It's a scheme that makes a few people a lot of money... while all others lose out.
As I'm writing this article, District0X is experiencing an incredible green run - pumping around 30% in value in the past hour or so. As tempting as it is to jump on this rocket mid-flight, I'm sitting back and resisting it.
Now, I could be wrong - maybe there are some who are "in the know" who are picking this coin up before it really gets going after some amazing announcement. But I've seen this before - and with this particular currency, on a number of occasions.
Pump and dumps in traditional markets are illegal, but in the wild west of cryptoland, this is not the case. Groups organise on social media channels like Telegram and coordinate a pump to a given goal price before bailing and selling off. Of course, it's rare for the group to meet the goal price as most participants will start selling before the peak to selfishly protect their own gains, but the real victims are those who are not "in the know" and wind up buying at the artificially created peak price in the hopes of striking it rich.
You can have a look at this website to check out pumping and dumping patterns and protect yourself from dumps. If you like to gamble, I guess you could try jumping in on pumps like this and see if you can make some money. Personally, I have never participated in a pump and dump and wouldn't recommend it as it is highly likely you will lose funds in the end.
*This is not professional trading advice - it's just my opinion!
If you're interested in trading cryptocurrencies, check out Binance by using the link in my profile 
image source:
https://restislaw.com/cftc-crypto-pump-dump-whistleblower/