“If you invest in a few ICOs, you’ll be a millionaire in no time!” Have you been given this “expert advice” by a “Bitcoin Evangelist” recently? Have you been seeing the glorious world of crypto from the sidelines and wanting to step in and are on the verge of taking the “advice?” Then we need you to STOP! Re-consider. Read. Be informed.

For a layperson, the cryptosphere can seem like teenage love — dangerous, exhilarating and a venture into the exciting unknown. This is where scamsters see an opportunity to dupe investors of millions of hard-earned dollars. Not just laypeople, but even tech-savvy investors get deceived by the lights and flashes and carelessly part away with their money in what are being labeled as “exit scam ICOs” where ICO con artistes exit with your money faster than they entered.

While ICOs are an ethical way of raising money through “crowdfunding,” the process is obviously fraught with danger if you fail to do your due diligence of the company, its backers, its team, advisors and its concept. But frankly, not much is required to run an ICO. All I need is a snazzy white paper that outlines an “out-wordly” idea that I want to bring into reality with “your money,” a smart-looking website and an address for you to send me your money, and voila! I have an ICO! So, how does one spot a fake ICO? Let’s see some tell-tale signs.

1.Promises that are too good to be true

Well, we agree that the crypto market has the ability to give fantastic returns but finally, all businesses are subject to the same market forces. If an ICO promises unrealistic returns on investments, like “Our coin gives you 1000% return in x months!” you had better watch out.

2.A shallow whitepaper

A detailed whitepaper is central to the ICO because it is the idea and its viability that will decide whether the enterprise can solve a real world problem or not. Just giving the shallowest of details and asking for a ton of money should ring warning bells already.

3.The core team

Are there even real people on the team? Or are they fake profiles? Spend time to check the veracity of each of the team members on different sites and see if they are actually associated with the project. Many fake teams use names of reputed ICO advisors on their websites. Check out the profiles of these advisors to find out if they are really advising these ICOs.

4.Uncapped or unrealistic raise

If the ICO does not mention the amount they wish to raise citing whatever tech bullshit, beware. If they know what they are creating, they ought to have a fair idea of how much money they would require to build it. Also, if you find that they are asking for far more for what they are trying to build, it is also a sign that the ICO is very likely a scam.

5.Breathless hype on social media

ICOs which are confident of their product do not resort to a lot of buzzwords and excessive hype on social media, especially their Telegram groups. If you start finding this hype irritating, this is a sign of a bad ICO.

The SEC has started keeping a close watch on ICOs after complaints started surfacing of fake and scam ICOs that have looted millions of dollars from thousands of investors. The SEC also created a fake ICO website themselves called HoweyCoins.com in a bid to educate investors about the dangers of fake ICOs and how to spot them.

Investors should arm themselves with solid information on any new ICOs that enter the market. Leaders like trade.io have launched an Investment Showcase Roadshow that displays exciting and completely legit ICOs that have a great product and a great team developing and backing it. trade.io itself ran a successful ICO in late 2017 and raised in excess of $31 million and are now well and truly on their way to create all the platforms they had promised to their investors. In a bid to help other investors sail the murky waters of ICOs and scams, they have put together a Roadshow to arm investors with the confident knowledge from their team’s expertise and experience in sifting through hundreds of ICOs and selecting the best of them and present them as an investment opportunity.

Whether you are a new investor wanting to get a share of the crypto pie or a seasoned player in the ICO market, you need to attend trade.io’s Investment Showcase Roadshow to get the inside scoop of the best ICOs in town!