How to recognize scam projects?
These are hard times in DeFi land. I have been scammed a couple of times this year already. And I do not want that to happen to you! So I will share some red flags that might indicate a scammed project.
A note: It does not mean that a red sign is always a scammed project! There are definitely some great crypto projects.
A note: It does not mean that a red sign is always a scammed project! There are definitely some great crypto projects.
- There is not much to find about the project on the internet
A person reached out to me with a brand new project. It sounded really nice and I trusted the guy. Boy was I wrong. When I invested some more, there was nothing to be found on the internet. - No social channels
This is in line with the first sign. There is no exposure on social channels. No twitter, no telegram group, no discord, no youtube. So no public community. - Withdrawal not possible
I invested in a project but could not withdraw the earnings. - Asking to deposit more
When I could not withdraw and I asked for help, I was asked to deposit more because there was a bug. Fortunately this was a sign I experienced before so I did not fell for it. - Unknown team
When a team is not known, this might also be a bad sign. It can be a good team of course but the world of defi is not that big yet. - Deposit to external wallets
In this case most of the time you have to deposit your investments to an external wallet address. So not our wallet, not your coin! This is always risky. Examples are so-called HYIP projects which will invest your money in forex trading or other forms of trading. - Project does not want exposure
I have invested in projects that did want much exposure. I did not understand why not, but eventually they ran off with my money. - Website and whitepaper appearance
They look sloppy, with a lot of language mistakes, dead links. Is the team mentioned, known? Is there any information on the team members like on LinkedIn or internet at all?