Exciting HoweyCoin pre-ICO sale comes with a twist

The catch being that the HoweyCoin is a fabrication made up by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)! It seems the officials at SEC felt it was time to highlight the dangers of investing in the numerous ICO scams that have been springing up online lately. The best way to do this? By creating a scam ICO that seems literally too good to be true.

The landing page for the fictitious HoweyCoin is set up in a manner that makes it sound appealing and legitimate. There is a “Meet the Team” portion with seemingly realistic and friendly employees and even a celebrity endorsement section from “celebrities” such as @McWhortle and @realdrummerstar. The SEC has been thorough with its deception, even including a White Paper, a glorious tier scheme which screams “pump and dump,” and having the cheek to add “HoweyCoins will trade on an SEC-compliant exchange where you can buy and sell them for profit" to the list of the fake token's benefits.

Clicking on a “Buy Coins Now!” button leads to an official SEC website for investors, which proceeds to list warning signs for individuals in regard to fraudulent Initial Coin Offerings. The SEC’s statement about the fake ICO page points out that celebrity endorsement should always be taken with a pinch of salt, unless that celebrity happens to be a world-famous investor, who likely hates cryptocurrencies anyway.

The agency was in the news recently for halting an ICO issued by AriseBank that was looking to gain US$1 billion in funding. Fraudsters are believed to have made a fortune through creating fake websites during Telegram’s recent ICO presales, so no doubt the SEC will be hoping its HoweyCoin “scam” (named after the Howey Test that decides if an investment is a security) can offer a few tips to help potential investors avoid losing their money.

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