can someone explain why so many ICO's are scams?

[zacxavier]

All I hear about is that ICOs are scams and you need to watch out... Can someone explain why so many of these things are scams? What percentage do you think are legit businesses?

Because ICO's are not regulated. Nobody is checking their audits and on who really they are and where they really located. USA did regulate this already and rarely, they conduct ICO on the US because of it's strict rules.

[Ender19]

You also need to keep in mind that even IF an ICO isn't a scam, that doesn't mean it will be successful.
Here, have a look at https://www.tokendata.io/ and click on 'Status' and let it sort by 'FAILED'. You'll be amazed at how many ICOs rais money, aren't successful and fail miserably.

So, please be careful and DYOR! If you want to invest in an ICO, research it thoroughly, don't invest what you can't lose and diversify (don't invest everything in one project) - make an exit plan.
As I said before, ask yourself this before you invest:

• Do I understand how the investment works?
• What are your goals?
• What level of involvement is required?
• What are the risks of this investment?
• How much do you expect to earn on this investment (ROI)?
• How long do you plan to invest? Is this a short-, medium- or long-term investment?
• What are the costs to buy, hold and sell the investment?
• Is there a clear exit strategy?

Be safe

And just to give you an idea about the money involved, from captainaltcoin.com:

https://i.imgur.com/ToHO8CGm.png

Whoa. I had no idea they raised that much.

Also implied above: people get scammed because they don't know the stuff on his list, more or less. 

The stupid and their money are quickly parted.

[Bitfort]

It's simple:  Whenever money are involved there are scammers as well.
More money = more attractive for scammers (and there's lot of money ICOs)
 
In addition this whole thing can be made completely untraceable which IMO is the main reason.

[reypinioco]

1/10 ICOs is legit that is thru my experience that is why you need to carefully look for the redflags if you are planning to invest into a certain ICO.This is one of the cons of being unregulated or decentralized of these ICOs,because people which so much programming skills can easily fake projects that might steal a lot of money from people that is why we need change the system so that less people will be scammed.

[BETnaBET]

All I hear about is that ICOs are scams and you need to watch out... Can someone explain why so many of these things are scams? What percentage do you think are legit businesses?

I don't know also whY so many ico scam. Because my sister  one of those their victims in many campaign she was have no pay. They have necer think about the life of others. They just think about their selves how to get money. But we know they will not last. That is just money, God will blessed us too just wait.

[Ender19]

All I hear about is that ICOs are scams and you need to watch out... Can someone explain why so many of these things are scams? What percentage do you think are legit businesses?

I don't know also whY so many ico scam. Because my sister  one of those their victims in many campaign she was have no pay. They have necer think about the life of others. They just think about their selves how to get money. But we know they will not last. That is just money, God will blessed us too just wait.

It was hard to understand you but I think I'm in full agreement. Just be patient, don't get greedy and you'll be ok

[Avalonist]

Today you have to be very lucky to invest in profitable ICO.
There are hundreds of them created each day and only few reach their soft/hard cap.
Others are scam, so you have to be really careful choosing

[neo444]

Many ICO are scams because they exist many scams compagnie who invest their many to make scam airdrop and invest ethereum and bitcoin sites to stolen many from many people who want to make profits so becareful and don't put your money before you check the validity of ICO

[rivkavender]

alot of them because they do not include USA which is a big red flag in general because of regulations and USA has strict ones.


Alot of them are quick money grabs and have no real purpose!


alot of them name drop alot of big companies with no soild proof they are in partnership with them to get more peoples attention like big car brands


One ICO i seen recently that i think is a scam is Eligma and i may be wrong but i have seen them try to describe what their doing and they cant!

[Erik234]

The cryptocurrency market has become very popular, many are looking for easy earnings and thoughtlessly invest their money , do not want to understand the details.
This attracts a lot of scammers who want to get a lot of money.

[verziagra]

Because From the price for the purchase of low tokens and not reaching softcap.

[Ahmad Raditya]

I have been following several ICO projects and so far I have only found one project that is a scam project, of course the scam project is very influential on the confidence of investors who want to participate with ICO, so this is so detrimental to the world Cryptocurrency, the emergence of ICO scam project can not be separated from the hard to track the flow of funds flowing from the ICO project so that it becomes a fraudulent opportunity for those responsible.

[Sferium]

Potential buyers should read, read and read before they get themselves involved in buying into ICOs.   Some are really good projects with great potential while a majority of them are outright scams.

[Cici5555555]

All I hear about is that ICOs are scams and you need to watch out... Can someone explain why so many of these things are scams? What percentage do you think are legit businesses?

Most of them are only base on concepts without any reality. That's why so many of them are scams

[danielkruchin]

These kind of scams are nothing new and not exclusive to the blockchain platforms. You make a sham company and look for investors that don't scrutinize enough or believe in too much and then try to leech money from the as long as they don't notice. It is just rampant on ICOs right now because it is the new hot thing. Just use your normal logic as if you are investing in a startup company and you will be ok. Make sure to find the real people behind the project.

[Ananastasia]

I think even though several ICO reveals to be scams in the end, it is not the big majority. Also the failures are more because of a few middle men greediness than projects themselves

[Thefrolly]

ICOs that are scams are sham companies seeking to fraud the crypto users and get away with the money raised from crowdfunding, many a times the projects are hyped, and the supposed developers only avail a small amount of the tokes, rasing its prices, they later release  the hoarded portion when the prices are relatively high, dump the rest of the tokens and go under. its normally too late when the investors realize it was a scam

[Gugel]

question from the series, why so many crimes in the streets?

[mtonev]

Because many people just looking to get a large amount of money and after this disaster.

A not scam ICO will have:
 -  a good team with a background behind them
 - good written WhitePaper - no just whitepaper a good one with details about the project they are going to build
   as detailed as can - the most white papers a have reviewed are 'Bla Bla Bla'
 - good design of the ICO website
 - KYC is also a very strong point which indicate the ICO plan to list their Token to markets - the KYC process is not free

This is just the most important things to take a look at an ICO.

[loveb]

Because many people just looking to get a large amount of money and after this disaster.

A not scam ICO will have:
 -  a good team with a background behind them
 - good written WhitePaper - no just whitepaper a good one with details about the project they are going to build
   as detailed as can - the most white papers a have reviewed are 'Bla Bla Bla'
 - good design of the ICO website
 - KYC is also a very strong point which indicate the ICO plan to list their Token to markets - the KYC process is not free

This is just the most important things to take a look at an ICO.

Totally agreed about bla bla bla section. I've seen great ideas with no real decisions behind them at all.