Savedroid ICO May Actually be a Scam

The Savedroid ICO has been in the news for the last few days – and not for the right reasons. This German startup raised more than $50 million with its Initial Coin Offering, which is quite outstanding. However, after that initial ICO, the startup has been garnering only negative attention as the company has been pulling some rather alarming stunts.

Fake Tweet or Not?

The company’s CEO Yassin Hankir’s tweet a few days ago has caused a lot of concern. Hankir posted a picture of himself standing near the information board of an airport and another one of a beach with the picture of a bottle of beer in the foreground. The message below the tweet read “Thanks, guys! Over and out…”

This would not be such a cause for alarm if the Savedroid ICO website were not still offline. On April 18, the website was updated with a meme stating – and it’s gone. And then went offline. Post this, the CEO and founder posted his Tweet and then all was quiet.

Media outlets across the world have widely reported this “theft” of $50 million.

Back Online

Then, the company’s website was back online with another message, “and it’s not all gone”. There was another message posted by the company stating that the company was not going anywhere. Next, a video by the CEO apologizing to investors for his “stunt”.

Dr. Hankir then went on to explain that this stunt was actually a very serious message to everyone about ICO scamming. He stated that ICOs were critical vehicles for startups to raise fund for innovative ideas, yet many companies were endangering this effort with their scams.

He said that strong ICO standards needed to be established to prevent such scams from taking place.

Public Reaction

Despite the website and the CEO being back online, the reaction to this particular PR stunt hasn’t been a positive one. People are actually wondering whether Savedroid is actually a scam or not. If it is a scam where the CEO has run off with the money, then investors we going to lose a lot of money.

And if it is a joke, or a prank, then it is in very bad taste, since one of the biggest issues facing regulatory authorities is tracking down scammers who have stolen money through ICO scams.

Thanks to this rather extreme advertising campaign by the startup, authorities in Frankfurt are now seriously looking at the company. According to some sources, prosecutors are beginning a preliminary inquiry into the Savedroid. The Frankfurt police have already paid Dr. Hankir a visit with regard to this matter.