Cryptocurrency is a hot topic at the end of 2017. Many people want to invest in cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, but they (ordinary people) are afraid because cryptocurrency is only a scam / fraud.
It is very difficult to detect which is an original coin or a coin scam, but I will tell you tips for detecting coin scams and ICO scams.
The trick is to see:
1. TimRoadmap
2. Whitepaper
3. Multi-Level
4. Marketing (MLM)
1. Team
A company can walk and develop with a reliable team. The success of a coin is not young, much will depend on experience, expertise and teamwork in the team. This "team" is one of the benchmark for investors to assess the success rate of a coin, however, there are also many laypeople who do not pay attention to the team, and only focus their focus on the idea and hype of a coin. There are several ICO coin companies, like Bitconnect and AIOS that have a ghost team. Ghost team is not a team consisting of ghosts, but a ghost team is a company that does not exist, or, a little information about the founder or the team, can also be interpreted as a bully team. This causes the possibility they run away to bring your money away, because no one knows who is behind the fraud.
There are also some ways ICO or coin cheats investors, these coins use fake teams, one example is Fujinto coin, this Coin uses the identity of another person for the team, can also be called "identity theft", the photos of these people can taken without permission by the owner via Facebook etc. And the fake names and linkedin profiles were fake, thus giving the impression that they were "original team".
(Fujinto Coin uses someone else's image for their "Team Page", the names in this photo are fake names)
the company uses fake images and profiles obtained on Google. The teams also have a CV that is arguably very good, unfortunately, this is just a lie.
Enthusiasts must also examine every member of the team, interested persons must do deeper research on certain people whether there is a possibility that the identity of the team really exists and does not only appear for the ICO or seek funds. Investors must also know if the team is a native person, have they ever been involved in a Ponzi scheme.
It's easy to find out if the team really exists, the way is by using Google.
You can write on Google the names listed on the team, in general, you will see their Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Check one by one social media, images, history, education and their work. Is that original?
Has it been long or just made for "ICO"? Check again the list of "connections", "Followers", or "Friends" them, whether followers, friends etc. they are fake too? Use Google Images, right-click and "search Google for image", usually the image will be connected to social media they are. Write "name + scam", do not use Indonesian because many coins and ICO are international. If they have a deceptive history, leave Coin immediately because the investment now has a high risk value.
2. Loadmap / Target
On the Coin or ICO website the roadmap will be listed. The Roadmap is a schedule where companies will try to complete their travel targets.
The roadmap will usually announce the targets and missions that will be done normally on a quarterly basis and will notify interested parties with:
Products being worked on. Products to be issued. Sales and sales to the public
Investors must also be aware of the roadmap that is "too good to be true" / too good for reality. For example: they promise 100% of their ICO will be the second Bitcoin and promise lots of prospects or high ROI (Return on Investment). Most companies that express sentences like this are usually fake companies like Bitconnect which can only give sweet promises and sell dreams, this is because the value of a company cannot be measured based on their expectations and is only a market that can determine whether a company has the right have this value. But the company could be "market make" or the term "frying" their own coin prices, but this is not often the case and it is very unhealthy to expect something "not necessarily" to happen.
3. Whitepaper
Every old and new coin must have a whitepaper. Why? Because the whitepaper will inform investors about the Coin in detail - from the mission, the team, to the technology to be used, the Whitepaper can also be seen as a coin "proposal" for the ICO to investors.
Counterfeit companies usually do not have a Whitepaper because they are not professional enough to make a normal Whitepaper, or the company cannot describe their company, vision, mission and ideas in a reasonable way, companies that usually promise sweet dreams find it difficult to explain in detail. and logically how they will reach their "target", remember that they can also copy whitepapers from companies that are already running.
Do you want to give your money to a group of people who cannot make a proper and logical Whitepaper for investors?
4. Multi-Level Marketing [MLM]
MLM is a pyramid scheme where sales will get money from product sales and also recruit members and also the members' sales. They will get more compensation from recruiting members rather than selling products.
Many countries have legalized the MLM system, one of which is Indonesia. Why? Because most companies that use the MLM system deceive their members. Same with coins, coins that use this scheme will most likely deceive you.
Examples of coins that use this system are: Onecoin, Centurion Coin and many other coins, usually coin-coins use a system of buying through bank transfers or receiving rupiah, even though they say they are engaged in "Blockchain technology" but they do not accept cryptocurrency and only in the form of rupiah. Need to be suspicious of the authenticity of the coin,
[ Summary ]
There are several unique features of cryptocurrency such as decentralization, full transparency through general ledgers, and open source code that anyone can see. Fraud schemes and Ponzi do not have these general characteristics and are usually centralized and opaque.
The best way to avoid falling into various fraud and ponzi schemes is to identify common characteristics as listed above. Even more important is having the knowledge and understanding of how cryptocurrency works and the technology that underlies their business. In each investment there is certainly a Risk / Reward, but this risk can be minimized with sufficient information and research. Remember to always do your own research and not just hear from word of mouth.
[ Hopefully some of these methods can help you better understand how to invest properly in the Crypto world ].
