SaveDroid $50 Million ICO Exit Scam Publicity Stunt

Let's face it ICO's are a dime a dozen and if I had 1 BTC for every ICO out there I'd probably be stinking rich and not have to worry about anything for the rest of my life. Since Blockchain has exploded plenty of companies have tried to hope on the gravy train creating replica coins, shit coins and of course scam coins. We're well aware of this thanks to the rise and fall of scams like Bitconnect, Davor Coin, Falcon Coin and the like.

Scam coins aren't slowing down

Scams are nothing new to digital currencies. Stick around the crypto world long enough and you’ll have seen cons of every stripe and color: literal Ponzicoins that promise exorbitant returns for little investment, sketchy projects with plagiarized whitepapers, and even fake airdrops offering free coins in return for a nominal “donation.” As famed showman P.T. Barnum once allegedly said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

But one can’t help but laugh at how arrogant some of these schemes have gotten. We’ve seen project roadmaps using portraits of Ryan Gosling on their fake bio pages. We’ve seen crypto devs with more arrest records than we can count on both hands. We’ve seen air-droppers posing as famous crypto celebrities, such as Binance CEO Zhao ChengPeng, on Twitter in an attempt to advertise fraudulent coins to their followers. And against all expectations, we’ve even seen Twitter users attempt to imitate U.S. President Donald Trump, of all people, to try to push crypto scams.

ICO exit scams

And then there is the classic ICO (initial coin offering) exit scam, an all too familiar beast now that ICOs have surged in popularity in the past year. Since ICOs typically go through none of the rigorous auditing and paperwork traditionally required of IPOs. While this loose regulatory framework has opened up cryptocurrency to a large degree of innovation, it also leaves investors vulnerable to extraordinary risk. In fact, many ICOs these days usually offer investors nothing more than a bold idea and the promise that the devs will build it into a working product. Investors are guaranteed nothing should the company fail . . . or if they simply run off with their cash in what has now become known as an “exit scam.”

AANNND, IT’S GONE with SaveDroid

Since you get the jist of what the market is like a new ICO called SaveDroid took it upon themselves to break some hearts this week with their own version of an exit scam. Savedroid, a German company founded by a man named Dr. Yassin Hankir with the team promised to develop an AI to manage user investments along with a crypto-backed credit card. The company was supposedly even successful enough to open their own offices when they managed to raise a whopping total of $50 million through their ICO and direct funding.

Things were looking up for SaveDroid. . . until Dr. Hankir decided to flee the country on April 18th with all $50 million in tow. And while he was waiting for his flight to come in at the airport, he chose to thank his loyal followers with a Twitter selfie and a cheeky message: “Thanks guys! Over and out …”

Not content with simply waving goodbye, he also included a photo of himself at some distant beach resort, sipping some beer by the waves. The company even changed their ICO page to nothing but the “Annddd It’s Gone” South Park meme as one last middle finger to their investors.

And that fancy office? Utterly abandoned, as it turns out. One inquiring mind decided to visit it following Dr. Hankir’s announcement only to discover it dark and completely lifeless. And although the filmer commented that he “can’t confirm anything” from the empty office, he was also apparently unable to identify any computer towers within the office despite spotting desks with monitors adorned on them.

Nevertheless, most people are calling for blood over the scam. One website actually managed to identify the coastline in the background of his second image and have traced it to a resort called the Movenpick Resort, located on the Red Sea in El Quseir, Egypt. However, others have speculated that because the beer and the coastline in the image are too easily recognizable, the photo may have simply been posted to throw pursuers off his trail.

Oh wait, no it's not gone

Then suddenly in a stunning turn of events Hankir waiting just enough time to see the entire cryptosphere light up in rage, Hankir dropped the bombshell — proclaiming the entire saga as a pointed stunt to highlight the sheer vulnerability of ICO investors to such unethical acts. Yes, that's right he scammed the exit scam, a scamception if you will.

Like Yo dog I hear you like exit scams, so I scammed your exit scam with a fake scam.

This April fools joke may have gone too far and left a sour taste in many investors mouths but hey SaveDroid highlights a very important point, that it is way too easy to gain credibility in the crypto space and nothing in this space is certain. Having no regulation means having to be extremely vigilant and making sure you do your due diligence and not to overextend your investment.

ICO's are a great way to quickly make money but it doesn't come without substantial risk, never invest more than you're willing to lose and don't get greedy take your returns you do make and invest it in something more stable and make sure you have a diversified portfolio

Have your say

What do you think of SaveDroids publicity stunt? Are they the premium trolls of the crypto space at the moment? How would you feel if you are or were an investor? Do you think the stunt will benefit the coin in terms of notoriety? I'd love to hear your opinions let me know in the comments section below

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