(IJCH) The Truth Behind New Coin Contests - Can you handle it?
IJCH - Inside JaiChai's Head
(Meaning: My Warped, Personal Opinions and Musings)
From the Author:
Salutations.
I am JaiChai.
And if I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before, I'm delighted to make your acquaintance now.
I invite you to interact with everyone, learn, and have as much fun as possible!
For my returning online friends, "It's always great to see you again!"
Have you ever entered a "New Coin Contest"?
I did last week - for the first time. It all seemed so easy, harmless and even fun.
Jumping through the Promoters' hoops, I finally satisfied the contest requirements.
And low and behold, I was one of the winners!
But the euphoria of winning soon wore off and turned into anger.
Angry at myself for being duped at the Promoters and the whole "New Coin Contest" game.
This article explains why.
[Prelude]
A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon a contest promotion that awarded prizes of [fictional name] +350 "Assurance" tokens (symbol: ASS) to all winners.
To me, it was super easy.
Do some simple tasks and boom! - you're in the competition for a buttload of those "free" coins - tokens for new, exciting new Blockchain project. .
The Press Release was enticing:
BREAKING: Hottest Contest Ever! - "Simple Tasks, Win lots of ASS!"
Enter now before the registration deadline!
[Running countdown display - 21 hours and counting]
Just Three Easy Steps -
Validate social media account IDs.
Join the ASS channel group on each social media site.
Publish a post on social media about why you prefer ASS, the benefits of holding ASS or how some good ASS will save the world, etc.
That's it!
After that, just sit back and wait for your sweet ASS Prize.
Winners are chosen by a select group of judges that rate each contestants post for creativity and content quality.
(End of Press Release)
On the surface, everything seems fair and legit, right?
But after digging a little deeper, you see how the promotion dupes the contestants and gives promoters everything for free!
(Whatever you're thinking right now, stop and hold that thought for just a few minutes. It's time for "the rest of the story" - my story.)
[Two days ago]
I was stoked to hear that I (and hundreds of other contestants) had just "won" +300 ASS tokens.
Like the rest of the winners, I rushed to the sponsor's social media channel to claim my ASS prize.
During a chat with the promoter, he said that in order to claim my prize, I must "fix" a couple of incomplete social media profiles and resubmit all of my different account ID names.
I thought nothing of it and quickly complied.
But then, the promoter got swamped by a horde of other winners, and of course, they needed to fix their profiles too.
After a day's worth of inquiry and promoter "assistance", the +300 ASS tokens were "deposited" into my free, handy dandy online wallet - "conveniently" prepared for me beforehand.
Pretty cool, huh?
Well…
Since I never leave cryptos online with exchanges or Bank/Swap services - unless I'm actively trading or converting currencies, I wanted to create my own award - winning ASS wallet asap.
Per the instructions on the official ASS website, I went to the Google Play Store to download their much touted wallet.
Guess what?
ASS was nowhere to be found in the whole Google Play Store!
WTF?
(Later, I found out that the ASS wallet was pulled and given to a few "chosen beta testers". Available soon on the Google Play Store…)
Yeah right.
And shaking a plate of jello doesn't look like a fat hooker on a cold night?
With some dogged searching, I managed to find the .apk download page for the wallet, downloaded it and installed an authentic, fully functional ASS Wallet.
I must admit that the ASS wallet was a sleek, sexy and versatile little thing - even has a pleasant, soft red to mauve, uncluttered UI.
Next step was to withdraw my ASS tokens from my "free" online account and deposit them into my brand new ASS wallet.
But then I found out that it's impossible!
Why?
The 300 ASS tokens (at today's valuation of 1 ASS = 0.00000272 ETH) is 0.000816 ETH.
The withdrawal fee from the "free" online wallet is 0.0135 ETH!
It would take 4,963.23529 of ASS tokens just to cover the withdrawal fee!
From where I sit, this was a well-planned, highly organized op.
It rewarded the promoter with a free, evangelical workforce, free copywriting, free advertising and a ready-made customer base - complete with ID and contact information on file.
The online wallet functions as a high-security, financial "Alcatraz"; effectively imprisoning all the ASS prizes.
The ridiculous withdrawal fee guarantees that no one in their right mind will withdraw their ASS at a huge loss and brings the total cost of running the contest to ZERO.
Should the ASS miraculously appreciate in value enough to be profitable AFTER withdrawal fees, taxes due on realized investment income is the responsibility of the owners of the profit-bearing asset.
Yup.
This was a well-planned, professionally executed op, indeed!
After this ordeal, I will think really hard before someone offers me some easy Ass again!
By JaiChai
"Really Appreciate You Stopping By. Truly hope to see you again!"
About the Author:
Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life – while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic.
In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he performed high altitude, free-fall parachute jumps and hazardous diving ops in deep, open ocean water.
After 24 years of active duty, he retired in Asia.
Since then, he's been a full-time, single papa and actively pursuing his varied passions (Writing, Disruptive Technology, Computer Science and Cryptocurrency - plus more hobbies too boring or bizarre for most folk).
He lives on an island paradise with his girlfriend, teenage daughter and two dogs.
