The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a fake initial coin offering to teach investors how to spot scams. The creative parody ICO includes all the information you’d expect including the whitepaper, team details (which are actually SEC employees) and rather attractive returns. However, when users click the “Buy Coins Now” button, they are directed to the SEC website which features educational tips on how to spot too-good-to-be-true deals.
Eagle-eyed investors should immediately be suspicious of the ICO name “The HoweyCoin”, a reference to the Howey test, which is used to determine if an investment product should be a registered security. In a statement, the SEC said it “was able to build the HoweyCoins website in-house in very little time, which demonstrates just how easy it is for someone to create a scam opportunity.” Read more here.
