Would you still invest in Crypto related projects, if you know it was a scam?

[Kprawn]

A few years ago, we had the "Cloud mining" phenomenon and most people were warned that it was a Ponzi scheme, but they

still invested. A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud in which a purported businessman lures investors and pays profits to earlier

investors using funds obtained from newer investors. Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme

I still see some of those types of schemes around, so I was wondering if these schemes has changed their business model or

if people are knowingly investing in these schemes. 

I know Ponzi schemes are legal in some countries, but most of these schemes are advertised globally, so they should not be

legal in countries where they are classified as being illegal. 

                                  Would you still invest in something, even if you know it is a scam?

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[cutecute]

A few years ago, we had the "Cloud mining" phenomenon and most people were warned that it was a Ponzi scheme, but they

still invested. A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud in which a purported businessman lures investors and pays profits to earlier

investors using funds obtained from newer investors. Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme

I still see some of those types of schemes around, so I was wondering if these schemes has changed their business model or

if people are knowingly investing in these schemes. 

I know Ponzi schemes are legal in some countries, but most of these schemes are advertised globally, so they should not be

legal in countries where they are classified as being illegal. 

                                  Would you still invest in something, even if you know it is a scam?

That is a very logical question. If you know that it is a scam why you still invest in crypto related project. Are you a noob to do it?

[talkbitcoin]

That is a very logical question. If you know that it is a scam why you still invest in crypto related project. Are you a noob to do it?

it is rarely about knowing if something is scam.
but it is always about the profit and greed for gaining that profit. for example you know gambling leads to losses specially when there is a house edge. and this saying is so popular that everyone knows it: the house always wins.
but you see people still gamble. why? because they are greedy.

[Kprawn]

A few years ago, we had the "Cloud mining" phenomenon and most people were warned that it was a Ponzi scheme, but they

still invested. A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud in which a purported businessman lures investors and pays profits to earlier

investors using funds obtained from newer investors. Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme

I still see some of those types of schemes around, so I was wondering if these schemes has changed their business model or

if people are knowingly investing in these schemes. 

I know Ponzi schemes are legal in some countries, but most of these schemes are advertised globally, so they should not be

legal in countries where they are classified as being illegal. 

                                  Would you still invest in something, even if you know it is a scam?

That is a very logical question. If you know that it is a scam why you still invest in crypto related project. Are you a noob to do it?

Nope, it might sound obvious to you and NO I am not a noob. There are people out there, who might think that they could

beat the scammers at their own game and then they invest early into these scams. I know of people who invested into these

Crypto scams, knowing that it is a scam, but hoping that they can outsmart the scammers. The "Getting in early" strategy

has worked for some of these Ponzi schemes and people made some profit doing it by exiting early enough, before it

collapsed.  

[Pursuer]

yeah, good points. I have noticed this too. there are still a lot of people who have the mindset of "getting in early to beat the scam system and make profit"! it doesn't make any sense to me. I may be able to justify those ICO investments that aren't clearly scam but there are cases like the HYIP scams that I can never wrap my head around. for example if you visit the Investor-based games board you can see that there are still scams going on there although their popularity has dropped compared to previous years.

[Smarty14392]

If you are smart to get the profits before it becomes a exit scam than ponzi schemes are good for you but if you don't jump on new once you could almost loose all your money at any instance. Yes, they are profitable sometimes but one should surely avoid be a part of it as its very risky!

[Ararbermas]

   Would you still invest in something, even if you know it is a scam?

No it's a big mistake to continue investing in a scam project which is much better to hold bitcoin instead . 'cause your just wasting money on it , unlike in bitcoin that surely you can gain profits rather than investing in some projects which is 50-50 chance to gain a return at the end.  

[Kprawn]

yeah, good points. I have noticed this too. there are still a lot of people who have the mindset of "getting in early to beat the scam system and make profit"! it doesn't make any sense to me. I may be able to justify those ICO investments that aren't clearly scam but there are cases like the HYIP scams that I can never wrap my head around. for example if you visit the Investor-based games board you can see that there are still scams going on there although their popularity has dropped compared to previous years.

I think it is based on the same mindset that gambling is based on. You take the gamble that it will not implode whilst you are

in it, but the greed drives your motive to do it.    They say the Japanese are more likely to take bigger chances on these

risky investments, because they have a gambling culture. (Tell me if I am wrong.) If you think about Bitcoin, then you might

agree that it is a gamble too, because it is classified as a high risk experiment. 

[Red-Apple]

to be honest i would say it depends!
for example if it is one of those investment scams like ponzis or ICOs then no i wouldn't bother with them at all. but if it is a pump and dump altcoin then i would invest.
and it is not just because i think i can beat the pump scam but because i have tried before many times and i know i  can make profit from the pump and dump altcoin scams. that is how my trading strategy has been for the past year or so!

[ambisyon]

Definitely, if I am to invest in a particular ICO, I would see to it that I had done the first steps like reviewing and researching about the ICO so that I could atleast assure that I am not investing in scam ICO's. In the event that I could notice something which could made me doubt, therefore I would definitely not continue just to be safe.

[hatshepsut93]

People knowingly invest in scams on a premise that majority of other investors don't understand that it's a scam (otherwise it wouldn't be profitable). The ICO market is even better case than cloud mining, tons of people understand that ICO's are either scams or crap, still they invest and trade because it can be so profitable. With hyips more people understand that they are investing in scams, they just assume that they are early investors.

[pixie85]

The problem with cloud mining is that they were functioning and paying and people weren't able to prove that they were ponzi schemes. There were some circumstantial evidence like no proof of mining, no addresses, but at the same time some of the companies had pictures of their hardware. I understand people who bought into it out of greed and lack of hard proof.

If I knew that a project is a scam I wouldn't invest in it. If there were some people saying that it's a scam without proving it, I probably would.

[BitcoinHodler]

i remember a lot of those cloudmining scams. a while ago they were like the most popular thing to create. every week we had at least one new one coming out and they were obviously scams.
i never invested in any of them but i made sure to use those which were "giving away money"! usually some of them to gain some attention they were giving away hashrate which mined for you and paid out. i made a small amount of money doing this. of course most of them started forcing you to invest before you could cash out but that came later

[Lucius]

Unfortunately there are countless newcomers in crypto world, mostly from poor countries and mostly with very poor understanding of the English language. Scams projects also evolving and work on a different approach to new potential users, most simple way is to pay selectively and thus maintain the semblance of legality among users. Imagine Bob say it is get nice pay from project, he share that with Alice and Amy and they share with Tom and Billy - some of them will also get pay, but what is important that they will also share that with others. At the time some project is marked as SCAM it is too late, owner is fill his pocket with money and after some time starts again with new project.

I would never invest in any project that is suspicious, and certainly not if it is a scam//fortunately I know how to recognize them and so far I keep my money safe.

[pixie85]

i remember a lot of those cloudmining scams. a while ago they were like the most popular thing to create. every week we had at least one new one coming out and they were obviously scams.
i never invested in any of them but i made sure to use those which were "giving away money"! usually some of them to gain some attention they were giving away hashrate which mined for you and paid out. i made a small amount of money doing this. of course most of them started forcing you to invest before you could cash out but that came later

They learned from people like you who took advantage of their money shower.
Taking free money is something else. It's not being a part of it, it's seeing through it and being smarter.

What about people who unknowingly promoted these scams by posting referral links? Some of them had signature campaigns. There's a thin line between being fooled by the scammer and unknowingly becoming one.

[davis196]

A few years ago, we had the "Cloud mining" phenomenon and most people were warned that it was a Ponzi scheme, but they

still invested. A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud in which a purported businessman lures investors and pays profits to earlier

investors using funds obtained from newer investors. Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme

I still see some of those types of schemes around, so I was wondering if these schemes has changed their business model or

if people are knowingly investing in these schemes. 

I know Ponzi schemes are legal in some countries, but most of these schemes are advertised globally, so they should not be

legal in countries where they are classified as being illegal. 

                                  Would you still invest in something, even if you know it is a scam?

It's not so easy to find a ponzi scheme.Most ponzi schemes hide behind terms,such as "MLM business" or "affiliate marketing".You know that all the only people,who lose money from a ponzi scheme are the ones that invest in the end of the scheme.The early investors can still get some profits.That's why there are still people,who believe they can make some easy money with this.
No,I would never invest in a project,that is a well known scam.

[Cuneng10]

if it's a scam, why do people invest? surely the money we invest will be in vain, if I choose not to do it myself

[insurgent]

A few years ago, we had the "Cloud mining" phenomenon and most people were warned that it was a Ponzi scheme, but they

still invested. A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud in which a purported businessman lures investors and pays profits to earlier

investors using funds obtained from newer investors. Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme

I still see some of those types of schemes around, so I was wondering if these schemes has changed their business model or

if people are knowingly investing in these schemes. 

I know Ponzi schemes are legal in some countries, but most of these schemes are advertised globally, so they should not be

legal in countries where they are classified as being illegal. 

                                  Would you still invest in something, even if you know it is a scam?

Why would I invest if I know in the first place that its a scam. If you are in the right mind you probably say no in this kind of question. You risk and then you may regret it in the end because you have been scammed. But I think some people will always choose to invest knowing that its a scam.

[aoluain]

Good question by the OP because to me I get the impression that some
people would do or chance anything in order to increase their wealth and
especially so in crypto. I suspect some people are taking the gamble because
of the decentralised nature of crypto and it difficult to trace movements.

Personally, I wouldnt. My thinking is that I would only be feeding the scam
culture and risk loosing what my stake.

[franky1]

HYIPS and MLM schemes are the better example for the question

bitcoin itself is not a scam but there are individuals using the currency to create pots of btc coin hoardings and then juggling this small stash they hold to try keeping in as many victims as possible while siphoning out profits to a few lucky exiters

and yes many fools do invest in them even when being fully aware that they are scams. their mindset is that if they are first-in they can exit being  first-out with the fruits of other people entering them schemes and as such the early exiters are not the victims