The story of a fictional character: Viktor Gromov launched a project called “Anti-Scam” and began writing exposing articles on fraudulent schemes and pyramids that suck money out of gullible users. Having published over a hundred reviews of scammers, he switched to proven ways to make money. This is how his first acquaintance with the Token+ .
The essence of the token+ scam
Sometimes various letters with advertisements for stunning projects arrive in my mailbox, bypassing the Spam folder. Well, sometimes I wonder what kind of game they are trying to sell me this time.
I came across a video by a certain Viktor Gromov, who in his video talks about himself and his activities. He himself furiously talks about the fact that he and his Antilohotron project have already exposed many fraudulent projects. And now he offers us a real and cool project. The essence will be the purchase and sale of tokens. But more on that later.
When we go to the site itself, we see a very simple main page, where we are shown statistics of successful transactions. But in reality this is all a lie. The statistics are not one ounce real, but a stupid scam for suckers. They show us that in 4 days he earned almost 50,000 rubles. At the same time, he devoted only 25 minutes a day. Looks like a lot of people are already salivating.
Well, in order to finally inspire confidence in a potential sucker, Gromov posts fake comments. Well, that's standard. Moreover, the comments are written in such a way that you immediately understand that they are not written from the heart, but purely technically. Okay, we'll move on. Namely, we will go through the process of simple registration.
Earning process
Well, now the fun begins. After registration, we are offered to buy tokens for their further sale under more favorable conditions. And so that we can verify the honesty of this project, we are given one trial token for free, which we can activate and get money for it.
After a short pseudo-download and pseudo-processing of some data, we are credited with 1,206 rubles. Wow, in a couple of minutes 1206 rubles. That's it. We are rich. True, there is one big BUT. The minimum amount for withdrawal is 5000 rubles. And this is where the whole scam begins.
A person who receives virtual money into his account begins to trust the Token Plus project. He starts investing real money to purchase tokens. But then you will be disappointed, because after accumulating 5,000 rubles in your account, a surprise awaits you. Like other similar scams like Giveaway 2018, we need to make a special payment. But of course you won’t receive any payments and will be left with nothing.
From now on, you can say goodbye to your money, since no one will return it to you. And all the money that you earned in the project is worth absolutely nothing.
And if you really think that no one can fall for this, then just search the Internet. And you will definitely find various reviews from people who really fell for the token plus scam.
If you also suffered from Viktor Gromov’s Token+ system, then tell us about it in the comments.
How to make money in the Token+ project?
In order to get to the Token+ project page, the user needs to click on the large green icon under the video. We fill out the registration form with any symbols and we are launched into the system.
Video review of the same service under a different name: Special issue #14 Fraudsters. Sergey Vorobiev and the earning service Desh+
After making a couple of clicks and waiting a little more than a minute, we learned about the charge in the amount of 1206 rubles . This amount is not enough to carry out a withdrawal operation, since the minimum threshold is set at 5,000 rubles . Accordingly, the user will have to purchase a second token, and so on. We purchase a virtual unit of Token+ for real money, and sell it for drawn money.
Exposing Token Plus
I’ll tell you one little secret on how to test the system without investing money in it. Remember when we were given a free token worth 1206 rubles? After we clicked on its activation, we were transferred to the loading screen. Please note the full address of the site and current page. It ends with tokenup. Copy the entire address. We will need it now.
Paste what you copied into the address bar and press Enter. You will be taken back to the pseudo-loading and data processing screen. And after all this loading you will be credited again with 1206 rubles. Returning to the office, we will see that now our balance has doubled and is already 2,412 rubles. This way we can add as many virtual rubles as we want to our internal account. As you already understood, they cost nothing.
Let's now try to withdraw funds by clicking on the appropriate button. We will be asked to select a payment system and wallet number for withdrawal. After this we will see a fake billing connection window. Well, then we see the most interesting thing.
We are shown a window where we are happily informed that our device has not been found. And now, to connect it, you need to pay 747 rubles. Of course, in the spirit of traditions of various scams, you cannot pay this amount from your internal account. You can only top it up with real money through a payment gateway.
Naturally, if you pay these 747 rubles, you will not receive anything. After this, you will see a new window with some other message. You will pay it again. And then everything is as before. That is, you will again receive a message that for some reason you need to pay extra. And this will continue until you go through all the screens. And then simply nothing will happen.
Many people really believe in this, so they pay several times, losing 3,500 and 6,000 rubles each in order for the payment to finally go through. But the payment will never go through.
Tokens are a tool for collecting money from suckers
On the one hand, Vitalik Buterin, having built smart contracts into the Ethereum platform, gave developers of various projects the opportunity to raise funds to finance the implementation of their ideas.
On the other hand, this tool (like any other cryptocurrency) was immediately used by various scammers who, under plausible pretexts, also began to collect money to implement their ideas, but these ideas turned out to be much more mundane.
Specious pretexts are standard ways of using crypto in the crypto world, something fintech, or something to improve the functioning of the blockchain, or something not related to the crypto world (often not even requiring the use of blockchain, but to some I want there to be a blockchain).
Those. everything is the same as that of honest developers.
The only difference is that a developer-crypto-enthusiast, passionate about his idea, strives to fulfill his promises.
And the crypto-swindler knows in advance that he will only pretend to fulfill the points of the Road Map.
And to disguise his plans, he rolls out some kind of “cardboard fool”, framed by technical terms and progressive solutions.
And distinguishing a crook from an honest one is very difficult.
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But what concerns me now is not the issue of separating the lambs from the goats.
Now I’m wondering - what is a token?
A token is NOTHING.
This is a kind of virtual object, suitable only for stock market speculation (after it has been distributed at the ICO).
Although, in the opinion of an inexperienced Investor, the token is a blockchain analogue of exchange shares.
But this is a mistake.
Externally, everything is very similar.
There is a startup with its own idea.
The startup needs funding to implement this idea.
A startup cannot obtain financing by placing shares on the stock exchange (IPO), because it is very expensive and is not used for low-budget projects.
But on the Ethereum platform (and not only) anyone can issue their Token, conduct an ICO, receive Ethers for part of their tokens - and exchange Ethers for fiat money, which will help realize the idea of a startup.
In this way, amounts up to hundreds of millions of dollars can be collected.
The goal of startupers is absolutely transparent and understandable.
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Only one thing is unclear: why do Investors buy these tokens?
After all, tokens, unlike shares, do not give them any rights.
Tokens are not a share of ownership.
Tokens are only evidence that Investor took part in raising funds for some startup, and the number of his tokens corresponds to a certain share of the funds that the startup raised.
(Here I will not mention speculators who participate in ICOs in order to quickly receive tokens and try to sell them on the exchange at a multiply inflated price; I am only interested in Hodlers-Investors).
An Investor with his portfolio of tokens from different startups is more like a Collector of candy wrappers or match labels than even a Risky Investor, compiling a portfolio of junk stocks, in the hope that at least one of the shares will suddenly “shoot up” and give the desired x100, while the remaining shares will depreciate even more.
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Tokens are similar to stocks only in that they are suitable for stock market speculation.
It is no coincidence that hundreds of exchanges have proliferated in the crypto world, where Investor-Collectors exchange parts of their collections and replenish them, believing that the price of this or that candy wrapper will soon rise.
In the 10 years that have passed since the appearance of the first cryptocurrency Bitcoin, neither Bitcoin, nor Altcoins, nor Tokens have become a means of payment and it is very difficult to exchange them for goods directly, almost impossible.
Despite the many years of repetition of mantras about Digital Gold, about the imminent and inevitable death of Banks, and the proud and promising names - Coins, Coins.
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What is better - tokens or “coins”?
Tokens are definitely garbage, suitable only for speculation.
Or for very risky investments, in the hope that some startup will not get scammed and suddenly realize its ideas.
And this will serve as a reason for some fools to buy tokens of this startup from other fools, in anticipation that these tokens will give the notorious X’s.
With “coins” everything is a little different.
Yes, “coins” are also a tool for speculation.
But “coins,” unlike tokens, are tied to the startup’s economic model, which is spelled out in the protocol. (Each “coin” on a blockchain or DAG is a crypto-startup, as opposed to a token, which only serves as a fundraising tool for a crypto- or non-crypto-startup).
Therefore, with the correct economic model of the SPVC (I wrote about this in previous articles), and with the successful implementation of the startup, leading to its profitability and demand, there will be a steady demand for the “coin” of this SPVC both among the ever-increasing community of users of this SPVC, and among the holders.
Which will contribute to an increase in the price of the “coin” and an increase in the capitalization of this SPVC.
Because this SPVC brings benefits, and, as a result, makes a profit.
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Dictionary
Loch is a naive and gullible person.
Hodler (Hodler, distorted Holder, from Hold - to hold) - Ynvestor, a common noun.
At its core, Hodler is like a Collector of candy wrappers and other garbage that was not brought to the landfill or brought from it (this is the source of any collections).
SPVTS is a Virtual Value Transfer System that has its own blockchain (or, less commonly, DAG) and a circulating “coin” (coin) within the System, which serves as a transferr of Virtual Value from one address to another.
Holder is a person engaged in maintaining the operation of the SPVC, participating in the creation, expansion and operation of the SPVC infrastructure and owning a certain number of “coins” of this SPVC necessary to launch a masternode or PoS wallet. Not to be confused with a Hodler, who purchases and holds “coins” or tokens with the hope of successful speculation.
X is a numerical value expressing the multiple of the increase in the price of an asset, and is denoted as xNumber, i.e. x5, x10, x100, etc. Used in the Hodlers' vocabulary.
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= What to read about cryptocurrencies. List of articles. =
Advice
Don’t look on the Internet for the “Loot” button, which will make you rich with minimal time investment or small cash injections. These are all scams. To make good money, you need to invest either a lot of time or a lot of money. It’s better to master some in-demand online profession, such as a web designer or copywriter, and then make money by freelancing, for example through Quark.
Or create an independent source of income, such as a YouTube channel, an Internet site, or a group on social networks. This will take a lot of time and possibly money, but at least it will be real real income, and not the scam that they are trying to sell us.
Also, I would strongly recommend investing in securities. Thanks to this free five-day investing course, I started investing in stocks. And I never regretted it. The course is truly amazing.
