Artificial scam: US regulator makes an example of a fraud ICO website

HoweyCoin is a fraud, but the criminal enterprise does not exist and was designed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, the governmental watchdog responsible for ICOs monitoring. The uncommon educational material poses as a typical scam website.

The list of developers contains persons without links to social media or their resume. The whitepaper of the project deserves special attention, as the SEC employees have flawlessly recreated the pompous marketing language of such materials. The document starts with offtopic remarks on the Internet and digital age, and then the reader is being lured into thinking that the project is the cutting-edge technology.

Another commonly-used strategy consists of two steps: the viewer is presented with big numbers and then persuaded he might miss a lifetime opportunity. HoweyCoin creators have reverse engineered this too - the site promises 15% daily bonus, has a timer which is going to end in the near future and offers 25% discounts.

The name of the parody website originates from the Howey test - it has been described by Bitnewstoday in the report dedicated to the rumors which have eventually been refuted by the SEC.

Image: aka-photography.co.uk