to do right now is to really ask them a lot of questions, and constantly. Let them answer all your inquiries and concerns. Legit projects are very responsive.

View their YouTube videos and make sure that there is nothing suspicious going on in their projects. If there is then do not invest.