Hello everyone!
Today, we will look at a recently happened scam ICO, what red flags were leading up to the fundraiser and of course how to avoid smiliar events in the future.
First, a question. Look at the crowdsale page i've linked below.
Website, Crowdsale Site, Bitcointalk ANN thread
Everything looks good, right? Not really, something very important is missing. Can you tell what key info is missing from the crowdsale page? It is the identities. None of the owners, developers or advisors are listed. They are asking millions in investments, but they didn't put their name on the page. This is the first red flag.
The second red flag is so, so obvious. Do you know they didn't write a single line of code? They used one of older versions of ETHroll, and when asked why this is so, answer of the CEO was this : "Our intentions in using Etheroll's old code was to protect our final product from malicious copycat attempts from potential competitors."
Basically, they say they copied their competitors' code to stop them from copying their own code. What?
Third red flag isn't really obvious, but it's a big one. The founders, developers and the team of the project? They don't exist. The names are fake, and photos stolen from other people. Always check for active linkedin profiles and other proof before believing photos and descriptions provided.
Fourth red flag is math. Under the best estimations, break even for the investment of this token is 19 months, as per calculations that can be seen here. Who in their right minds would gamble on this instead of holding their Ethereum?
Always double check everything, read a lot of replies in bitcointalk threads and don't invest a penny unless you understand the investment and potential return. NEVER assume things will gain value just because they are cryptos. A lot of people will go bankrupt in this space, stay safe.