What to look out for to avoid scams

With new currencies, ICOs and crypto currency services appearing online almost every day, one really needs to take some care prior to investing.
Whilst Bitcoin and altcoins have allowed many to diversify their investments, this has also acquired the interest of untrustworthy individuals who thrive on the lack of knowledge of other investors.
Many people have fallen victim to schemes and scam coins, but all it takes is some research, due diligence and a little know-how on what to look for.
First off, new coins should offer the following:

• It should be easy to liquidate the coin back to another currency

• The team behind it should be announced and you should look into their background online

• A whitepaper including their business plans and a roadmap should be avilable

• Most coin developers store their code on github.com. You can run a Google search for “github (coin name) and take a look at their repository for changes and verify if the project is currently alive. You can find a great video describing this more here:

• Ideally they should have a wallet and working prototype
  You can also check for any dubious coins via the following link:
  http://badbitcoin.org/index.htm

One of the latest scam trends is the offering of bitcoin mining contracts. The contracts usually look too good to be true, and they usually are.
Things to look out for before signing up for a mining contract:

• If it’s too good to be true, stay away
• All the information should be provided up front, and you should have to register and pay anything without knowing everything
• If payouts depend heavily on referrals, that means that t is most probably a “pyramid scheme”

I hope the information provided is of assistance!