Telegram’s Upcoming ICO Makes Cryptocurrency Owners Lose Fortunes To Fakes

 

Telegram ICO Sale Scam: How It Works

In hopes of being part of the next big thing, cryptocurrency owners around the world are losing money left, right, and center by investing blindly in fake Telegram ICO (Initial Coin Offering) websites. If you are debating about investing or not, read this carefully.

According to specialists, the popular app's upcoming ICO will most likely break records with a target raise of $1.2 billion, which probably even be extended to $2 billion. However, the public sale component isn't scheduled to launch until spring (March), but deceitful individuals are taking the opportunity to make a quick buck. Or, actually, tens of thousands of dollars – if not millions.

---

Scam Detectors Most Trusted Websites in Online Security

1. Guard.io (100): Surf the web safely. Clean up your browser, remove maliscious extensions and check for privacy violations.
2. Incogni.com (100): Delete your personal data from the internet and protect against scams and identity theft.
3. ExpressVPN (100) Stay secure and anonymous online - Best VPN Out There
4. IPVansish (100) Fast VPN to stay safe and secure online with multiple discount plans.

---

 

The initial reports of the Telegram ICO project (Telegram Open Network aka TON), broke the news at the end of December. As TechCrunch noted: “Telegram is already the de facto communication channel for the global cryptocurrency community, making a natural home to its own coin and Blockchain”.

Meanwhile, both English and Russian versions of its whitepaper and investor brochures, along with precise information around the ICO, were leaked online. That meant that scammers had everything they needed to go fish. As a result, several websites popped up offering immediate investment options.

 

Recommended Read: The Best Cryptocurrency Hardware Wallets And The Scam That Comes With Them

 

Some of them, such as TGram.cc and Gram Pre ICO are still live at the time of this writing, but others like ton-gram.io and Gramtoken.io, which were the most prominent fakes, were taken down.

Gramtoken even offered critical details from the whitepapers including project roadmap and team members. It even posted a copy of the whitepaper — which, again, had been leaked already.

To give a sense of authenticity and transparency, they even published the full whitepaper, but that was just because it was previously leaked. Gramtoken's tracker purported to have ‘raised' more than $5 million before it went off.

As TechCrunch writes, it is possible that Gramtoken.io decided to shut the site down before it drew too much attention. However, with all the promotion and advertising on on social media (see below) it was little too late for that.

 

Alternatively, many other scammers email blasted fake Telegram ICO investment opportunities to thousands of people. It seems like 70 people have already invested over $30,000 in Ethereum via Ton-gram.io, according to a wallet address connected to its website.

Pavel Durov (Telegram's CEO) posted on Twitter that Gramtoken.io and the other websites were not associated with his company. 

Suggested Read: The Best Cryptocurrency Hardware Wallets And The Scam That Comes With Them

 

Telegram ICO Sale Scam: How To Report

Let your family and friends know about this Telegram ICO Sale scam by sharing it here, using the buttons provided. You can also officially report the questionable websites to the Federal Trade Commission using the link below:

Report To The FTC Here