How to Identify Cryptocurrency Scams

[febriyana]

That is maybe hard maybe easy depend on what ico.
The easy way is looking roadmap, identify when they announcement match it with roadmap. Also check their social media like Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, is it fake? That is easy if you already know how to compare it.
Hard way is looking review from the other investor, there is still many fake review. You need know why they give good review, must be keep take caution.

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[Apaxy]

That is maybe hard maybe easy depend on what ico.
The easy way is looking roadmap, identify when they announcement match it with roadmap. Also check their social media like Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, is it fake? That is easy if you already know how to compare it.
Hard way is looking review from the other investor, there is still many fake review. You need know why they give good review, must be keep take caution.

It seems to me that at the initial stage it is very difficult to detect fraud, since fraudsters also work and improve their skills in order to present information about the Project so that even more attentive and professional investors are deceived.  Today, many cryptocurrency users are very attentive to the new project, and not as it was in 2016, and therefore even bad projects today look very attractive and promising.

[Magkirap]

Hey, this recently published article on how to avoid risky investments and spot frauds mentions our forum  

Link: https://medium.com/@Peter_UXer/how-to-identify-cryptocurrency-scams-813c32816ddf?source=friends_link&sk=da150ce8128c348da4b0dfdbf57e8e12

This was a great help, as a crypto user we should know how to identify cryptocurrency scams. For me, having a research was very important. We should be sure that the company has the credibility to operate to secure that they are not just decieving people. Also, as a trader we must have an experience on the actual trading of crypto asset so that we are aware with the crypto environment.

[DabsPoorVersion]

This article is a must-have for every crypto or non-crypto newbie.

Agreed. But actually all these things are so simple that even a child can guess them before investing.

Simple yet so many people fall for these scams. You seem to be a new member here unless this is your alt account, I have been on this forum for quite a long time and have seen people falling for such scams posted by new accounts, campaigns that don't have any escrows and other similar stuff.

That's because its not really easy to determine if a project is scam or not.
Most of the projects are showing in their platform that their project is legit and they have a long term plan for the project.

[nasipadang]

Hey, this recently published article on how to avoid risky investments and spot frauds mentions our forum 

Link: https://medium.com/@Peter_UXer/how-to-identify-cryptocurrency-scams-813c32816ddf?source=friends_link&sk=da150ce8128c348da4b0dfdbf57e8e12

In that article discusses the scams of making and use of fake sites (phishing) that are similar to the original site, with several attractions such as promoting social media using women's accounts and spreading. I was expecting something more technically in-depth information and analysis, indeed the article could help to identify fake investments for beginners. But for people who have long been in the world of cryptocurrency most likely such fraud will not be useful, we know that distinguishes the official/original site with fake.

[henmark]

It seems to me that at the initial stage it is very difficult to detect fraud, since fraudsters also work and improve their skills in order to present information about the Project so that even more attentive and professional investors are deceived.  Today, many cryptocurrency users are very attentive to the new project, and not as it was in 2016, and therefore even bad projects today look very attractive and promising.

The people that will always fall victim of scam more are investors that are more interested in pre ico, you know those investors only invest by faith and basically by the whitepaper that they read because no matter how much they try, they cannot verify the authenticity of a project from the beginning before they enter an exchange like those who wait for the project to enter an exchange first for them to fully verify if the project is according to what they promised and stand for or they have diverted from their main focus.

It is also when they have entered an exchange that you will get to know if the coin is really good to be held on to as a long term investment or just to be used as short term investment. The only way one can truly get to know a genuine project is when they have entered an exchange.

[Oneandpure]

We know some ICO and IEO are scam with lower interesting by investor, always checks how many investor have buy and invest their money at some cryptocurrency project.

But in my experience, the most easiest way to spot if a certain ICO is just a scam is if they can't provide solid information about their ICO, they don't have any website or their whitepaper is just copy pasted on other ICOs.

One way also is to look at their advisors. ICO's way back 2017 have some popular advisors like the creator of ethereum or waves. If they support the project then it will reduce the chance of being a scam. If they join many blockchain or crypto events then that proves they are serious about their project.

Advisor become how to know whit good ICO investing, last 2017 when many ICOs success with sold out and higher price after listing many experience advisor where they can take many investor not only on ICO time but also advisor can take many investor after coin listing on exchange market, the advisor give best service for ICO coin investment with best price for listing and have higher price for buy back on exchange market.

[Xxmodded]

for me is simple, I only rely on general information. if that doesn't meet, I'll consider it a scam, here's the criteria that I hold:
1. check the web and roadmap
2. Check sales or progress
3. what is the value of the coin
4. check social media
5. Check the telegram / discord
6. check the ICO / IEO list
7. check the market
8. check out Coinmarketcap.
if all is crowded, I consider it not or not yet a scam. if some are not updated. I assume is a scam.

Check website and road map because many ICO use fake site domain and we know about where their project location between place mention in website the same or not with place with domain, we can check value of some altcoin, never investing with coin have higher value because less interested by investor, price under $0.3 is very good for investing in IEO or ICO, never invest with coin have price above $1 because after listing will be dump.

[1982dre]

There are many ways to identify crypto scammers, but one of the most important is to be suspicious of too profitable offers.

If its sounds too good, its a scam. Thats the easiest way to check. ;-)

[micalith]

I might add some more to these in order to understand a scam cryptocurrency. Firstly, we need to check the raise amount, if it is too high, this will be suspicious. Team should put a low limit to increase their motivation for the upcoming investments. On the other hand, if they offer incredible bonuses, it is probably scam. This is pre-ICO. If they hide somehow, check these details and decide to buy their coins or not.

[Fappanu]

This article is a must-have for every crypto or non-crypto newbie.

Agreed. But actually all these things are so simple that even a child can guess them before investing.

And because its so simple to understand wether its scam or not, so more people proceed even they know that it is scam, since they knew already how it works and how they can profit especially in ponzis.

And because they know the trend to make money they will still join others even though they know it's risky because of this they will earn, In referrals. And we should avoid this because we are just bringing our crypto partners to ruin! I've seen this happen many times and it just keeps coming back.

So let's avoid it! Let's avoid ponzi investments.

[Kupid002]

I might add some more to these in order to understand a scam cryptocurrency. Firstly, we need to check the raise amount, if it is too high, this will be suspicious. Team should put a low limit to increase their motivation for the upcoming investments. On the other hand, if they offer incredible bonuses, it is probably scam. This is pre-ICO. If they hide somehow, check these details and decide to buy their coins or not.

I will agree to you sometimes an ICO faking what they raised so when it is listed in the market they will sell it there . They faked it to create hype to investors that will look like a good coin to invest but actually they just want to sell it to investors In exchange. Since they have more of the supply they can easily manipulate the price and faked the demand by seting buy Orders

[sarnic]

Cryptocurrency exchange spam is one thing, but it could go worse, if while looking for some advice and way how to get funds back, we may be deceived again. There are plenty of platforms which offers help in this case and then it turns out that is another fraud. So I think it’s much safer to use services of companies focused on such stuff e.g. Coinfirm, they can reclaim stolen cryptocurrencies. Reclaim crypto is only one of many products offered by this company. Coinfirm has been on the market for several years now and has worked with the biggest giants such as Binance throughout its history. You can gain more info in this article:  https://www.coindesk.com/theres-a-new-way-to-get-your-stolen-crypto-back

[crisanto01]

I might add some more to these in order to understand a scam cryptocurrency. Firstly, we need to check the raise amount, if it is too high, this will be suspicious. Team should put a low limit to increase their motivation for the upcoming investments. On the other hand, if they offer incredible bonuses, it is probably scam. This is pre-ICO. If they hide somehow, check these details and decide to buy their coins or not.

I will agree to you sometimes an ICO faking what they raised so when it is listed in the market they will sell it there . They faked it to create hype to investors that will look like a good coin to invest but actually they just want to sell it to investors In exchange. Since they have more of the supply they can easily manipulate the price and faked the demand by seting buy Orders

They are manipulating as long as they can, sometimes they are saying that they have reached the hard cap but they can't even enter a good exchange, they just listing on an exchange which is free and no actual volume at all. So, for me, that's very obvious that they are not telling the truth, especially if they can't provide what was the actual raised, or proof of what have been collected and where are they going to use those fund.

[Emitdama]

Detecting a scam is no longer a hard job for me. Sometimes, there are projects I will see and I wouldn't need anyone to tell me that they are scammers, I just see them and automatically I know that they are scammers. Some scammers are just so dumb and when you see them talk, they talk rubbish, unless you are someone without experience.

If you check some scam projects on this forum or other places, the kind of projects they post you wouldn't need anyone to tell you. And another way I easily tell scammers is through their team, I never fail to check out their team through their social handles , their activities can tell if they are real, and whether the account was created newly or not.

[Kupid002]

They are manipulating as long as they can, sometimes they are saying that they have reached the hard cap but they can't even enter a good exchange, they just listing on an exchange which is free and no actual volume at all. So, for me, that's very obvious that they are not telling the truth, especially if they can't provide what was the actual raised, or proof of what have been collected and where are they going to use those fund.

That was the problem they can also manipulate even the ICO website  to think that they have reached the hardcap. but its not and they will not give transaction to the address they are claiming bought by investors. Other give it but they are the one who buy the token not from real investors.

[dewin]

This article is a must-have for every crypto or non-crypto newbie.

Agreed. But actually all these things are so simple that even a child can guess them before investing.

Yeah, that's examples of TT accounts seems to be scam at first glance, but some of them are made pretty good and some newbie could unfortunately fall for it.

[xabre]

They are manipulating as long as they can, sometimes they are saying that they have reached the hard cap but they can't even enter a good exchange, they just listing on an exchange which is free and no actual volume at all. So, for me, that's very obvious that they are not telling the truth, especially if they can't provide what was the actual raised, or proof of what have been collected and where are they going to use those fund.

That was the problem they can also manipulate even the ICO website  to think that they have reached the hardcap. but its not and they will not give transaction to the address they are claiming bought by investors. Other give it but they are the one who buy the token not from real investors.

Many ICO manipulated sold coin information to public and make investor very interested invest on their project, before ICO ended they have announce about reached hard cap but never want listed on exchange market although have pass hard cap, after few weeks later annouce about little sold coin to public and make many investor disappointed for investing on ICO.

[barbara44]

They are manipulating as long as they can, sometimes they are saying that they have reached the hard cap but they can't even enter a good exchange, they just listing on an exchange which is free and no actual volume at all. So, for me, that's very obvious that they are not telling the truth, especially if they can't provide what was the actual raised, or proof of what have been collected and where are they going to use those fund.

Personally, I don’t allow myself to be deceived by that progress gauge that they do put on their site because anyone could manipulate that to favor them according to how they want it to be and people also have already caught this scope too which I don’t think that they do fall into and I think it is the same reason why those new project now don't even use that gauge again.

All these scam projects are also not finding it funny at all again as most of the investors that we have has really wise up and they would not just fall for any project they see, and now that it has now become so difficult to even identify them, people would just rather stay off any new project that they have no slight assurance for except some of these IEO projects that is not common to come by.

[BobBct]

Base on my experience, I had hard time identifying scam even after checking the background of founder, checking reviews, there website, medium and many other factors. Because in the end of the they, it's either a scam or a failed project. But looking on these factors will at least lessen your chance to get involved in scams. Good luck.