

We We investigated and reported HourlyHash a few months ago calling out a very well put together but undeniable scam. This particular web service was so well put together and actually worked and appeared fully operational with its staff responding to those with issues, that it was almost believable.





Note the key word, almost. Then this happened:









Although it's "temporary" status has become rather permanent. It's been like this for some time now. The HourHash Ponzi has run dry and the perpetrators and vanished with the coins.





How the Onion is Peeled

Unfortunately there were casualties despite our efforts in warning the community and we caught this one only a couple weeks into its existence.



We joke around with "Let's Peel the Onion" and its meant to insert a little humor into an otherwise less than favorable situation, but one thing some do not realize is how much time and effort goes into uncovering the activity. Sometimes it can be done in a few hours where the scam is obvious, other times it takes weeks if not months. Obviously for legal, integrity, and ethical reasons we cannot just "suspect" a scam, we need proof and even with proof we can only disclose certain information legally.



Point being, if we published something to warn the industry it's a safe bet (100% to date) to assume its a scam and proceed with extreme caution.



Despite these warnings (usually via multiple media outlets) people still fall victim to these scams. Almost every time we publish an article of this nature the first response is always "we're clean, we're good, we're not a scam" either directly, indirectly, or in some comparable form or fashion. At times rather vocally in public and sometimes using shill accounts (pretending to be users) and posting in forums or even on our own comment system.





NOTE REGARDING THE COMMENT SYSTEM



We have a policy of "no censorship" unless it is determined harmful or illegal in some way and for this reason we do not edit, censor, or remove comments made. The reason for this is that if we censor anything on the system, the integrity of the our services would be damaged in our opinion. We also support anonymity and allow anonymous comments.



Unfortunately these policies can also allow those who run these scams to comment on these articles. Whereas we are sympathetic to any comment made on the system in which leads another to fall victim to fraudulent activity, common sense and caution should always be exercised when considering content from comment systems or forums in general, as a basis of decision making. We have a policy of "" unless it is determined harmful or illegal in some way and for this reason we do not edit, censor, or remove comments made. The reason for this is that if we censor anything on the system, the integrity of the our services would be damaged in our opinion. We also support anonymity and allow anonymous comments.Unfortunately these policies can also allow those who run these scams to comment on these articles. Whereas we are sympathetic to any comment made on the system in which leads another to fall victim to fraudulent activity,



HourlyHash may likely have done this or asked others to do this and posted on both our comment system and other forums in an attempt to uphold their "we're not a scam" persona. Unfortunately people kept sending coins to the fraudulent service leaving everyone holding coins with HourlyHash at the beginning of 2016 an empty wallet as a result of the scam.



HourlyHash crumbled.





How To Avoid Becoming A Victim

The thing is that when things are too good to be true most people realize that they are, but things are almost too good to be true, that leads to just enough doubt that people will engage in activity that frequently puts them in harms way.









In the event of a fraudulent website or email campaign. Here's a list of organizations to contact immediately and report the activity.





NOTIFICATION LIST



Agencies and organization to report illegal and suspicious websites and emails.



General Fraudulent Activity

CFTC Report of Illegal Activity

Federal Bureau of Investigations



Consumer Complaints

e-consumer Complaint Reports



Illegal or Phishing Website

Report to Google

Report to Symantic

Report to Phishtank

Report to Yahoo



Agencies and organization to report illegal and suspicious websites and emails.

When we publish findings on fraudulent activity we further communicate our findings to various organizations for review but sometimes on a service with allot of activity and few complaints it takes time for the aforementioned parties to investigate the claims. In the case of HourlyHash, despite the evidence that overwhelmingly pointed to an illegal operation, the proof of illegal activity was not enough on its own to bring immediate closure to the services



For example, we had proven that questionable activity was apparent at Hourly Hash, but the dollar amounts and incident reports simply were not significant enough to launch an involuntary disruption in operations.



At least not at first anyway and how could it? They had only been alive a short period of time when we first reported them and our transactions that prove they were stealing were not of significant value enough to expect acceptance of anything more than the single complain that it was. Fortunately many others joined in reporting the fraud.



Been Scammed? What's Next? If you did fall victim to HourlyHash, or any scam, you should contact your local authorities. If it happens to be an organization we cautioned about in an article, you can contact us for any information we uncovered. We cannot disclose this information directly, but we can provide it to the proper authorities working on your case.



Unfortunately it usually does little good in these types of scams



HourlyHash is no longer alive and this is certainly good news but unfortunately ten more like it have likely materialized so always remember ... if it walks like duck ... it is.



Use of the HourlyHash service continued despite the warnings both here and on other outlets and now some victims are obviously pretty upset about the scam as well they should be. It;s uncertain if they simply ran off into the night or were shutdown but the fact is they are no longer operating. We checked the wallet we had placed a transaction in previously in support of the previous article and sure enough, it was bone dry.When we publish findings on fraudulent activity we further communicate our findings to various organizations for review but sometimes on a service with allot of activity and few complaints it takes time for the aforementioned parties to investigate the claims. In the case of HourlyHash, despite the evidence that overwhelmingly pointed to an illegal operation, the proof of illegal activity was not enough on its own to bring immediate closure to the servicesFor example, we had proven that questionable activity was apparent at Hourly Hash, but the dollar amounts and incident reports simply were not significant enough to launch an involuntary disruption in operations.At least not at first anyway and how could it? They had only been alive a short period of time when we first reported them and our transactions that prove they were stealing were not of significant value enough to expect acceptance of anything more than the single complain that it was. Fortunately many others joined in reporting the fraud.If you did fall victim to HourlyHash, or any scam, you should contact your local authorities. If it happens to be an organization we cautioned about in an article, you can contact us for any information we uncovered. We cannot disclose this information directly, but we can provide it to the proper authorities working on your case.Unfortunately it usually does little good in these types of scamsHourlyHash is no longer alive and this is certainly good news but unfortunately ten more like it have likely materialized so always remember ... if it walks like duck ... it is.













Story by dinbits

Image by staff







