▁ ▂ ▄ ▅ ▆ Cloudmining 101 (ponzi risk assessment) ▆ ▅ ▄ ▂ ▁

[cesmak]

LOL 13 years mining analist...... pre satoshi nakamoto....

Great !!!!

[suchmoon]

LOL 13 years mining analist...... pre satoshi nakamoto....

Great !!!!

Obviously he IS Satoshi Nakamoto and we have learned his true name: JOHN DOE.

[BTCdoaA]

please update the thread by adding hashscam to the list

[wishxy]

...And this is how things should be done.
Warning people is not enough and investments should be protected on global level. Specially because of people who are in hard life situations.

https://www.change.org/p/fbi-fbi-and-interpol-hashocean-700-000-people-swindled

Support is important, not only by warning.

[cesmak]

LOL 13 years mining analist...... pre satoshi nakamoto....

Great !!!!

Obviously he IS Satoshi Nakamoto and we have learned his true name: JOHN DOE.

Yes and now we can go to search it in the milions of john doe lost on earth...... 

[tmfp]

Some newbie is threatening to call the Feds because he got ripped for 6 euros by bitcoinmining.me/ , so we better put them on the 7/7 list.

[Indianacoin]

--- UPDATED LIST (13/07/2016) ---

{Previous update: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=878387.msg14980900#msg14980900}

Please read OP thoroughly before studying the list below.

Note: Use the "Find" function (Ctrl+F) on your browser and type the name of a cloudmining site you want to find from the list and research thoroughly before buying a contract from there.


Ponzi's that have already collapsed as predicted:

Code:

topmine.io            1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
hashocean.com         1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
bitsrapid.com         1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
cldmine.com           1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
ponzicloud.org        1+2+3+4+6+7+8      => 7/7 = Ponzi (Company that calls itself a ponzi. There's nothing funnier than that.)
hourlycoins.biz       1+2+3+4+6+7+8      => 7/7 = Ponzi
bitcoincloudservices  1+2+4+5+6*+7       => 6/7 = Ponzi (* founded by known scammer  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=860400.msg9638868#msg9638868)
bitcoinminersuk.com   1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
Lbtcl.com             1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
bitknock.com          1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
PBmining.com          1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
Lunaminer.com         1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
coinsoncloud.eu       1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
Cryptomine.io         1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
hashie.co             1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
bitcoinlabmining.com  1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi 
ltcgear               1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
hashprofit.com        1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
minethatcloud.com     1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
CoIntellect.com       1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
chabatmining.com      1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
Ecrypto.co.in         1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi (+ confirmed scam, they are no partners of cex.io)
GenerateBTC.com       1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
cloudminr.io          1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
grmining.com          1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
hashwar.co            1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
bitrush.com           1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
scrypt.cc             1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
Kryptologika          1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
Cryptsy MN            1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi ( + no details on fee structure) (withdrawl problems noticed!)
Coolhash.com          1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi (+ possible malware/wallet stealing software)
Bitminr.com           1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi (+ possible malware/wallet stealing software)
MineProfit.com        1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi (+ possible malware/wallet stealing software)
SpecialMiner.com      1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi  (+ possible malware/wallet stealing software)
Scryptsy.com          1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
cloudhours.net        1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
bitcoinmaker.ch       1+2+3+4+6+7+8      => 7/7 = Ponzi

Likely Ponzi scams that have yet to collapse:

Code:

bitcoinmining.me      1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
redcloudmining.com    1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
hash-line.com         1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
btcmine.com           1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
scurmrr.com           1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
gigahash.org          1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
sky-hash.com          1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
bitcoremining.com     1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
coinhash.net          1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
bitzfree.com          1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi (Luring visitors with free contracts at signup. That's the tip of an iceberg)
sea-mining.com        1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi (Luring visitors with free contracts at signup. That's the tip of an iceberg)
coindig.eu            1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
bitmach.net           1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
oxbtc.com             1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
bitcoremining.com     1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
bitclubnetwork.com    1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi (+ a rapist giving testimonial to this service > https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1152263.msg12133964#msg12133964)
coince.com            1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
terabox.me            1+2+3*+4+5+6+7*    => 7*/7 = Ponzi (pictures are not at all convincing, exit strategy involves  60+ days stall tactic)
fortacloud.co         1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
HourlyMine.com        1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8    => 7/7 = Ponzi
bitcoinmining.me      1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi
Skycoinlab.com        1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi (+ organized by serial ponzi scammer: ?topic=583177.msg10298730)
btcslice.com          1+2+3+4+5+6+7      => 7/7 = Ponzi (+ pays out in reversible paypal ?)
Powerhashing.com      1+2+3+4+5+6   => 6/7 = Ponzi
cloudmining.website   2+3+4+5+6+7        => 6/7 = Ponzi
eobot.com             1+2+3+5+6+7        => 6/7 = Ponzi (+ possible malware/wallet stealing software)
nexusmining.com       1+2*+3+4+5+7       => 6/7 = Ponzi (Guy from Spondoolies says im wrong, but I can't score what I haven't seen and he seems to confirm they have no hardware)
minerslab.com         1+2+3+4+6+7        => 6/7 = Ponzi (+ selling hardware that doesnt exist + using purchased "legendary" account)
starthash.com         1+2+4+5+7          => 5/7 = Ponzi 
cloudmining.sg        1+2+4+6+7          => 5/7 = Ponzi (Founder's LinkedIn account deleted, Uses Weebly's free checkout platform)
hashcoins.com 
and hashflare.io     ~1+2+3+4+7          => 5/7 = (very) suspicious (user selectable pool requires fee, dc pictures show no miners, linkedin profile and other testimonials doctored, hardware sales very dubious,..) (*now owned by hashflare.io)
Zeushash              1+2+3+4+5          => 5/7 = (very) suspicious
Bitminer.eu           1+2+5+6            => 4/7 = Suspicious (+ Pictures of their miners might be Photoshopped)
Miningsweden.se       1+2*+5+7           => 4/7 = Highly Suspicious (*Paused paying their active contracts and claimed of hosting a miner which is not even launched by the concerned vendor)

Rest:

Code:

genesis-mining.com    1+2+5+7            => 4/7 = Probably legit.
pow88.com             1+2+5              => 3/7 = Probably legit (preliminary assessment) (Suspicious referral bonus : 1% hourly !!!)
Bit-x.com             1+4                => 2/7 = Probably legit (preliminary assessment, partnership confirmed by Bitfury) (Their service is terminated recently)
haobtc.com            1+2                => 2/7 = Probably Legit (investment based cloudmining company => https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1023187.0)
bw.com                1                  => 1/7 = Legit (1 - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=878387.msg13605117#msg13605117)
Hashnest              1                  => 1/7 = Legit (1 - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=878387.msg13605117#msg13605117)
miningrigrentals.com                     => 0/7 = Legit (Trustless, P2P mining rental service, not an active cloudmining site.)
nicehash.com                             => 0/7 = Legit (Trustless, P2P mining rental service, not an active cloudmining site.)

Obsolete or suspended:

Code:

AMhash                                   => 0/7 = Legit
KNCcloud              7                  => 1/7 = Legit
Cex.io                4                  => 1/7 = Legit
Cryptx PETAmine                          => 0/7 = Legit
Megamine.com          1+4                => 2/7 = Probably legit
GAWminers             1+4+5+~7           => 4/7*= Possibly/partially legit based on criteria set forth. Based on wider context: more suspicious than a nun squatting in a cucumber field

Tips are much appreciated for maintaining and updating the list periodically!
Tip jar: 1SoumyadbsfCGsSekYdgAkWpGZM3WSaxt

Thanks

[Indianacoin]

Major changes have been done on the already collapsed and likely to be collapsed lists.
Please search through the list before asking whether a site is legitimate.

Some newbie is threatening to call the Feds because he got ripped for 6 euros by bitcoinmining.me , so we better put them on the 7/7 list.

Please remove the link from your comment because that post is indirectly giving a backlink for Googlebot to index their site nearly on top. And next time try to keep this in mind while sharing a ponzi mining site.

Just to start the day with a smile, here's Redcloudmine dot com, a totally 8/7 absurd scam with a classic "About me" page

 

Lol. They did not even change the naming template and kept John Doe. Such an illiterate webmaster will be serving cloud mining contracts!

[daniele_83]

great 

John Doe will wait now

[pawel7777]

Just to start the day with a smile, here's Redcloudmine dot com, a totally 8/7 absurd scam with a classic "About me" page

 

https://i.imgur.com/xlPp78o.png

"...mining analyst for 13 years..."

Sonofabitch was analysing bitcoin mining 6 years before first block was mined. That's what I call an expert!

[Guruclef]

I would consider miningsweden to be collapsed already. Payouts stopped a long time ago now.

[xavierdamman]

Hi,

Thanks for the updated table. I have been following your post for a while, but have only created an account today as I have pretty good evidence against a fraudulent cloud service named CloudMint.io.

I spent many hours this past month attempting to evaluate the honesty of this service and think I have enough to elaborate now. I'm a social networks professional and hope I can bring my 2 cents in fighting these scammers.

I've not read anything about CoinMint on the forum so far, nor have I found much  evidence on google about them. I'm not buying anything from them, have a look and keep reading as I make my point:
https://www.coinmint.io/

The website contains data which doesn't look serious (google image'd their "about us" pictures and found no other place where these are used), moreover, the "us" are either fake people or can be linked to an almost blank CEO account. Keep reading.

The only "about us" you might consider remembering is "James Leary". And while you're at it, ask their "live chat": "are you a robot?" and remember the answer.

Long story made short: In my opinion "they" are a fraud based on the following assessment:
1 +2 +3 + 4 + 6 + 7

Evaluating #6 (anonymous, hidden operators) has led me to some intriguing "findings" about the owner / possible owner.  Here are fishy things you may like to consider.

6: anonymous operators

Ask whois.net about www.coinmint.io and here is what you get:

Domain : coinmint.io
Status : Client Updt+Delt Lock
Expiry : 2017-03-01

NS 1 : kay.ns.cloudflare.com
NS 2 : sam.ns.cloudflare.com

Owner Name : Prieur Leary
Owner OrgName : Coinmint Corporation
Owner Addr : 1201 ORANGE ST!Unit 304
Owner Addr : Wilmington
Owner Addr : Delaware
Owner Addr : US

Then, I've initiated a purchase without checking out, but enough to get the Paypal account that's registered as recipient:
"Fortacloud/Coinmint (prieur3@infolinkco.com)" is the recipient for payments.

We'll get back to fortacloud right away, but first, infolinkco...
- the domain redirects to a hosting server "https://www.serverpronto.com/"
- live chat isn't using a bot, or not the same at least.
- remember these names: infolink and serverpronto...

Ok, Prieur Leary, who are you?

About FortaCloud (http://fortacloud.co/):
- they show off their Datacenter capabilities arround the world (even PCI certified ones)
- the CEO is "Prieur Leary", sounds familiar? Remember, there's a dude called "James Leary" on the "about us" page of CoinMint.co who doesn't show up anywhere else on google.
- The CEO's LinkedIn page (https://www.linkedin.com/in/prieur-leary-497657a7) is pretty empty.
- Google doesn't yet clearly mention a link between FortaCloud and CoinMint.
- The bot-chat system on FortaCloud front page answers exactly the same as does the one of CoinMint to "are you a robot?", this use of a similar bot-chat service strengthens the link between them.

Type "FortaCloud" in Linkedin and only 2 profiles show up (for a provider as big as they claim to be?):
- our friend Prieur Leary
- a second guy with a full length CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crivera305 (Christopher Rivera... ha! A real CV with recommendations from real people... Chris, are you behind this scam?)

Hmm I now have a look at CoinMint's twitter:
https://twitter.com/coinmynt
Almost empty.

Now I have a look at the linked twitter account on FortaCloud:
https://twitter.com/fortacloud

Fortacloud retweets the following....
Look for april 19th, a dude named "CordaroStewart" says "Invest in Bitcoin. Daily Payouts, Best Returns. http://www.coinmint.io"

There is no other hard link between both of them on google. But that paypal account is sufficient evidence!

Look further and "FortaCloud" is also known as "fortatrust": for that name linkedin shows about 9 members (Again, we have Christopher Rivera) . One of them probably owns the (scam?) service CoinMint.

Last minute finding about CoinMin.io aka Fortatrust aka FortaCloud (aka <long list>)
"These are the same guys as ServerPronto and Infolink.
Do not order from them, look them up and you'll see why."

A whole thread of 2014 identifies them as scammers:
https://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/31635/fortacloud-2-gig-ram-free-vps-discovered-to-be-a-scam

Fortatrust is described as a scam, the post adds credit to think Fortatrust and Fortacloud are linked and they are in bed with serverpronto. Or better, they're the same person.

More evidence using Linkedin, a FortaTrust anonymous employee is "Operations Manager Infolink Panama" (infolink is the domain of prieur leary's paypal account, remember?)

Now I also see the name Octavio Diaz: worked for both FortaTrust and ServerPronto. Small world.

[lottery248]

Hi,

Thanks for the updated table. I have been following your post for a while, but have only created an account today as I have pretty good evidence against a fraudulent cloud service named CloudMint.io.

I spent many hours this past month attempting to evaluate the honesty of this service and think I have enough to elaborate now. I'm a social networks professional and hope I can bring my 2 cents in fighting these scammers.

I've not read anything about CoinMint on the forum so far, nor have I found much  evidence on google about them. I'm not buying anything from them, have a look and keep reading as I make my point:
https://www.coinmint.io/

The website contains data which doesn't look serious (google image'd their "about us" pictures and found no other place where these are used), moreover, the "us" are either fake people or can be linked to an almost blank CEO account. Keep reading.

The only "about us" you might consider remembering is "James Leary". And while you're at it, ask their "live chat": "are you a robot?" and remember the answer.

Long story made short: In my opinion "they" are a fraud based on the following assessment:
1 +2 +3 + 4 + 6 + 7

Evaluating #6 (anonymous, hidden operators) has led me to some intriguing "findings" about the owner / possible owner.  Here are fishy things you may like to consider.

6: anonymous operators

Ask whois.net about www.coinmint.io and here is what you get:

Domain : coinmint.io
Status : Client Updt+Delt Lock
Expiry : 2017-03-01

NS 1 : kay.ns.cloudflare.com
NS 2 : sam.ns.cloudflare.com

Owner Name : Prieur Leary
Owner OrgName : Coinmint Corporation
Owner Addr : 1201 ORANGE ST!Unit 304
Owner Addr : Wilmington
Owner Addr : Delaware
Owner Addr : US

Then, I've initiated a purchase without checking out, but enough to get the Paypal account that's registered as recipient:
"Fortacloud/Coinmint (prieur3@infolinkco.com)" is the recipient for payments.

We'll get back to fortacloud right away, but first, infolinkco...
- the domain redirects to a hosting server "https://www.serverpronto.com/"
- live chat isn't using a bot, or not the same at least.
- remember these names: infolink and serverpronto...

Ok, Prieur Leary, who are you?

About FortaCloud (http://fortacloud.co/):
- they show off their Datacenter capabilities arround the world (even PCI certified ones)
- the CEO is "Prieur Leary", sounds familiar? Remember, there's a dude called "James Leary" on the "about us" page of CoinMint.co who doesn't show up anywhere else on google.
- The CEO's LinkedIn page (https://www.linkedin.com/in/prieur-leary-497657a7) is pretty empty.
- Google doesn't yet clearly mention a link between FortaCloud and CoinMint.
- The bot-chat system on FortaCloud front page answers exactly the same as does the one of CoinMint to "are you a robot?", this use of a similar bot-chat service strengthens the link between them.

Type "FortaCloud" in Linkedin and only 2 profiles show up (for a provider as big as they claim to be?):
- our friend Prieur Leary
- a second guy with a full length CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crivera305 (Christopher Rivera... ha! A real CV with recommendations from real people... Chris, are you behind this scam?)

Hmm I now have a look at CoinMint's twitter:
https://twitter.com/coinmynt
Almost empty.

Now I have a look at the linked twitter account on FortaCloud:
https://twitter.com/fortacloud

Fortacloud retweets the following....
Look for april 19th, a dude named "CordaroStewart" says "Invest in Bitcoin. Daily Payouts, Best Returns. http://www.coinmint.io"

There is no other hard link between both of them on google. But that paypal account is sufficient evidence!

Look further and "FortaCloud" is also known as "fortatrust": for that name linkedin shows about 9 members (Again, we have Christopher Rivera) . One of them probably owns the (scam?) service CoinMint.

Last minute finding about CoinMin.io aka Fortatrust aka FortaCloud (aka <long list>)
"These are the same guys as ServerPronto and Infolink.
Do not order from them, look them up and you'll see why."

A whole thread of 2014 identifies them as scammers:
https://www.lowendtalk.com/discussion/31635/fortacloud-2-gig-ram-free-vps-discovered-to-be-a-scam

Fortatrust is described as a scam, the post adds credit to think Fortatrust and Fortacloud are linked and they are in bed with serverpronto. Or better, they're the same person.

More evidence using Linkedin, a FortaTrust anonymous employee is "Operations Manager Infolink Panama" (infolink is the domain of prieur leary's paypal account, remember?)

Now I also see the name Octavio Diaz: worked for both FortaTrust and ServerPronto. Small world.

thanks for telling about that, however, the sign that indicates ponzi scam is more explicit nowadays.
anyway did you know, you can sure it is a ponzi if they have referrals?

[Indianacoin]

~snip~

Thanks for providing a detailed explanation of how its been scamming, I appreciate that.
I will update CloudMint.io in the upcoming updated list.

Till then you can stay on the forum giving us more updates on any other sites in your opinion as scam.
We need people like you to bust these scam organisations out there.

Thank you.

[effect515]

bit-x was changed to coindesk, seems no mining service available..

[tylerderden]

Let me share my recent experience with Genesis Mining
Recently they decrease the payment dramatically!!! Compared to 1 month ago - now they pay something like 1/10 (or 10%) of what they pay before December 2015 !
So if you like to invest there - the choice is yours

Hey your lucky, they took my "lifetime" contracts away after a month of low payments, accounts gone the whole deal. My btc is still around I'm sure, so are the data centers full of miners in the pictures that they use to sell new people into their scam that were paid for by myself and others who bought at that time...those are still around as well. Genesis is a total scam, not sure about you guys but selling a lifetime contract then deleting someone's account and keeping their money and continuing to mine with equipment they paid for qualifies as a scam in my "what is a scam" manual.

[crazyivan]

Hahah, John Doe, these people don't even try to hide the fact it s nothing but an ordinary scam.

[JasonXG]

Dude thank you for doing all this research. Its increadably helpful and has saved us all so many countless hours of research and money otherwise wasted on scams. You have gone so in depth its great. I dont really think mining is the most lucrative investment as you need to break even first. I feel investments that pay profits out regularly are better since you can withdraw at anytime. For example altcoin investments.

[Sontoloyo]

Awesome,  I've invested on bitcoincloudservices.com & ltcgear.com. By now, all im hoping is just to not get screwed at 100% of my investment. But As an investor. We all have to know that you would never invest what you can't afford to lose.

[tmfp]

So many about it's hard to keep up, but bitcoinvest.de appears to tick nearly all the boxes, their website spiel is a mishmash of various scam sites, their address residential and they have no proof of anything.
The only box they don't tick is "promising a guaranteed ROI" and they take the BitClub Network approach by (correctly) implying that any site that does is a ponzi and therefore (incorrectly) that any sites that don't aren't ponzis.
Old logic trick/fail.