This article will outline the high-level project management work streams of executing a fraudulent ICO. This information can be used in anyway the reader wants. The reason for writing this article is because it’s entertaining to think about how a person with an internet connection, a computer, and a credit card can make some cryptobank.

Simply put, an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is a Cryptocurrency Project raising funds for itself by unregulated means. In these ICOs a proportion of the Project’s Cryptocurrency is sold to speculative supporters of the project in exchange for cash (fiat tender) or other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

The lack of legal guidelines during the operations of an ICO have resulted in countless scams, and many people losing small crytofortunes… This isn’t strange for an entirely fresh and unregulated field. And Governments (these bureaucratic beauties) won’t be able to monitor and enforce cryptocurrency regulation anytime soon.

So, in the meantime, why not learn how to execute one of these ICOs for…. academic purposes.

Work Stream 1: Concept

For any project to run smoothly, the project manager(s) must be familiar with the scope of the project. So if you diabolically decide to conduct a fraudulent ICO in a niche market such as Crypto… you better make sure that you (or a partner) have some commandment over Blockchain Technology and its associated lingo. Because there is a positive relationship between how well you can BS about “your amazing cryptoproject” and how much coin you can collect from these Bitcoin forum-circle-jerkers.

And yes, this relationship is indeed logarithmically positive in nature, because your bullshit can only take you so far without building the actual product. But on the sunny side, millions have been made with only bullshit.

Once you’ve decided on the details of your cryptoproject. You need to begin documenting all aspects of your project. What your cryptocurrency does; why your cryptocurrency is special; who the founding team members are; what your roadmap/timeline looks like; why your team is looking for funding (ICO)… Any detail of your project that you will be able to clarify on a word document, will help you towards creating your website, update vlogs, and project visuals such as infographics, charts, milestones, and weird internet memes associated with your project. (Bitcoin nerds love that shit)

Remember, you don’t have to build the real thing, but you must pretend realistically enough that you are going to.

Work Stream 2: Qualification (Build Trust)

This is where you must socially engineer online trust in you and your project to the extent that online stranger will fund your cryproproject. To do this, you should build a basic online presence and do some prep work.

Website:

Creating a website these days is incredibly cheap and easy. If you cannot create one (or learn), then you should stop reading and make peace with the reality that you’re never going to pull off an ICO, let alone a fraudulent one... Regardless, you’re not here to learn how to create websites…

Your website information about the project team will be crucial to building the trust between yourself and backers of your project (victims), so it is very important that you get this right. Your team should roughly consist of 5-6 “developers” and 1 “business” guys.

Project Team (or the appearance thereof):

For your developers, you must procure some GitHub accounts with an extensive backlog of code. This builds trust and shows the public that your team has the required expertise to execute the project. To find these developers you simply create some postings on online job platforms asking specifically for developers that have GitHub accounts, and that you will need to link to them “on a client’s website” (or any other story you make up). Most freelance developers will be happy to lend you their GitHub account because they want your business. Use their GitHub accounts, and instruct the developers to ignore or relay any messages regarding ‘your fraudulent cryptoproject’. Voilà, you’ve just swindled yourself a tech team.

Let’s talk about the business guy. Since I assume you don’t want to ruin your own reputation for scamming people online, we must find someone else to be the public face of your cryproproject. This person will be a freelance actor that you hire online (seriously). You will need this actor to create a series of your cryptoproject “milestone” videos intended to “update” your victims on the progress of your cryptoproject up until the ICO. You must also provide the actor with the acting script for each milestone video you want him to create. This won’t be expensive because most of these online freelancers are struggling-wanna-be-actors that will do almost anything on camera for food. Pretend to be a first-time director creating a documentary, and you will find many actors eager to record 10-12 five minute “milestone videos” for around 150 USD (a small sum to pay for the devilish stunt you’re about to pull).

Online Forums:

If you’ve managed to get this far, then I assume you’re already familiarized with multiple online cryptocurrency forums. If this is not the case, then you should identify a few online forums immediately because this is where you will be announcing your Cryptoproject and your desire to ICO. Once you’ve identified the forum(s), you should immediately begin creating multiple accounts for these forums, and begin posting using these accounts. The more activity on these accounts, the better. Your goal is to make these accounts appear to be owned by different individuals. However, since you control the accounts, you can use them to make your project’s posts appear more popular than they are by replying with your multiple accounts.

Work Stream 3: Announcement

Now that you’ve done the fun stuff of brewing up the details of your cryptoproject, lying to a bunch of online developers, and scapegoating an online freelance actor. It’s time to announce your cryptoproject and ICO to the online forums that you’ve targeted. Model your project announcement after similar announcement posts on the forum. And copy everything from their post structure, to their “whitepaper”. Of course, tailor everything to your own project. (You’re already trying to defrauding people, there is no shame in plagiarism now).

Bear in mind, you will be verbally attacked and called a scammer by users on the forum. But that’s just the name of the game. Think of it as harmless hazing; a process to separate the ones with conviction from the weak willed. Even though you ARE scamming them, always carry a dignified tone in your forum responses to criticism. And take solace in the fact that you don’t need everyone buying into your cryptoproject, because even a small group of supporters is enough for a quick payday.

Once you’ve made your announcement post, all you have to do is community manage your cryptoproject. Respond to community questions, fabricate drama using your fake accounts, occasionally release funny/insightful content regarding your project, and periodically release the “milestone” videos that you’ve created. Don’t mind the troll and hate comments that your thread will undoubtedly accrue; these people are only giving you free exposure. And as long as you are community managing your thread, awareness of your project will grow, alongside your potential pay out.

Announce the opening of your ICO with its associated terms per your milestone plan. And keep hustling the community to maximize the funding amount.

Work Stream 4: Aftermath

So here you are, a man (or woman) who has successfully defrauded some online strangers out of their hard-speculated cryptocurrencies while maintaining full anonymity… Since you are intelligent and cunning enough to pull this off. You must have asked yourself how hard it would have been for you to find a team of developers to build this project genuinely. Perhaps the process would have been easier, perhaps your ICO would have garnered more support and funding, perhaps your cryptocurrency would have reigned supreme…

Obviously, you didn’t dwell on these thoughts for too long. Being the mastermind behind the latest ICO scam, you are far too practical to spend energy thinking about missed opportunity. You feel a deep sense of satisfaction looking at the figure displayed on your cryptocurrency wallet, and you don’t feel a shred of remorse for the dirt you’ve done on these people… After all, it’s just post-modern-Darwinism.