What are the distinguishing features of a scam ICO?

[bandar]

How about: fabricating a team of people who probably don't exist, create a linkedin profile for them.  Act like they are major players in the financial/crypto scene but aren't to be found anywhere else on the internet.  My estimation at the moment is that about 80-90% of ico's are scams.  We need regulations and mandatory KYC of the whole team is one of them.

[bitgoldpanther1978]

Hey everyone,
Would love to get a show of hands for the most distinguishing features of a scam ICO .

Let's educate each other by picking your 3

-The CoinRating Team

If they are not giving any update in the ICO project, or the campaign manager even the team are not updating us, whether in telegram, Twitter, and in bitcoin forum, it is considerable scam for me.

[Mr.Binss]

I think you can check how the escrow releases funds. Scam ICOs are likely to release all funds towards development while genuine projects have proper planning regarding funds distribution, with specific percentages going to various aspects of project development such as escrow fees and others.

[BQ]

Anything that says get xxx% return in just blabla weeks!
look up the team, do they have legit linkedin pages? do you find them on social media, do they show that they're the real team?
you can also reverse image search their pictures.

[AdamSv]

Many empty and nothing not backed by facts words. If the project does not have anything and they promise gold mountains, it is most likely a Scam.

[yugyug]

There are so many exploitation about ICO that would lead into scams. Unregulated are some factors and the easy creation of token from Ethereum's ERC-20 compliant also contributed the proliferation of some fraudulent ICOs. Identity theft, unreasonable claims and unfair distribution of token which favors on the side of the team  are some indicators you can easily identify that these ICOs are scams.

[nakamote]

Identity thefts,github repository is empty or inactive,then the online presence is poor, thee are the main things we should look for if we are going to invest to these ICOs because thes are the things that these scam ICOs wont have,you can check their names in google if you found nothing morelikely it is a scam that is we should be doing a lot of research.

[cryptotitan]

Identify of the people behind the project is unknown or some members are unverified,probably a scam,online presence should be considerable,there should be some good working product or MVP so that you can research it thru google,the github account is newly created or theres empty folders,the whitepaper should be well writtern as well these are the things i am looking for the redflags.

[Marma Kalari]

Most of the scams i have seen in the past had questionable team members and when you ask specific question they will skip answering those things and they lack vital information in their white paper or just copied from other projects, which means that they really do not have any vision rather wanted to collect the money and run away, most of the time these signs are present in all the scams we had in the past.

[Noobaru]

I voted for poor online presence, because if the team is not present, then the product/platform is not present for me. Team needs to be active and engaged with their supporters and community and not hide behind some curtain. Also, empty GitHub repositories can be a problem, especially if the project is open-source. If there are confidential documents and code, then I understand. Last but not least in my opinion and while we bounty hunters don't like it when it comes to it - KYC. Investors have to pass it, because the company must comply with AML laws in order to keep our society somehow stable. But I don't agree for bounty hunting, because we are earning cryptos and not investing our cash.

[hjfjmk]

The ICO pioneer has its own valuation model. The high quality ICO project has several basic principles: technological innovation, Essence reduction, trading compliance and benefit to society.
At the same time, the supervision of ICO needs to pay special attention to several points: product registration, information disclosure, asset trusteeship, project authenticity, qualified investment. ICO pioneered a quantitative analysis of ICO projects through six dimensions, such as token rate, team consultant, Financial audit, technical strength, operational capability and application scenario. Here we highlight several dimensions and indicators. ...

[coinrating.co]

Some great insights here everyone,

Thank you all 

-The CoinRating Team

[TTITA]

Still number one are
- Team members

Else, i seen many 'Lending project' or project that has 'High profit offers' are turned into scam, so i will avoid put investment on this kind of ICO's.

[Arcoin1]

You can see that an ICO is the fact that participants are real. It is important to know what the project is for. Prepare for the future and the project will always win.

[maloibtc]

I think the best way is to check out who is behind the project before you venture into ICO. Nowadays there are a lot of scams everywhere and it is necessary to be extremely careful with all untrusted projects

[lihongjing]

When you check their Twitter and Facebook, their links do not always open correctly, their followers are few, and their Twitter even change their name.

[chandrarahmadewa]

hello my friend
I chose 3 differentiating features from ICO scams such as Team Identity Theft, Poor Online Presence, and Unrealistic Claims. I do not agree if the project ask for personal data like KYC

[ROMANALADIN]

The most important thing when evaluating a block-start-up is to understand which people are behind it. Even if the potential of the project and its target market seem to be extensive, one of the main factors of success is the team. Absence of full-fledged developers in the project is the first sign of danger. Additional caution should be shown if none of the founders has specific knowledge and experience in the relevant areas.

[batang_bitcoin]

How to avoid scam ICOs
The Seven Key Signs of an ICO Scam
How Not To Be Scammed By An ICO

When you check their Twitter and Facebook, their links do not always open correctly, their followers are few, and their Twitter even change their name.

I don't think so.
Most of the scam ICOs do consider to have a lot of followers in their twitter handle so that they will look like legit.
They can easily buy followers for their own interest and that is by scamming investors.

[Carwyn Young]

A white paper is the most important element of any initial coin offering. In a white paper, an ICO will present an outline of what it plans to achieve, a breakdown of how the technical aspects of the platform function, and delineate its token distribution model. So, if an ICO doesn’t provide a white paper, then it’s undoubtedly a scam.