A screenshot from the Telegram group 'Crypto4Pumps.' Oscar Williams-Grut/Business Insider/Screenshot/Telegram LONDON – "This is the biggest pump community which will help you make money," reads the ad sent to a Telegram channel with 17,000 followers.

The group in question is the "PumpKing Community." It is one of many groups on the messaging app that appear to be dedicated to "pump and dumps" — coordinated buying that artificially inflates the price of cryptocurrencies, in the hopes of attracting outside buyers to then "flip" the currency onto at a profit. Other Telegram groups include Pump.im, Crypto4Pumps, We Pump, and AltTheWay.

Cryptocurrency markets remain largely unregulated and so these schemes aren't technically illegal — yet. However, the same schemes are illegal in the regulated markets that cover assets like stocks and bonds.

Business Insider has detailed the controversy surrounding these kinds of cryptocurrency scams. Scroll down for a step-by-step guide to how they work: