BlockBroker ICO Pulls Exit Scam, Caught with Faked Founder Photo

BlockBroker, the ICO aiming at eradicating ICO scams, turned out to be a scam itself. The team went in hiding, wiping out the site and all communication channels, as it is usual with similar ICOs. The Blockbroker.me website has a message that it is down for maintenance. Only a few hours ago, the ICO was still being promoted on Twitter. But just then, users realized something was off.

https://twitter.com/DONNYBITCOIN/status/1004251414313308160

But there are indications that BlockBroker was a known scams months ago - an airdrop site’s comment section reveals that the project may be a scam. However, the free tokens, listed as BBK, not BKBK, are deemed safe enough byICOcreed.

Using stolen photos is common for faked ICOs, including the recent example ofMegatron, as well as a project using the photo ofRyan Gosling.

What is curious, is that the BKBK digital asset and the projects were given a 5.0 grade by the TrackICO service. Apparently, the site did not notice that the founder of BlockBroker, one “John Jacobs”, had used a stolen picture for his profile, thus obscuring his true identity. Along with a vague white paper, the ICO could not survive until its end date on July 20.

The Aim of BlockBroker

“In a world where a new ICO is popping up every second day, fraud has become a major issue. Research shows that 10% of ICO’s are fraudulent, however this number is rising. Block Broker has set out to provide a 100% safe environment for ICO investors. We are creating Block Broker – the first decentralized ICO broker service to completely eliminate ICO fraud. When an investor contributes funds to an ICO on the Block Broker platform they will be 100% confident that the funds are secure via the BBK token smart contract escrow system.”

ICO exit scams are nothing new - the last one was for Centra (CTR), which even traded for months before the team attempted to disappear physically. Previously, Confido (CFD) pulled a similar scam soon after the ICO ended.