Avoid Being Scammed Again

[ArkiCrypto]

I've seen many users complaining about being scammed by ICO projects most of them are new investors which probably gonna be the next generation of investors in cryptocurrency industry. I've been here in the cryptocurrency industry for a year and I've invested into different projects and seen how they disappear in the thin air, so to avoid this I want to share to you my criteria on choosing the right ICO or project to invest in.

This is not guaranteed but maybe in some point it may help you atleast to reduce the possibility on getting scammed by ICO's, the list below are my personal criteria how I choose Project to invest with using bitcoin or other cryptocurrency:

• Check the Background of the team (If the team didn't give info about each member of the team such as name previous projects, background, etc. There's a possibility that they will just run away with your money if they didn't give info's about their team.)
• Read their whitepaper and look if it's really worth to invest with, their concept, etc. (This is important to know what the project is all about.)
• Check the Social media accounts, If you find it very interesting presentable. (Join their telegram group in order to be updated.)
• Check the Projects professionalism (How they handle users, control frauds, etc.)
• Follow their Roadmap and other technical details and see if they meet it on time.
• Look for the projects community and see if the community is active.
• Look for special proof and validation.
• Do your own research about the project such as review about the projects or you can also check the projects ANN thread to see comments who's agree/disagree or the communities idea about the project because ANN threads is like an open forum where you can ask, give insights, etc.

This topic related articles may help you feel free to check:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/306563
http://strategiccoin.com/3-ways-to-identify-an-ico-scam/
https://cryptona.co/valuable-tips-to-avoid-a-ico-scam/
https://blockgeeks.com/how-not-to-be-scammed-by-a-initial-coin-offering/
https://medium.com/@99cryptoman/how-to-avoid-scammers-when-investing-in-ico-489cfadcb0f6
https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/guides/how-to-avoid-scam-icos/

Edit:
I've added this article links about different scams and how did they work so you have idea what are the different scams strategies so you can easily spot and avoid them:

https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@veeev/scamsintheworldofcryptocurrency-rzd5dwo060
https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/07/6-red-flags-of-an-ico-scam/
https://blockonomi.com/exit-scam/
https://coinsutra.com/cryptocurrency-scams/
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/common-cryptocurrency-scams/
https://themerkle.com/top-3-types-of-bitcoin-scams/
https://www.finder.com/ph/bitcoin-scams

NOTE: Investment is one of the riskiest way to earn money. Invest only what you can afford to lose, in investment there's only two possible outcome it's either you will earn or you will learn. Learn from your mistakes.

Just like what I've said this steps are my personal steps on choosing ICO/Projects in where I'm going to invest in. This may not help you but I hope you'll learn at least a little in my little sharing. Have great day every one, ciao.

PS. If you have something to share in order to avoid scam or any topic related feel free to share so everyone will learn from us.

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[newgal2017]

I agree with this, Although this post may not be totally helpful but there are some things I learned from this. Just like what you've said there are some projects that looks very professionals, all the information was written, perfect whitepaper but ended up being a scam.

In investment the risk is always present so all we have to do is to be responsible in every investments/actions we're going to make.

[bman01]

Thanks for such informative post. Investment is all about taking risk. So every investor is responsible for his/her own decision.

[MystereToy]

I totally agree to the points you listed and the fact that people should invest only what they are ready to loose.

That one aspect of ICO projects which can be good or bad depending of the side you look at it. On one hand, we can see great projects at their development states and anyone can be part of it quite easily and on the other end, it could all vanish instantely.

Is there any token based project running at the moment or only speculation with the tokens?

[avikz]

I really appreciate your effort for putting this points together. But sadly, it's easy to say than to execute. Now the scammers have also evolved their techniques. They plan a lot in advance so it has become very hard to spot a fake social media profile. The attributes mentioned in the website can be sourced from a professional content writer which again becomes very tough to spot any anamolies.

It is little easier to spot a fake ICO projects through their twitter activities. I have seen a lot of ICO projects those who tweet about only their projects with a lot of jargons and copied text from their website. Only a handful of them post about their real pictures and their team members. Once you see an ICO is continuously posting about their participation in various crypto summits and their tours and sales pitches, you can at least trust that they are not fake and genuinely trying to get better attention.

I usually use this determination factor before joining any bounty program.

[jamiebear]

Thank you this is really helpful. If people would only spend a little extra in checking what they are investing in it would lessen the number of people being scammed by shady icos. If you are already a victim in the past just consider it as experience and learn from it. Hopefully in the future you will find real good legit icos. Just always be aware and if possible if you spot something fishy share it to as many people as you know because helping one another could also be a factor so that people would not be scammed too.

[fosco333]

It is sad that many investors got scammed by some ICO's. because of this too, some social media banned the ICO ads.
i think we as an investor must be clever to choose the ICO's by learning deeply through their project and their team before investing.
i usually trust ICO if there are some amazix peoples manage that ICO. The key to avoid scam is, never invest to half-baked project.

[thelolicon2]

They're getting scammed just only because they never check very carefully the whitepaper which means they actually didn't know what is that project about? All they know is just a name and their money , that's all.

[ArkiCrypto]

I really appreciate your effort for putting this points together. But sadly, it's easy to say than to execute. Now the scammers have also evolved their techniques. They plan a lot in advance so it has become very hard to spot a fake social media profile. The attributes mentioned in the website can be sourced from a professional content writer which again becomes very tough to spot any anamolies.

It is little easier to spot a fake ICO projects through their twitter activities. I have seen a lot of ICO projects those who tweet about only their projects with a lot of jargons and copied text from their website. Only a handful of them post about their real pictures and their team members. Once you see an ICO is continuously posting about their participation in various crypto summits and their tours and sales pitches, you can at least trust that they are not fake and genuinely trying to get better attention.

I usually use this determination factor before joining any bounty program.

I agree. the scammers are evolving, using new trends in order to make their project look more legit that's why I opened up this thread in order for us to grow also. Share the new techniques they're using, sharing knowledge we've all got in regards with this topic and help each other to counter it as a community. 

[Getcoinsite]

Well though this advices has been given many times before,and a normal basis of finding good ico projects,still very informative for members specially those whos new in this cryptocurrency investing.you have a good concer for fellow users that gives you respect from us.i salute you for this Mate,hope many will follow your legacy to lessen the victim of scamming

[jamids]

It is little easier to spot a fake ICO projects through their twitter activities. I have seen a lot of ICO projects those who tweet about only their projects with a lot of jargons and copied text from their website. Only a handful of them post about their real pictures and their team members. Once you see an ICO is continuously posting about their participation in various crypto summits and their tours and sales pitches, you can at least trust that they are not fake and genuinely trying to get better attention.

This is also one of the things that I pay attention to when I check an ICO. Joining in conferences, summits, meet-ups makes me more confident that they are not just there to take away our money but they are serious with the project. Seeing the faces of the people behind the project and promoting their project to people in these meetings aside from promoting actively online makes it more trustworthy to the investors. I also look at the social media accounts of the ICOs if they are active because it makes the investors more excited and confident knowing what they are doing behind the scenes and what are their progress.

[marcuslong]

It is little easier to spot a fake ICO projects through their twitter activities. I have seen a lot of ICO projects those who tweet about only their projects with a lot of jargons and copied text from their website. Only a handful of them post about their real pictures and their team members. Once you see an ICO is continuously posting about their participation in various crypto summits and their tours and sales pitches, you can at least trust that they are not fake and genuinely trying to get better attention.

This is also one of the things that I pay attention to when I check an ICO. Joining in conferences, summits, meet-ups makes me more confident that they are not just there to take away our money but they are serious with the project. Seeing the faces of the people behind the project and promoting their project to people in these meetings aside from promoting actively online makes it more trustworthy to the investors. I also look at the social media accounts of the ICOs if they are active because it makes the investors more excited and confident knowing what they are doing behind the scenes and what are their progress.

Good thing that this topic has been brought up in this forum. Sadly, as we continue looking for ways to prevent this from happening and be a victim of scam, scammers are also upgrading their styles and ways to continue targetting everyone. Scammers target people from all backgrounds, and we are all vulnerable to this. What to do is to be alert and aware that scam exists, know what and who you're dealing with, and keep personal data secure.

[salterious]

All good points but how many individuals to you think actually do that and put in the work? Hardly any, and that is why scams continue to happen because people are simply too lazy to do work yet want easy money. Scams will never stop working for this exact reason, people are just too dumb in general to work for what they want.

[gambitcoin53]

this serves as a great tool to spot a scam, because of some greedy users, that wants a quick and easy way to earn but ended up being scammed, fhey did not bother to thoroughly investigate before venturing on a specific project, maybe next time, do not be easily fooled by some too good to be true schemes and it is best to ask someone on that project or get more info before you venture on them.

[kaya11]

If I see an ICO that gives me 3 reasons when I visit their page then it will be decided directly, these redflags are a.) the developers are anonymous b.) The token doesn't have a clear user case c.) the road map is vague and nowhere to go.
There are lots of ICO that are now said to be scam while the have those attributes, but then I couldn't care less so I am deciding to take a rest from those and just buy at a small amount depending on what I have and what are the said tokens were. That way I will take less damage when the coin will fail.

[taylorsara]

Nice inputs. Being cautious is the basic step to avoid scams. We always should know whom we are investing to, what their white paper says and what their project is. Some background checking if possible helps to gather knowledge. Helpful post, Thanks.

[5hoursaday]

I always tell people not to participate in ICOs if they do not know the faces of the people in charge and also without doing proper research into the project and just going by their twitter and social media profiles. A lot of them are scammers.

[ArkiCrypto]

this serves as a great tool to spot a scam, because of some greedy users, that wants a quick and easy way to earn but ended up being scammed, fhey did not bother to thoroughly investigate before venturing on a specific project, maybe next time, do not be easily fooled by some too good to be true schemes and it is best to ask someone on that project or get more info before you venture on them.

Yes doing the right process of research specially about each members background is impprtant because for me it's going to be the foundation of the project. Let's say the project's concept is perfect but the team who's going to built it is not as solid as a concrete. Then it will probably crash or that project will end up being a scam.

[Maricel2017]

Most of the ICO project has telegram group to communicate all the person who wants to invest with them and they do not send any personal message to individual to invest with them then to be safe you should ignore all the personal message came from strangers that who claimed that they are one of the admin of one ICO, if you have doubt in the project much better to stay away with them dont send money to other people who are not attached or not part of the team of the ICO.

[burdagol12345]

I've seen many users complaining about being scammed by ICO projects most of them are new investors which probably gonna be the next generation of investors in cryptocurrency industry. I've been here in the cryptocurrency industry for a year and I've invested into different projects and seen how they disappear in the thin air, so to avoid this I want to share to you my criteria on choosing the right ICO or project to invest in.

This is not guaranteed but maybe in some point it may help you atleast to reduce the possibility on getting scammed by ICO's, the list below are my personal criteria how I choose Project to invest with using bitcoin or other cryptocurrency:

• Check the Background of the team (If the team didn't give info about each member of the team such as name previous projects, background, etc. There's a possibility that they will just run away with your money if they didn't give info's about their team.)
• Read their whitepaper and look if it's really worth to invest with, their concept, etc. (This is important to know what the project is all about.)
• Check the Social media accounts, If you find it very interesting presentable. (Join their telegram group in order to be updated.)
• Check the Projects professionalism (How they handle users, control frauds, etc.)
• Follow their Roadmap and other technical details and see if they meet it on time.
• Look for the projects community and see if the community is active.
• Look for special proof and validation.
• Do your own research about the project such as review about the projects or you can also check the projects ANN thread to see comments who's agree/disagree or the communities idea about the project because ANN threads is like an open forum where you can ask, give insights, etc.

This topic related articles may help you feel free to check:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/306563
http://strategiccoin.com/3-ways-to-identify-an-ico-scam/
https://cryptona.co/valuable-tips-to-avoid-a-ico-scam/
https://blockgeeks.com/how-not-to-be-scammed-by-a-initial-coin-offering/
https://medium.com/@99cryptoman/how-to-avoid-scammers-when-investing-in-ico-489cfadcb0f6
https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/guides/how-to-avoid-scam-icos/

NOTE: Investment is one of the riskiest way to earn money. Invest only what you can afford to lose, in investment there's only to possible outcome it's either you will earn or you will learn. Learn from your mistakes.

Just like what I've said this steps are my personal steps on choosing ICO/Projects in where I'm going to invest in. This may not help you but I hope you'll learn at least a little in my little sharing. Have great day every one, ciao.

PS. If you have something to share in order to avoid scam or any topic related feel free to share so everyone will learn from us.

Thanks for the information you given to us,on how to avoid the scam ICO,so that we could be aware in the future when we participate project,and we could determine either its ponzi or genuine project.actually this information will help a lots into this community especially those first time who join into this world of cryptocurrency bussiness,even its not totally 100% we could identify them all whose legit or not at least we have now an idea on how to avoid those fraud ICO.