Red flags while researching Babb
TLDR:
The CEO has a very inconsistent work experience stating to be the CEO of a company called Wowpaymobi, which is supposed to be highly successful, but The Internet has no record of ever existing. He has no significant work experience related to tech and blockchain and has recently decided to change his name, shortly before the start of Babb - 11.05.2017 to be exact.
Why am I writing this
So, I have been looking for a few nice ICOs to invest and I found this one:
https://getbabb.com
Obviously, I am a well-informed investor and I am not interested in spending my hard-earned money on the next scam, so I started doing some digging.
The CEO - Red Flag Number One
Ok, let's start with the profile of this guy who poses as a CEO:
Wow, that is a great and lovely picture. Let's check the linkedin profile of Rushd Averroes:
No red flags yet - he has about 500 + connection, a little bit of relevant work experience which does not really seem consistent (I mean the guy was a broker and then became a CEO of a company during the time that he was broker):
Wait! I think I got it. He was trading FX on these platforms, he was not actually working there, which would have been great, as it is somehow related work experience:
Hm, ok, this is kind of weird. Let's look at that website again and see what exactly Rushd is supposedly been doing at Wowpaymobi:
Wow! He managed an API! Aside from the fun I had with this, it does not mean anything yet. Let's go ahead and look at the website of the Wowpaymobi....
...except that there is no website:
There is a twitter account however! Let's head over there and have a look at the twitter account and read these amazing tweets:
... oh wait...there are none of them.
Anyway, just to make sure, I will head over to the homepage of Wowpay and just make sure that we are not making a mistake:
and let's quickly compare the address to the one of Babb:
Nope, no match here. So I guess Wowpaymobi probably did not exist.
**Red Flag Number 1. **
Red Flag Number Two - Company History
Oh man I am good at using google. Do you know what I found using our good old google friend? I found the company history of BABB APP LTD:
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07391093
I have especially highlighted the address of the company so that we are sure that we are talking about the same company, registered at Level 39 One Canada Square in London (as you can see from my highlighting, which is pretty good).
As you probably see from my second highlight, Babb used to be called Wowpaymobi LTD. AHA, found you, so you do exist! At the same time, the company used to be called "Al Kebsi Limited", which sounds a little bit like a kebab place. Hm...
I am really mesmerized by the name Al Kebsi Limited, so I am going to Google it and try to find out what does this guy have to do with keBabb...no sorry, Babb, hehe.
https://www.quora.com/profile/Khaled-Al-Kebsi
Hei wait, I know this guy!
Are you fucking kidding me? This is the CEO of Babb and my AI confirms a 100% match!
Well, good luck investing in that.
Red Flag Number 3 - CEO Changed names
Ok, I get it. You don't trust me. You want to make 100x. This is a great project. So you are telling yourself the following:
- Well sure, the CEO has some weird work experience
- His most recent experience is being the CEO of a company that does not exist in the world of internet
- The company used for Babb is 7 years old and has only 1000 GBP capital? Oh shit, I did not mention that. Allow me:
Have a look for yourself: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/07391093/filing-history/MzE3OTQ0ODcwM2FkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0
Ok, for my final bag of tricks I will pull of one of these cool company records (damn, the UK government really has to put them on the blockchain, for sure) and show you a fun fact, which you probably are already aware of, but just in case - Mr Rushd Averroes, CEO of Babb is indeed...Rushd Yas Khaled Al Kebsi, the fun guy from Quora.
Now, the question you should be asking yourself is, do you want to invest in a company that is:
a) lead by a CEO without any real work experience related to finance or blockchain;
b) has 1000 GBP in Assets looking to raise millions;
c) is lead by a CEO that CHANGED HIS NAME and forgot to mention it?
Your call.
P.S. This is a personal opinion based on internet researched open facts that everyone has access to. It should not be treated as a financial advice or any opinion about the reputation of the above discussed CEO.
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Hey you should be a detective..:) This is really interesting. Thanks for unearthing a scam for us!!
this is a one-sided and racist article they do not rate the company babb but only the ceo
A company is more than just a person
Babb is in my opinion an innovative company that can change the world
The idea is nice but do you really want to put your money on some shady guy? And i don't see anything racist in this article.
why kebab? al kebsi limited sounds not like a kebab place
I knew this was a scam with approximately a few minutes of research. I read the white paper and it soley targeted only Africa, MENA, and indian subcontients only. A british-based cryptocurrency is targetting former british colonies and offering citizens of those former british colonies british-backed crypto bank accounts #ReturnOfImperialism
I missed out on the BABB ICO, but I intend to pick some up when it hits exchanges. While I DON'T agree with the conclusions of the OP, I do applaud him doing his own research to try to dig into the company details prior to investing his hard earned money. I'd suggest in the future, the OP should direct findings such as these to the ICO company itself - and post what was the company's response together with the findings. BABB has a Telegram and other forums where questions like this can be asked directly. Since the OP chose to attack rather than inquire, the CEO of BABB directly addressed the concerns raised in this post on Medium, found in the article below:
https://medium.com/@BABB/there-was-recently-an-article-on-steemit-link-below-that-makes-a-few-observations-about-babb-and-496e84387bb4
The transparency of his response makes me even more confident in buying some BABB as soon as tokens are released.
Gosh!!! I already invest 2 ETH before reading this!!!
i'm also an investor for the past several years, i have a great track record and i have the wallet to back this up, i think you my freind are as wrong as anybody could ever be. (PANTS) Maybe you see things others dont maybe your just super paranoid but either way you are wrong. If you trying to make yourself sound important and clever then this blog may just come back to haunt you. Ridiculous blog from somebody trying to make pennys of steemit sad SAD SAD. Just my opinion though. SHIT detective SHIT write up and absolutely a SHIT BLOG.
Even though this is interesting and important to know, I don't think it invalidates the whole BABB project. And my reasons are this;
Even though he changed his name, the website getbabb.com provides direct links to the LinkedIn pages of the team, including the CEO. And it is clearly stated there that he changed his name. It doesn't take more than a few clicks to find that out. It's not like they're trying to hide it. He is most likely a beginning entrepreneur with ambitions that did not succeed, but have evolved into what is now BABB.
The credentials of the CTO are top notch. Someone with these credentials is not likely to damage his name for some sort of scam.
BABB is one of the ICOs that has been extremely engaged with the community. They are constantly giving updates, they released a survey asking the community what the most important features are, they release regular videos of their work behind the scenes and even have live streams.
The fact that it's a UK registered company alone is quite important regarding their credibility. If it was a scam, why would they be registered?
Lastly, all investments involve risk. The key is to figure out which risks are worth it and which are not. For me personally, the facts that have been presented, although interesting and important, are not enough of a deal breaker.
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