ICO’s are an innovative and strategic way for cash-strapped startups to raise money for their projects. There are thousands of them as we speak and the number continues to grow. Unfortunately, many of these are scams that target uneducated and beginner crypto investors. But you don’t have to discount every startup though. There are some that will help you find scams out there. Let’s check out ten, key scam signs right now.
ICO SITES LINKED BY PERSONAL MESSAGE ON SLACK AND TELEGRAM
Slack and Telegram are great tools for honest ICO’s to send announcements to their community. However, scammers are taking advantage of them for malicious activities. A common technique is a phishing message linked to a fraudulent website that clones the real one. Some of these links will even take you to a fake page that has you send money directly to a scammers crypto wallet. Hence, always make sure you check out the website address bar and look for a “secure” marker.HACKERS AND IMPERSONATORS
Another trick that scammers will use on Slack and Telegram is the method of impersonation. Scammers will often make fake Telegram accounts that mimic that of an actual admin. From there, they send personal messages to community members and either get them to send money directly or link them to a malicious ICO website.WEAK WHITEPAPER
Whitepapers are not exactly fun reads but they are a major part of any legitimate ICO. If a Whitepaper is filled with dense technical information that tells you the ins and outs of the project, then that’s a good sign. However, many scam ICO’s will whip up some weak whitepaper that attempts to fool you with flashy images and buzzwords. Try to read past all this nonsense and look for the legitimate facts.SHADY BACKGROUND OF DEVELOPERS
Just because an ICO has their team members listed on the landing page, doesn’t mean they are all legitimate ones. Scam ICO’s will often use fake people with fictional backgrounds as an attempt to add legitimacy to their project. Furthermore, some fake projects will use real people with shady backgrounds. Hence, it’s important to do your own research. If developers were involved in some unsuccessful projects or fraudulent operations, its’ time to look elsewhere.UNREALISTIC GOALS
Everyone loves an ambitious startup but is there such thing as too ambitious? Absolutely. Scam ICOs will often have fascinating, but incredibly unrealistic goals. Being motivated is one thing but outright lying to your community about goals and how fast they will be completed is a big warning sign. Therefore, it helps to analyze the roadmap of a given ICO and make sure their goals are realistic ones.
Hopefully, those tips helped to open your eyes to the world of crypto scammers. A little awareness goes a long way. So, make sure to keep a watch out for fraudulent opportunities and report them whenever possible.
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