How to check if ICO is scam or not?

[tsaroz]

Identifying whether an ICO is legit or scam is getting more complicated everyday. Yet, if we are investing our money in something, we should be well aware of where is it going.
The best way to know whether an ICO is scam or not is to identify the person behind it, know their personal experience, their economic and social background and whether they are really an specialist about the project are just pretending to be.

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[steveabrahams]

Identifying whether an ICO is legit or scam is getting more complicated everyday. Yet, if we are investing our money in something, we should be well aware of where is it going.
The best way to know whether an ICO is scam or not is to identify the person behind it, know their personal experience, their economic and social background and whether they are really an specialist about the project are just pretending to be.

It's not that hard to be honest, i mean, you can check it first by check the team behind the project, search the photo of the team on google, if you found some from google and the same person, careful, it might be a scam. Ask it on their ANN thread, if they can't answer then it's a scam

[manismanja]

Read the whitepaper and also check the income of the ico, so that we can get data from the project that we will do the investment whether it is suitable or not as an investment, therefore we must be careful in checking it

be careful it is very necessary, to be more sure you can look for dtail about it and you can ask the people closest to you who already know in great detail and knowledge.
projects that start well aren't always successful so you have to be careful and not easy to believe and not make decisions easily before you know.

[logisticalmother]

Hey guys, I'm new to the whole ICO world, and BTCtalk as well. I've been reading about a lot of scammy ICOs that take people's money and run away. I'm looking to invest in a couple of ICOs but have no way of knowing if they are good or not. Can anyone tell me how I can go about doing this without losing any money? 

I can give your advice to see who the manager is responsible for and whether the manager is really well known and see the original ico website, usually the fake one that rarely has the original ico web so it can be found out and usually the original is not taken extra costs if scams can be subject to additional fees.

[jaanwr]

Listen, I think a Mod needs to sticky my reply to the start of Page 1, because the amount of laziness / plagiarism within the replies here is just insane...


Right... Now... What are we dealing with people, Monopoly money??

No? Okay. Let's be serious then.


A legitimate project will list all senior members / advisors on both it's whitepaper and website. This includes names, photos, bios, links to SM accounts.

The most basic first step (which is what is repeated here on every page) - is to actually visit these SM accounts and see if the 'team' are genuine.

They appear to be? Looks can be deceiving. I've seen a Fiat with a BMW e36 body-kit.


Check under the hood.


'Adam McAdamson', the CEO of 'McAdamsonICO' says that he worked for the 'EU Coin Co.' for 4 years as a 'Lead Developer', and attained his Bachelors degree from 'EU University X' in '2010'.


Brilliant. Okay, so, now you contact the 'EU Coin Co.' (email at first if you wish, otherwise cut to the chase and pick up the telephone - it doesn't bite) and you say: "Hi. My name is 'XYZ', I'm calling in regards to 'Adam McAdamson', a gentleman who I believe in 2014 worked for your company - how would I go about receiving a reference, or some sort of supporting evidence of his position and duration with your firm?".

If the reply is positive (can I take an email and have someone in the HR department contact you OR sure, yes he was here we can confirm), then happy days, 'Adam McAdamson' scores a point.

If the reply is "lol hu?" then you can start raising an eyebrow.

Now, sticking with 'Adam', move onto the next reference, 'EU University X'. Give them a call: "Good day, I'm calling in regards to one of your alumni, who graduated in 2010, 'Adam McAdamson'. I'm in search of a reference, or at minimum, confirmation that 'Adam' did indeed attend your university and graduate in 2010?".

If the reply is positive (let me put you through to the Student Management Dep. OR yes, we can confirm 'Adam' did attend and graduate in 2010), then once again the Fonz comes out, eyyyy.

If the reply is "k mmm duno" then the other eyebrow gets raised. No more Rock.


Repeat this process for as many of the listed members whom you feel are required realistically, for this project to become a success. By the end of your emails / calls, the half a braincell that is left functioning will be able to determine whether AS A MINIMUM these people exist and have both the experience and knowledge required to create and maintain what they are suggesting they can (THE ICO).

Once you've done this, why not call them? If they are legit there is probably a phone number. Again for those of you with less wrinkles than me you can email first if you're more comfortable doing so.

Call them and say "Hi. I've seen your website, I've read your whitepaper, I've verified your references. I like the idea. You guys are 100% real right?".

If the person who answers the phone, gives a reply, which is anything other than this, no matter all the good you have just built on them in terms of a case - WALK AWAY:

"Hey. Thanks for calling. Yes we are 100% real. Where are you based? We are in 'XYZ'. The executive board are so busy that they sometimes forget to flush the toilet, but listen, if you are really serious about being a part of this revolution, and supporting the project, and you wish to talk to someone who can provide you with more information, perhaps email, phone, video, or if you are geographically possible to do so, a meeting in person, I can try my best to help arrange this"

That's the reply you want to hear.


Right.... Now. The 'idea'.


I'm not going to throw personal opinions on what is and what isn't a "good project", however you can see for yourself, that > 80% are pretty much trying to raise money to do the same thing.

In terms of if an ICO is a scam, along with the whole data checking of whoever is meant to be leading the project, the idea must be considered thoroughly.

- Is the idea, the concept, a viable one?
- Is it the same as 80% of the others on the market?
- What is the USP?
- Is there a working prototype?
- Is there a product that already exists, funded off the backs of the founders, board, etc, that can be seen functioning?
- Is it a relevant product?
- Is the goal attainable?
- Is the concept going to change the world?

Most scam ICOs have similar signs. Big ambitious plans, almost carbon copied from yet another "we will speed up transaction times with little or no fees and help send from A or B faster and keep track, and yes, and no, the rain is coming".

They tend to use the same generic look, which is a paid template, modified.

There is usually no product, nothing to show the end-user, perhaps a few screenshots (if lucky). Check the SM accounts of those who are involved in high-level. A good SM account will show a history of what has been going on, which projects they have been working on, in what periods of their life, it supports their references... If someone claims to have been building drones for 4 years and has a photo of a drone which they have 3D printed, and engineered from 4 years back, that's a pretty good sign of authenticity.

If they succeed the ICO or not, it doesn't matter, everyone else is doing the same thing. Probably not a great risk. A USP is important.


Choose wisely. Do research. Do real world research. If people are arrogant and don't want to give you the time of day, then don't bother supporting the project. A good team and a good movement will always try and make time and show they are not focused on money.

Hope this helps!!

[Lpim01]

Hey guys, I'm new to the whole ICO world, and BTCtalk as well. I've been reading about a lot of scammy ICOs that take people's money and run away. I'm looking to invest in a couple of ICOs but have no way of knowing if they are good or not. Can anyone tell me how I can go about doing this without losing any money?  

I can give your advice to see who the manager is responsible for and whether the manager is really well known and see the original ico website, usually the fake one that rarely has the original ico web so it can be found out and usually the original is not taken extra costs if scams can be subject to additional fees.

Just addition into this, mostly fake project offer high rewards and also high returns from investing with them in a short period of time. It is very questionable cause no other investment could give such high percentage, thus we can say that there is something wrong behind this project. They'll probably have a good communication with the investors but later on, they'll gone once the have enough money that have been collected.

[bitcoin31]

Ico who are scam is not easy to find and determine so you need a lot of research to know and if you find a legit ICO that you think maybe it is not 100 percent sure it will become successful or legit because there is still possibility for it to scam the project if the founder and team decide to run our money.

[crispyfry211]

Do research and review about the project ,Don't rely on the opinion of the others rely on your own basis, look for the team bounty team and ico team if its legit,if the project is active make sure it is legit because not all ico projects that active is not legit maybe it is a scam.look also for reference by the experts on ICO.

[sakuragi21]

It's very easy to know whether ICO scams or does not look at its team if it's true and another looks at the background of its team to make sure the project is legit. Another thing to know is that if ico projects are active because most are not active or others stop working so just invest in active.

[Aligab166]

Hey guys, I'm new to the whole ICO world, and BTCtalk as well. I've been reading about a lot of scammy ICOs that take people's money and run away. I'm looking to invest in a couple of ICOs but have no way of knowing if they are good or not. Can anyone tell me how I can go about doing this without losing any money? 

No amount of suggestions given here to detect scam ICOs will be enough as it mostly depends on your own level of vigilance and judgment on the advertised projects.

[raptorez]

In general, I think that people should try to understand what and how to analyze correctly, but today there are very few people who really know how to do it so that it is effective, so I think that all this will definitely show real results only in the case of experience.

[DarkIT]

In general, I think that people should try to understand what and how to analyze correctly, but today there are very few people who really know how to do it so that it is effective, so I think that all this will definitely show real results only in the case of experience.

well, when an ICO is a scam, of course it will be discovered, even from the team, and the project is already visible. however, it is very difficult to distinguish ICOs that are scam or not. we can only find complete information about it so we can find out whether the project is a scam or not.

[Dennicex]

In general, I think that people should try to understand what and how to analyze correctly, but today there are very few people who really know how to do it so that it is effective, so I think that all this will definitely show real results only in the case of experience.

Many people mistakenly perceive cryptocurrency as easy money. However, it is not. To make money on the crypto market you need knowledge and experience. We need to find a promising project and know when to enter it and when to exit.
I recently found for myself the Sound Money Coin project and it seriously interested me, but I cannot say that I am ready to invest all my savings there. No matter how interesting this project is to me.

[kristensoto]

there have been so many ICOs nowadays an not any ICO can success because there are so many scams and not any investors can check a really good ICOs, even today checking social networks or whitepaper will not be a best way but we must check the team members are real of fake and will the project can be useful in the future.

[bilal_jan321]

Hey guys, I'm new to the whole ICO world, and BTCtalk as well. I've been reading about a lot of scammy ICOs that take people's money and run away. I'm looking to invest in a couple of ICOs but have no way of knowing if they are good or not. Can anyone tell me how I can go about doing this without losing any money? 

This is one of the most commonly yet difficult to answer question on ICOs. ICO industry is full of scams

In fact, 80% of the ICOs that were conducted in 2017, turned out to be scams and only 8% were able to fully launch.
Source

It all depends on your research, if you do it properly chances are rare of losing your money to a scam ICO. You can find some good ways in above article.

[Yalovtsev]

This is a good question, the SEC even had a period of 3-4 months ago made a fake website, which resulted in typical signs of fraud,and what you should pay attention to, I would say that first of all it is a team, how strong the team, what product is launched, in the Internet starnitsy people from the team to make sure that these are real people and not fakes

[matricaria]

Now it is very difficult to find quality projects. I think this is due to the overall negative situation in the cryptocurrency market. But despite this, I try to choose projects with a sought-after product.

[ajdar.muxin.79]

First of all you need to analyse the whitepaper, because the most scam projects are very likely to write bad whitepapers. Secondly I would check the team members of each project and if there are no active links to the social media, just skip this project.

[Melo20]

Well, we agree that the crypto market has the ability to give fantastic returns but finally, all businesses are subject to the same market forces. If an ICO promises unrealistic returns on investments, like “Our coin gives you 1000% return in x months!” you had better watch out. Also try to read and understand the whitrpaper..  And do Lil research about the team if you can.

[Shimmiry]

While ICOs is an ethical way of raising money through “crowdfunding,” the process is obviously fraught with danger if you fail to do your due diligence of the company, its backers, its team, advisors, and its concept. Here are a few signs when an ICO is most probably a scam, first, are promises that are too good to be true, a shallow whitepaper, then check the core team if they're real or fake, also uncapped or unrealistic raise is a red flag and lastly, breathless hype on social media, if an ICO is confident on its product it shouldn't rely on buzz word hype in social media. Talking about these ICOs, great example would be finished and running projects like Stackr and Bitrus.