Stay safe: How to avoid token sale scams
By: Peer Mountain
Tags: Tech, ICO, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Ethereum

Security, trust, and privacy power the Peer Mountain identity validation ecosystem, so naturally we’re devoted to helping protect every single participant in our token sale. To avoid getting scammed or phished during the Peer Mountain Token ( PMTN) pre-order event and token sale, we recommend that you take a few minutes to read this post.

As cryptocurrencies and token sales attract more interest, a growing number of scammers are trying to con people out of their money. The advice that follows will not only help protect you during the PMTN pre-order event and token sale, you can also apply it to any and all token sales and ICOs that you participate in.

You will ONLY ever see a contribution address for the PMTN pre-order event and token sale on the Peer Mountain website (www.peermountain.com).

On February 20, 2018 we will email you a link to a special PMTN pre-order (or token sale) page on www.peermountain.com. On this page, you will need to enter the ETH address you entered in your Peer Mountain KYC application. We will use this ETH address to verify that you have been approved to contribute in the PMTN pre-order event and token sale. We will then present you with the funding address to send your contribution to.

Even if you see or receive a funding address from another party that says they received it legitimately, do not send funds to it. We are only presenting the Peer Mountain contribution address on the Peer Mountain website, and only registered contributors who have KYC approval will be able to use it. The only way you can contribute to our pre-order event and token sale is to enter the ETH address you entered in your Peer Mountain KYC application.

The contribution address will only be presented to registered, approved contributors on February 20, 2018.

We’re here to show you the kinds of token sale scams we’ve seen. Here’s some advice on how to make sure you’re safely contributing to the PMTN token order event and token sale.

When you bookmark the Peer Mountain website and only visit us through that bookmark, you’ll always end up at the real Peer Mountain site. This way, you don’t run the risk of making a typo when entering the address into your browser — a typo that can send you to a fake site with a fake contribution address.

Please note that because our blog is on Medium, this post does not have a peermountain.com URL. Click the link in this section’s title; our official website will open in a new tab. Visit it now, book mark it, then come back to this article.

If you google “Peer Mountain”, the search results may contain fake sites with slightly different addresses, such as peermountain.co (notice the missing M), or typos like pearmountain.com or peermoutain.com.

We can’t stress this enough: always double-check any URL you visit, and use bookmarks.

You should also bookmark this blog post for future reference.

Check the sender address of all emails that claim to be from Peer Mountain

Scammers can also send emails that have Peer Mountain in the “From” field, but are not actually from us. Make sure that any such email you receive comes from ownyourself@peermountain.com and are not just “Peer Mountain” but with a different sender address. Also be sure to check for spelling errors.

If a member of the Peer Mountain team replies to an email message from you, or a message you sent from our Contact page, make sure it comes from an @peermountain.com address. Even in this case, we will never share our contribution address via email.

There’s also the possible, though unlikely, situation where someone spoofs our email address so it looks like it’s from Peer Mountain when it’s not. Again, we will not share the contribution address over email, only on the Peer Mountain contribution page, which only registered KYC approved contributors can use with the ETH address they entered in their Peer Mountain KYC application.

Don’t believe anyone who shares a contribution address with you through Telegram, Reddit, Facebook, email… or anywhere

It doesn’t matter if the contribution address appears to be from a Peer Mountain team member — we’ve already discovered a few fake team member accounts on Telegram. We’ve banned the known fake accounts from our Telegram channel, and we’re on the lookout for others. Whether it’s in our public group or the bounty channel, and especially if you receive an contribution address in a private message (PM), it’s a fake address.

The only place we’ll ever share the contribution address is on the Peer Mountain website (bookmark this link).

If you’re unsure about anything, ask.

You can ask us about Peer Mountain publicly, or via PM, in Telegram. You can also speak with us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Steemit, email us at ownyourself @peermountain.com , or reach out to us via our website’s Contact page.

All you really need to do to easily avoid token sale and coin offering scams is to use common sense, reference this article, and check (and double-check) urls and emails. We wish you all the best in your token buying adventures, and look forward to your participation in Peer Mountain’s pioneering Smartcap token sale.