Spotting a scam ICO

[Gloverwrt]

The prolonged bearish market of 2018 has made ICO investments very risky and has exposed lots of scam projects.
There has also been a couple of gems in 2018 which made investing in ICOs worth it.
How can you pick out the diamonds from the stones, Especially when they can all get polished and look shiny?

All every ICO has to offer are promises and a plan to actualize it. But making a ground breaking whitepaper and an impressive roadmap is something anyone can do.
And this makes it almost impossible to tell a good project from a potential scam.

No information is too much or too little when researching on a project. Every detail has to be scrutinized, and once you have any reservations it's best to back off (you'd be right most of the time)
You can also seek the advise of experts or more knowledgeable individuals

I came upon an article recently and it was basically giving tips about how to make your own scam ICO, and reading through, it had similarities with every scam ICO I knew.

And I believe it can be used counter productively by investors to spot an ICO which hoes by the books.
https://medium.com/coin-governance-system/how-to-create-an-ico-scam-in-5-simple-steps-67391ed8a822
Protect your capital.

[1714858874]

1714858874

[1714858874]

1714858874

[1714858874]

1714858874

[1714858874]

1714858874

[kingpin4321]

The simple and efficient way to avoid ico scam is to stick to investing in established coin. A lot has already been said about spotting ico scam a still people get defrauded by this medium. You can't spot the intentions of an ico project organisers there are no law committing them to there whitepapper or road map. Every day project are coming into cryptocurrency through ico some with weird ideas not saying that good coins can not come through ico even bitcoin and ethereum has ico it just that as time goes by more and more ico turns out to be a scam. Save your self the headaches invest in good coins like bitcoin and altcoin even if you can buy them in whole numbers you can get them in fractions.

[Kemarit]

Can we then conclude not to invest on ICO then to avoid being scammed? I think that's the only weapon against them, don't be foolish in believing that investing in ICO will yield good returns. Well, there are exceptions, but majority are really out there to scam unsuspecting victims. If you're into investing then you might as well go to a established coin like Bitcoin, simply as that.

Its also funny you mentioned about the prolonged bearish trend, because scammers have been with us its just they're not pronounced last year or at least people doesn't care because of the bullish market we've seen as everyone is making money. They can just disappear and re-appear in an instant and people are still gullible and fall for the trap. But times has changed, scammers still frequent the ecosystem, but they can easily be spotted with fake teams and stop, but with the rate they're growing its going to be hard. So I will advise not to invest and change your mindset, to minimized the risk of being scam with your hard earn money.

[DdmrDdmr]

<...>

I don’t think that the referenced article’s intention is to give tips on creating scam ICOs, but rather to draw some simple common factors and set them out, without being too profound about them really. The article doesn’t add up to a scammers reference article at all, albeit underlining some of the very basics.

Performing due diligence more often than not has not managed to avoid falling for the scam ICOs. Market reference ICO analysis benchmarks very often got it wrong (and some placed better scores based on economical agreements), and even reading the white papers thoroughly is no safeguard unless there was something very obviously wrong in the content. Hype and hope for a quick turn are/were the drivers to invest, whilst thinking through the real need for such tokens to exist was blurred by the vision of a x10++ ROI investment.

[mk4]

Can we then conclude not to invest on ICO then to avoid being scammed? I think that's the only weapon against them, don't be foolish in believing that investing in ICO will yield good returns. Well, there are exceptions, but majority are really out there to scam unsuspecting victims. If you're into investing then you might as well go to a established coin like Bitcoin, simply as that.

This. Wonder why scammers are still creating scam ICOs? Because people are still throwing money at them for some reason. It's as if it's like people enjoy getting scammed. I thought after the cryptocurrency markets crashed that people would finally stop gambling with ICOs, but that doesn't seem the case. I honestly don't get it; as if "investing" in bitcoin wasn't risky enough.

[Peacemaker1994]

Spotting a scam ico is quite a hard task because the fact remains that an ico might pass all the test and still come out to be a scam project. So the most trusted strategy is to follow project manager with a good reputation

[mk4]

Spotting a scam ico is quite a hard task because the fact remains that an ico might pass all the test and still come out to be a scam project.

True. Though it's really easy to filter out the obvious ones. Sometimes a quick look on the project's website or knowing the use-case of the project is enough to determine if it's a scam. But then again, it's almost impossible to know 100% sure if a project is a scam or not. Some even put on the legitimate names of the CEO and the team, and still end up a scam in the end.

So the most trusted strategy is to follow project manager with a good reputation

The best strategy is to not "invest" or gamble in ICOs at all.

[3acaga]

You don’t even need to start watching that the authors of the ISO projects are scammers or not !!!
If you are interested in a specific ISO project - wait for these tokens to go public and just then buy them.
Basically, all the ISO scammers end their fate before entering the stock exchange.

[Marcel555]

Basically, all the ISO scammers end their fate before entering the stock exchange.

That's not always true, a project can continue a scam long after listing on an exchange.

There are different kind of scams, not just the quick exit after raising funds.
A project can get listed without investing any funds into developing the project, and some could also sell the tokens they hold at whatever the market price is for more gains. As not all investors check all parameters, before buying on exchange, some simply read the whitepaper and checked the amount raised during the ICO (amount published to have been raised).
Always do your due research.

[Kopyleft]

The risk associated with ICO investments is high and rewarding projects are few and far between.
And telling a good project is difficult as most projects are built from ideas with no previous structure or establishment.

I look for top, verifiable partnerships, which can give credence to the project.
There are many other factors to consider, but always be skeptical and consider every project a scam until they prove otherwise.

[BQ]

incase someone is looking for more things to look at I made a post before: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3760625

[troy.gold]

Here is a list of things you should check for when purchasing from an ICO:

• A use case for the token
• Proof the organisation is incorporated / registered
• Team members with established and linked social media account
• Ponzi scheme characteristics - if they are there, then be careful
• An original whitepaper (google portions from the whitepaper to verify it is unique)
• Low founder supplys
• A team that answers "difficult" questions

[Velkro]

Here is a list of things you should check for when purchasing from an ICO:

Most important thing is, check if you know what you are doing, if you know how this technology works u want to invest in. Why its not just another copy-paste of Bitcoin.
First thing to do.

[waitingtone]

use case for the token is tokenomic right? In some whitepapers i don't see they mention about this or no separated part for this, they just give some common information such as token type, token price. Projects like that could be scam because they don't have token accelerator.

[jseverson]

The simple and efficient way to avoid ico scam is to stick to investing in established coin.

This sadly goes against the idea since most of the investors in this market is looking for explosive growth. They basically "invest" in what has potential for cheap, and sell off once it takes off. I also have a feeling that most of them also know there's a high risk of a scam but they gamble anyway.

[troy.gold]

use case for the token is tokenomic right? In some whitepapers i don't see they mention about this or no separated part for this, they just give some common information such as token type, token price. Projects like that could be scam because they don't have token accelerator.

No, use case means

Does the token have an actual purpose or utility, or is it just a token created for no reason.

For example - the token can be used to purchase credit from an online store

[Dreamace7]

Spotting a scam ico could be tasking at time with the close to undetectable schemes organised by fraudster. Well your above idea could hold some sort of ground in tackling it I hope