We need to talk about this. The sheer amount of scams that are luring these days is simply frightening and every day I read on forums about people who got scammed. Why does that happen? Not because people don’t do their own due dilligence (although still happens), but because there is not a commuity centered on feedback regarding the sellers. This is what I am trying to address.
A little about myself. I have been in the mining industry for almost 3 years now. During this time I have seen it all dealing with asic miner resellers: missing parcels, broken equipment and downright scams (you pay and nothing arrives). My very first attempt to buy my very first asic (refurbished Antminer S9) was greeted with a scam. Website seemed legit, the price was really good, vendor responded to messages and accepted only wire/crypto payment. Paid with crypto, invoice came after a few days, then silence. Tens of messages, emails sent, 2 months elapse, nothing. There is something about the cold hard realisation about being robbed that marks you forever. I was 20 when this happened, those were almost all my money which I worked hard for and I had all the big dreams about becoming a successful financially-independent miner. Then I got hit hard by reality. Looking in hindsight, I can’t answer myself on how I was that stupid. Needless to say I couldn’t give up on my goal. That’s when I started doing VERY thorough research on any reseller that I was interested in. Managed to save up again enough to buy an S9 and contrary to everyone’s advice ordered from what I deemed a reputable seller. Then the rollercoaster of emotions began, this time however, after 10 excruciating days, I get a track ID for my order. After a total of 28 days I finally get my hands to touch an asic that I paid hard-earned money for. Now, almost 3 years ago, I welcomed new partners in my mining endeavour and grew the operation from that single S9 to almost 200 asics mining different coins.
Now getting back to today’s challenges, I noticed that, unfortunately, things have gotten wilder than ever. Miners are more expensive than ever, the opportunities are bigger than ever, yet so is the amount of scams. That’s why, in an effort to raise awareness and build a commuity, I want to announce that I will be starting a subreddit where we will declare if a reseller is legit or not based on community feedback. There will be a weekly updated list of SCAM websites and a general list of LEGIT websites that will be updated every single time a reseller is given the “LEGIT” status by the community. In order for a website to get the “LEGIT” status, members and participants will give their own feedback based on actual encounter and experience dealing with the reseller or hard evidence of their legitimacy. These 2 lists will be pinned so everyone can easily find them.
I know that this is my first day as a VoskCoinTalk member, but I can assure you I have been a longtime subscriber of VoskCoin and I consult this forum quite often. What prompted me to become a member is to make this announcement and also to post the conclusions we have reached on the future subreddit for everyone to see. I approximate a few days until the sub will be completely up and running, I will also post here when it is ready. This post is for raising awareness. I go by the name of Herr_Soldat here, as well as on Reddit. If you have any urgent questions regarding the legitimacy of a reseller, DM me on Reddit as I already have a solid base of what is legit in the industry and what not.
Stay safe kings and be very careful!
Great idé btw 