A Guide to Avoid Scams

[Games.Bitcoin]

I think we need this stickied.

We need a guide to safety looking for alt coins, knowing what to look for in order to identify a scam.

First rule; Spelling errors.

I am very new to alt-coins, so I'm sure many of you have some advice to give.

[Hiromono]

Some factors:
- Copied website. (There's at least one bitcoin fork that simply copied bitcoin cash's website and did very little modifications on it.)
- Copied coin with little to no modifications from the coin that it was copied from.
- an ether token claiming to be the next Bitcoin.
- Very high premine.
- Too ambitious compared to what they have developed already.
- Trying to "bring blockchain technology" to some industry where it is not useful.

[coinamu]

To avoid scam project here my advice :
1. They have refferal system ( not all but i really hate this thing)
2. Give you big bonnuses for presale like 50 to 100% bonus.
3. Poorly design website
4. New create twitter account ( can be variable but dont focus in this one)
5. Their team unprofesional, and unknown
6. Their mission is to big and seems unreal and cant be happend.

[Harry_no1]

1.A Guide to Avoid Scams
2.Never Give Out Your Email Password
3.Use Strong Passwords (and Secret Questions)
4.Do Not Buy Anything from an Email You Didn't Ask For
5.Watch Out for Job Postings That Look Too Good
6.Do Not Give Out Your Personal Info or Social Security Number
7.Learn to Use a Modern Browser's Security Features
8.Ignore Web Site Popups Saying You Have a Virus

[Jarx]

- Copied coin with little to no modifications from the coin that it was copied from.
- an ether token claiming to be the next Bitcoin.
- Very high premine.
- Too ambitious compared to what they have developed already.
- Trying to "bring blockchain technology" to some industry where it is not useful.

You just presented us the average modern coin like Ripple, Dentacoin or Dogecoin. 

A coins with a massive, just monstrous capitalization but no use of that coins anywhere except speculation.

[GFE]

To avoid scam project here my advice :
1. They have refferal system ( not all but i really hate this thing)
2. Give you big bonnuses for presale like 50 to 100% bonus.
3. Poorly design website
4. New create twitter account ( can be variable but dont focus in this one)
5. Their team unprofesional, and unknown
6. Their mission is to big and seems unreal and cant be happend.

I think that unknown team of developers could be identification of high risk project. Usually I check developers team and its previous projects

[IMAR]

Thank you for this thread. Your comments is helpful specially for beginners who wanted to invest on ICO's. Appreciate the feedback on this thread.

[ilnick]

You just presented us the average modern coin like Ripple, Dentacoin or Dogecoin.  

A coins with a massive, just monstrous capitalization but no use of that coins anywhere except speculation.

Yes, these coins, with the exception of speculation, do not have value.

And we, the beginners, should study criptocurrencies carefully. Do not rely on someone else's opinion - You can be deceived. Later, I hope, we will distinguish at first glance the shit from the nuts.

[Valzador]

I think we need this stickied.

We need a guide to safety looking for alt coins, knowing what to look for in order to identify a scam.

First rule; Spelling errors.

I am very new to alt-coins, so I'm sure many of you have some advice to give.

I think you should create a thread in Scam Accusations if you want a serious discussion. little tips from me, use escrow.

[shnyrutti]

I think we need this stickied.

We need a guide to safety looking for alt coins, knowing what to look for in order to identify a scam.

First rule; Spelling errors.

I am very new to alt-coins, so I'm sure many of you have some advice to give.

I agree to you getting this stickied can help everyone here to be less prone to scam and save the time rather than doing scam and wasting their time.
Especially to new comers.

[coinminter22]

Some factors:
- Copied website. (There's at least one bitcoin fork that simply copied bitcoin cash's website and did very little modifications on it.)
- Copied coin with little to no modifications from the coin that it was copied from.
- an ether token claiming to be the next Bitcoin.
- Very high premine.
- Too ambitious compared to what they have developed already.
- Trying to "bring blockchain technology" to some industry where it is not useful.

Exactly these things bro!

[Games.Bitcoin]

It's hard for me to tell what is realistic or not when an ICO promises something... Technology is growing at an insane rate rn, so how do we tell what is realistic or not?

[MartoValenti]

In my view the best way to avoid scams is by research. If you make a good reserach about ICO, it's team. Are they competent, are they have a good idea that is realistic, then it is probably not a scam.
For me the most important thing is not is the project goooood, but is the project realistic and could it be done by the current team and current technologies.

[pri3oner]

I've noticed some aspects that indicate scams like:
- fake team. they can put real photos but the description will be a lie. so check photos.
- free site hosting. especially w/out security in the left of URL line
- silly roadmap or its absence at all
- way too much nice words w/out any explanation of the project
if u see on of this it's the reason to check it asap.

[hesham51]

I think we have to add one point regarding the team, they should be seen in video as episodes or in the meetups.
Team's profile must be updated in LinkedIn

[manlyxman]

I think we have to add one point regarding the team, they should be seen in video as episodes or in the meetups.
Team's profile must be updated in LinkedIn

Agreed. You need to be able to look them up on most social media as well and see their past projects. This sounds like doxing but at least you'll know they're legit.

[nizamcc]

Below is a list that you should always watch out for, before buying tokens from an ICO:

- Clone of an already established (old) project
- Total coin supply (the ones with fewer supply - between a million and 100 million are good to invest)
 - Always check for the total amount that they try to gather and compare it with their project - DO THEY REALLY NEED THAT (HUGE) AMOUNT FOR THEIR PROJECT TO BE SUCCESSFUL?
- Check from sources and compare the information they give and see if that amount is sufficient (think as if you are the developer/manager of the project yourself)
- Hard Cap is a must because projects with no hard caps are just interested in gathering money and most of them probably run away (best example for this was my worst investment - Confido).

[BitNaija]

It is not as easy as one will think to identify a scam. It is the very amateurs that are easily caught with the numerous points mentioned.
There are very clever Dev. Teams that only identified after they had run away.

[LeroyBro]

It is not as easy as one will think to identify a scam. It is the very amateurs that are easily caught with the numerous points mentioned.
There are very clever Dev. Teams that only identified after they had run away.

Yet, in hindsight, the signs are clear. I guess you learn from experience.

[1 currency now]

I think we need this stickied.

We need a guide to safety looking for alt coins, knowing what to look for in order to identify a scam.

First rule; Spelling errors.

I am very new to alt-coins, so I'm sure many of you have some advice to give.

There isn't any point to having this stickied because any coin that is not Bitcoin is likely to scam.