Warning: The risk of Cryptocurrencies –Mysterious Scammers stole Millions of Dollars
Cryptocurrencies have been a blessing to many people due to the potential to making super normal profits with little investment. Conversely, however, just like HYIP , Ponzi and Pyramid schemes (many people have been scammed in these programs , so avoid them) cryptocurrencies are fraught with scammers in need of fast money. Most worryingly, these scammers know what people want in ICO ( top team , project, etc) and thus create fake profiles with real people´s ID´s and linkedin profile links.
Moreover, according to CNBCnews ,
There is big money in ICOs, and they are largely unregulated. Last year, companies raised $3.8 billion via ICOs, and this year alone they have already raised $2.8 billion, according to data from CoinSchedule, a site which tracks the activity in the space.
But ICOs are unregulated in most countries, meaning investors don't have the protections that they enjoy with other assets such as stocks. However regulators are keeping a closer eye on ICO activity, amid a rising number of reports of scams
I am sure that you guys still remember the issue with Bitconnect , including other too good to be true projects and HYIP´s. Most recently, GIZA scammed investor a total of 2MUSD via ICO and now their website is offline however you can see archived one here -take note how perfect all info´s are including team profiles.
According to CNBC
"Everything was fine, until that company that was meant to develop their device came out on the internet and said that Giza has cut ties, and it seems to be a scam and they might not be developing anything. Then things started looking fishy. Read full story here
Some takeaways:
Due diligence: There is no perfect solution to avoiding fake projects because scammers are very smart. The main thing to note is that you should invest on projects you at least can contact / know some of the main project leaders and in some cases have a word or chat with them. Moreover, as I indicated in my last posts-invest only your spare cash -especially amount you can lose and avoid all too good to be true schemes because no one will give you free money.
Established coins: Some people avoid ICO´s due to scam projects and only invest in top coins with real life value. A good example is steem (steem power) which gives investors opportunities to making daily profits. On the other hand, a smart diversification and targeting undervalued new tokesn/coins: catch them when they are young (after a due diligence) will be helpful.
Do you agree? Send in your comments and or suggestions, upvote in order to send in your support and resteem in order for others to learn.
Click here and read my former post:Will Steem and other altcoins ever move out of Bitcoin Shadow?
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This is a wake up call to people who invest all their savings in a volatile market . For me, the best strategy is diversification especially in undervalued coins/ tokens. Steem power is also good due to ability to earn daily profits through delegations, curation, posts and interest. Guys avoid HYIP, Pyramid schemes and too good to be true schemes as indicated in this post. Good post indeed, upped-100%
These scammers are everywhere. I saw a list recently with over 20 companies that were scams.
I almost registered an account on two of them.
Thanks to @charles1 for sharing this with us.
Good that you recognised on time...more success to you
Thanks bro. More success to you too.
A safest strategy for beginners is to wait for a big exchange to list a token and buy it from there, because listing means that there is a strong community support for a project. Respected exchanges rarely list shitcoins.
With such strategy investor might miss some profits if a project skyrockets before listing on a big exchange, but the risks to loss money will be decreased. Basically, investor will trust an exchange to make a research for him, which is a perfect strategy for newcomers who can't afford spending hours researching and monitoring news for each project.
Good Point for safety, however you might miss the supernormal profit
Well analysed little lady Ronja...thanks for your comment and suggestions
It's mostly the hedge funds pumping and dumping
Possible
Agreed. People like you, should guide and explain newbies about new ways and verified source of earnings so people can avoid wasting time and money on useless and scam things. But unfortunately, mostly people become part of the scam and try to cheat others.
My opinion (How to avoid scams and not be sheep for hair clipping?). The most important thing is how much money you have for investing.
The more it is, the easier it is to make a decision (and do not invest everything, especially not to pledge the house and invest).
And then you can choose:
1.) a thorough, exhaustive exploration of the ICO, as proposed by @ charles1 (greater security, greater potential earnings but plenty of own work and time);
2.) investment in coins (after the ICO) when listed on the strong stock exchanges as the @ crypto-punker (greater security and lower potential earnings, but most of them);
3.) investment when already listed but on a weaker stock market (eg, etherdelta and the like, means the check is made);
4.) Insider Information;
5.) intuition;
And as you already know, this crypto game is not for those of a weak heart.
Security or earnings - an eternal dilemma.
This topic should be more frequent on the agenda because everyone needs reliable information.
Greeting.
Good Points, thanks for your comment
Thanks for sharing your awareness spreading post and in my opinion also the potential scamming is increasing day by day because the ICO's are trending now but we have to showcase diligence before investing in any ICO's and you said right invest only that much which you can afford to lose. And yes in my opinion the Mechanism of Steem Power is really unique and secure because no one can wipe out money in one go because of Power Down process which plays an great security shield. Wishing you an great day. Stay blessed. 🙂
Good point , thanks for your comment
Thank you and welcome. 🙂
Lost quite a bit of money with BitConnect, even did an article about my story within my blog. It was a learning thing I had to endure. Hopefully the lending platforms have gone now, if not.. Im no longer aware of them.
Good that you learnt from your mistake. Many of us have had such experience and the good thing is that we learn from it...I wish you success.
Scammers are just on every platforms awaiting to prey victim. Rightly as you said they are smart and it takes due diligence and proper investigations or research for one to minimise the chances of a wrong investment. Nice post.
Thanks for your comment, good point indeed.
Cryptocurrency now days. to many Ico and no visions anymore they just build their own ico just for they profit never talk abaut the coin it self. and never invest on scheme Ponzi Ico. that would be banned and run of your coin. Like Bitconnnnect
becarefull steeminian
Good point, however watch out for the good ones...
I generally try to avoid icos with unlimited supply. It's worked for me so far and due diligence is a must.
Good Point..however ,supply is not the only issue
I'm glad you pointed this out. I think I stumbled across a statistic once that said about 10% of the coins out there were stolen by scams, hacks, etc... I'd have to do some digging to find it again...
One thing that is nice though is that there is a pattern to many of these scams, as they use the similar language like "get high percent interest/return for little money" or they simply regurgitate the same terms found in Satoshi's whitepaper.
If it smells like a scam, and reads like a scam....
Good Point indeed, thanks for your comment
You are right charles .Now a day crypto is the source of food for many people but some people are doing spamming :)
Point, thanks for your comment...success to you