Anyone in the crypto space for more than 24 hours is aware that scams get media attention . . . after the fact. The question which needs some attention is how to spot these scams before it gets too late.
Website. White Paper. Team. The triangle of an ICO is the starting point when doing your own research (DYOR). Depending on your faith in media, you can also check out Twitter feeds, Reddit, Medium, LinkedIn, and chat groups such as Telegraph. And finally check out their GitHub coding action.
Just be aware that all this stuff can be outsourced, faked and just plain garbage. News articles can be bought (Payola). YouTubers can receive bounties for promotions (without declaring that the fabulous review was sponsored). A quick check of the marketing budget in the White Paper can be a good indicator of how much hot air has inflated the importance of any project.
Let's go back to one of the first three items of the DYOR Triangle. Fake Teams are more common than what you might imagine.
Nextblock (created by Alex Tapscott) falsely claimed that Kathryn Haun, Vinny Lingham, Dmitry Buterin and Karen Gifford were all on board and then raised a bunch of money and then had to give it all back. https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/nextblock-ceo-alex-tapscott-cancels-plans-go-public-and-will-return-money-investors/
Here is another example regarding the advisory Team for Molecule. A number of experts are listed on the site but as those advisors are currently discovering their role via Twitter, they are announcing that they are in no way affiliated with the project.
So not only are fake ICOs making fake websites, but they are also creating fake teams. What are real people who get listed as advisors to do?
Andreas Antonopoulos has gone so far as to put a disclaimer on his site:
Also, I do not allow my reputation to be used for marketing. While I do work as an advisor for a few companies, they are prohibited from using my name in public. I do not endorse, promote or speak about companies, products or ICOs, upon request. I speak only about the technologies that I use or study and only as technologies, not companies or investment opportunities. I find those myself and do not need or want prompting. https://antonopoulos.com/promotion/
Scammers are counting on you to be lazy and not do research. They will promote their project using every trick in the book to get your attention and your money. Bottom line, you are responsible for you. Never let your desire for a quick buck lead you to make poor decisions. If you find out that something is fake, then share that information so we can all learn how to protect ourselves in the future.
Reposted with permission from https://fyreum.org/2018/01/31/how-to-avoid-scam-icos/