How to known a Scam ICO

[jolajola]

Thank you for this post. It helped out a lot to the beginners like me to know the kind of scams

[quanghuy1107]

You can check website and team development. Check google and read whitepaper

[will.mathew.btc]

Please tell me how to known a scam ICO to protect myself
BTW now i should buy ICO coin or buy coin on exchange?
Thank so much

99,9% ICO's are scam's
How to know its real deal?
1. The Developers Are Anonymous
2. The Token Does Not Have a Clear Use Case
3. The Whitepaper Sets Unrealistic Goals
Don't waste ur time in ICO's

i agrree with this kind sir

[ololesia]

Based on my experience, I’ve singled out several criteria which speak for a serious ICO, which is to be successful. These are:
   1. White Paper of good quality: a well-structured document with all the necessary information given in a comprehensible way.
   2. Professional team: people with rich experience whose short bio I can read on the website and in the WP.
   3. Social media: if the project has accounts in the most popular social media, where decent content is posted, be sure – the team is really into it. The existence of Telegram chat with active discussions of the project is a must.
   4. The aim: ICO should have a real-life issue to tackle; otherwise, nobody will get interested.

I would also recommend you to buy coins at the pre-ICO stage. The coins are sold with a discount during this period and you will be able to sell them after the ICO in a more profitable way

[Mine the Architect]

thanks for the thread, it was usefull info. i wanted a way to avoid the shit coin icos

[Chaki]

Well, during campaign no one can't tell yet if a project is scam to begin with or scam that will fade away later without a trace. We can say we read all the papers they presented and sometime people are so much creative for readers not to suspect some details written in their document, so keep your self updated also.

As for starter, I suggest you buy coins in the exchange if you wish to hold for the first time, since disappointment rate will be low compared to buying token from ICO in your first purchase and hold. Go!

[bimbie]

It is hard to determine a scam ICO,they are a deceiving projects they look like real.Maybe you can consider the managers are reachable and manage by a high rank manager and members are real.

[NCN_Moon]

As we all know, it is really hard to determine whether an ICO is a scam or not, however, one factor you might want to check is if the project has a working product or precedent business history. I'd say often they have greater chances of maintaining/developing their value than the projects without them.

[Viarahine]

In fact, it is difficult to determine the authenticity of the ICO.

But there are a number of factors, which include that the ICO is fake:

1. No road map.
2. Coin with unreal plans.
3. The organizer of the ICO is below the status of "Full Members".
4. No official page on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks.
5. A rating of less than 3,9.

[MasterCoiner34]

try to do as much investigation as you can in the ico if they dont have any backround or any info on there ico in might be a scam

[noxpost]

Airdrops, Bounties, Free Forks, etc - there are a lot of new coins showing up with really attractive ways to convince people to get involved and talking about them. However, as we all know, there are plenty of "pump-and-dump" scams, private key thieves, and even some (potentially) exchange-sponsored forks with difficult rules that reward only those who are insiders. So what can you do to protect yourself and ensure that what you are getting into is a worthwhile, safe offering?

 - Did you check out the team? Can you find post histories on accepted forums, or verified contributions to the community, or linkedin profiles that have plenty of real connections?
 - Whitepaper. First things first, without one, don't consider investing. Almost no exceptions to that rule. If what is there is hastily written or is overly marketing focused instead of technical, that's not a whitepaper, it's a sales brochure. Consider that carefully.
 - Have you seen the code, gotten on github and looked at the history? We want to be sure it is really there and that the differences from forked coins are well understood.
 - Check out what others are saying. Bitcointalk, Slack, Telegram, Discord, etc - there should be real conversation and real questions answered.
 - Depending on the timeframe, a little Google-fu. Is it really new? Maybe try google trends, or news. Look for autocomplete terms like 'scam.' But then also do some searching to figure out where else the coin is mentioned, or the team members, or the concept that is their supposed differentiator.
 - Some red flags in the business plan, like significant pre-mining, or large amounts of "advisor" tokens, etc may indicate a quick pump-and-dump.
 - Does the development roadmap seem feasible? Are they making significant progress on it, or is everything post-ICO? Same questions about the business plan.

[Luigieee]

You need an stricly observation about their project,here i have a extra tips to you ,to know if the ICO have a chance to be scam
*make a research about their project.
*you must know if their project can help in our community.
*know the personalities behind their project.
*strickly observation about their project.

[fernandoaleixo]

Always set a smaller goal, don't invest everything on it, if it looks suspicious try to question around, see if other people are aware of this ICO, it needs to be fancy but REALISTIC, never trust people telling you gonna be millionary with the product, to me this is the first step that is a scam, as getting millionary with a start-up is very unlikely and it feels like they are aiming for the ignorant masses.

[faultunfmuzzled8]

The whitepaper have a significant role in it. the aimless and haphazard whitepaper can be pointer of a scam

[Cold_Zero]

You can check this way:

1. The Developers Are Anonymous
The first and most blatant sign of an ICO scam is that the token’s developers are anonymous or otherwise-unknown

2. The Token Does Not Have a Clear Use Case
Another sign of an ICO scam is that the developers are unable to clearly articulate a valid use case for the token. The token should serve a key purpose in the startup’s platform. If it does not, the token will not sustain its value over the long-term.

3. The Whitepaper Sets Unrealistic Goals

[faultunfmuzzled8]

The whitepaper have a significant role in it. the aimless and haphazard whitepaper can be pointer of a scam

[RapBTC1]

I confirme precedent post, u need to read all time the Whitepaper, and see if this project have a target ! Many scam was born without whitepaper (So long to explain) but its important

[wiser]

I think it is worth pointing out here that studies have shown that close to 97% of ICOs end up failing for whatever reason. This means that if you buy into an ICO, your chances of it going anywhere are about 3 percent. The odds are better than the lottery, but not reassuring by any means. I've invested in a few ICOs (sadly, I am the 97%) and read many whitepapers. The problem is that you can't tell by reading the whitepaper how much of the claims are based on actual development vs. how much of them are based on hopes and dreams, but presented as if they were a simple matter to accomplish. So you have to read the whitepaper with a very critical eye and you have to ask lots of questions. And you shouldn't buy in until your questions have been answered in a meaningful way. Most of the projects have chat groups so accessibility is usually not an issue. If your questions are not being addressed, that is important information for you in making your decision.

I could write a whole lot more about it, and have. I would like to point you to an article I wrote recently where I analyze a particular whitepaper and point out the many questions I would want answered before I invested. I do not believe the particular ICO in question to be an outright scam, as in the people are sincere. The overall question, though, is "can they deliver?"

https://steemit.com/ico/@wiser/a-critical-look-at-an-ico-whitepaper

Enjoy the read. It might save you some money down the road if you apply the information and continue to educate yourself on what due diligence really means.

[kryptos.com]

Anonymous team is a big red flag ! Also the website and whitepaper. The more effort is put into them, the less likely it is a scam. If you don't have time just look for proffesional ICO reviews. There are a lot of really good sites out there.

[priyanjana]

Most of the scam ICO satisfied bellow facts.

No visible team : If that ICO is genuine all the team member must be public. you can go to their linked in profile and search their experience and capacity.
No clear vision and reliable road map : If it good ICO, it must have well defined road map and vision. This is basement of ICO.

Before investing any ICO read their whitepaper, most the scam ico's whitepaper are try to create dream world on reader mind.