DagCoin scam – following the footsteps of OneCoin



DagCoin is a cryptocurrency scam very similar to OneCoin, founded by a former OneCoin promoter Nils Grossberg. I couldn't find any exact date when the scheme was launched but it seems to have taken its first steps in August 2017.


Nils Grossberg, the founder, the CEO

Both OneCoin and DagCoin are marketed via MLM based pyramid scheme and they both have ponzi coins offered as a giveaway attached to purchase of an education package. The education packages sold by DagCoin have prices varying from 100 € up to 25.000 €. The content of each education package is very briefly described on DagCoin's webshop. However, those brief texts don't really justify the price tags included and there are no specific information about the education available. It's of course obvious that no one is buying this for the sake of education but for the coins attached. – Just like victims of OneCoin did.



Chain, chain, chain – Chain of fools

  
The biggest difference between DagCoin and OneCoin is the technology used – or to be more exact, the lack of it. 

OneCoin has claimed to use blockchain technology similar to Bitcoin's. However it's evident that all the talk about OneCoin's blockchain has been total nonsense and it seems that the company was never even meant to launch an actual cryptocurrency. 

DagCoin on the other hand has an actual technology in the background. It appears that the original idea of DagCoin was presented already in 2015 by someone named Sergio Demian Lerner. Here you can read Lerner's first post about DAG (Direct Acyclic Graph). Little did Lerner know that his idea would be later exploited to launch a scam.

One other difference between DagCoin and OneCoin is the way of marketing. Whereas OneCoin has used social media and internet to spread like a virus around the globe, DagCoin uses a much more subtle way. I really think that it's just a necessity to avoid any unwanted attention since most of the main characters marketing DagCoin are former OneCoin scammers.



The lack of cult of personality


There is one more thing separating DagCoin from OneCoin. That is the lack of cult of personality. 

OneCoin has Ruja Ignatova, "Dr Ruja", who has been presented as the founder behind OneCoin cryptocurrency – like Satoshi Nakamoto of this ponzi coin. Among the cult members she is hold in high regard for no apparent reason. She obviously has something that appeals to scam victims. 

DagCoin has Nils Grossberg who really doesn't strike me as a cult leader. I managed to find only couple of short videos of Grossberg giving short speeches in English. Based on those appearances he doesn't appear to be fluent with English, which really doesn't make him more convincing. Other than being the founder of the scheme, I don't see him having much else to offer besides his name and face. 


Nils Grossberg and Kari Wahlroos preparing for DagCoin event in Dubai in February 2018.



The event in Dubai, February 2018


There hasn't been any publicly shared videos of the event so far, so we don't get to see Kari Wahlroos rampaging on stage and threatening to punch those who disagree with him.

However, a Canadian former OneCoin promoter (still allegedly a believer though), Ken Labine, has released some information about the latest news from the Dubai event in a YouTube video published 24 February.


According to Labine:
  • Many merchants signed up to accept DagCoin.
  • PayGety, an active public exchange for DagCoin opening up on March 5th. In addition an exchange named SwipeX coming up.
The most hilarious news is that DagCoin is going to change to a new chain. Due the change of chain the initial supply of DagCoins of 1 billion is going to be increased to 10 billion. Not minding at all about the awkward familiarity of all this Labine is excited to explain:
  • "Our company is moving away from the byteball Dag plateform, and for the last 6 months we have been creating our own technology that will be announced in Panama May 2018."
  • "The total supply goes from 1 billion to 10 billion." 
And as a cherry on top:
  • "All of us will get 10 times the amount of coins we have up to this point."

Now, how come this all sounds so familiar? Oh, yes, OneCoin launched their new "blockchain" too and doubled the coins every one had in October 2016.



Conclusion


It might very well be that the former OneCoin scammers are the ones behind the recent new ideas brought into DagCoin. I suppose they are preying on the people who haven't heard about OneCoin and are gullible enough not to search information about the history of the people marketing DagCoin.

Like OneCoin
DagCoin is a ponzi-pyramid scam. It is combining pyramid scam with ponzi coins that nobody will want to buy from the suckers who'll desperately try to sell them.





Oh, by the way, Kari! – DagCoin is a scam.

Comments

  1. DagCoin was supposed to run on top of Byteball network. It is possible that Byteball just does not want Ponzicoin being run on top of their network and has denied the access. That would explain the sudden interest to create own tech.
    (With the "company" consisting of nothing but professional BS-spreaders, it is quite certain that there will never be "own implementation".)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for bringing this up! I was thinking that they just needed something to boost the sales of the scam. But you might very well be right with your suspicion.

      Delete
    2. They are leaving Byteball platform and will move to their own.
      https://dagcoin.org/even-greater-times-ahead-the-arrival-of-dag-chain/

      Delete
  2. From DagUniversity news:

    DagUniversity:
    *apps for DagUniversity are ready, currently in testing
    *Global Event in Dubai in February (Sen Manager and above have their flights and hotel paid by the company)

    Dagcoin:
    *Public exchange in Feb 2018 (2 exchanges, agreements made)
    *Webwallet is in development
    *Merchant platform with API is ready, currently in testing
    *Merchant finder platform is in development
    *Person-to-Person marketplace is in development
    *Merchants can start pre-registering from next week!

    The new platforms in development are planned to be launched in the Event in Dubai!

    Those should have happened a week ago the latest, AFAIK none has happened. Especially the two public exchanges must have been quite anticipated?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At least Paygety let's one log in today.

      Apparently it is supposed to be an exchange of some sorts. However, there wasn't a thing about Dagcoin visible.

      Delete
  3. Well I believe we can all come back to this in 1st of June, considering Ken's quote in this post:
    "for the last 6 months we have been creating our own technology that will be announced in Panama May 2018"

    ReplyDelete
  4. Let me attempt to show 'the other side of the Dagcoin' here...

    YES - there are similarities to be presented here showing Dagcoin to be similar to OneCoin - but you say...

    "It might very well be that the former OneCoin scammers are the ones behind the recent new ideas brought into DagCoin."

    ORRRRRRR...

    "It might be that Nils saw what was being promised at OneCoin realised it wasn't being delivered on and decided to actually deliver on it - and those from OneCoin who could see that decided to join him."

    I once though Dagcoin was "A OneCoin Scam" - until I looked REALLLLY close - and saw 'the indicators' that showed me...

    Nils Grossberg is actually creating what OneCoin never delivered on.

    There is lots opf reasons to point to this being true including...

    The recent release of their new Dagchain - not because ByteBall threw them of their chain. (it's open-source - you can't do that)

    It's because using ByteBall and needing to pay 'the bytes' created an unnecessary expense - and the ByteBall code, being created for data storage had limited functionality when it came to being used for transactions.

    Again - we could say...

    "It might be" - because ByteVall threw them off.

    OR...

    "It might be" - that they have merchants waiting to use their coin and merchant processing. (IE: DagPay) - and they wanted to 'do the right thing' and have it be as effective and effecient as possible.

    Which is true we shall know soon enough.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Question is when we will know??
      No exact dates are given by dag devloperde or promoters from last year

      Delete
    2. When is the question ???

      Delete
  5. I am already winning with dagcoin, first you have to be a member to be able to give your opinion, and when dagcoin cheats you, you have the right to claim but if you are not a member and you are complaining you have no opinion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. First of all, whatever you're "winning with Dagcoin" is not a proof of it not being a scam.

      Secondly, I don't need to be a member of a scam to recognize a scam. And yes, I have every right to make my conclusions about scams and warn people about them.

      All pyramid scams die eventually and I don't think Dagcoin has much time left. Dagcoin is just a ponzi-pyramid giving empty promises - just like OneCoin.

      Traffic to the site is declining rapidly and popularity of Dagcoin on Google is minimal.
      https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/dagcoin.org
      https://trends.google.fi/trends/explore?date=2014-10-01%202018-09-04&q=onecoin,dagcoin

      Delete
    2. While dagcoin.org looks bad, their new site looks to be still in rise:
      https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/successfactory.com

      That - of course - does not make DagCoin any less a scam. The company has 0 income other than the money invested by members, so any returns paid to old members are automatically paid from the investments of new members.
      Ergo, DagCoin is a Ponzi scheme, what comes to the "internal exchange" where DagCoins can be sold (and the profit can be made).

      Equally, DagCoin 100% fails the pyramid scheme test:
      In the U.S. the court sees these four as a same thing:
      1. "Sign up and pay a membership fee so you will get a free product."
      2. "Buy this product and you can sign up and get a discount for the membership fee."
      3. "When you buy this product, you'll become a member for free."
      and (as a variation of the above):
      4. "You have to sign up as a member to be able to buy this product."

      For the view of the law, in all cases there is money paid and membership received. Therefore the money is seen as a membership fee. How the payment is divided between the price of the attached product and the actual membership is irrelevant. It can be 50/50, 0/100 or 100/0 - it just doesn't matter.
      And if existing members get recruitment bonuses paid from the membership fees of new members, it is a pyramid scheme by definition.
      Ergo, DagCoin is also a pyramid scheme.

      And even if this was not the case, we learned from the court case of Vemma that the MLM company needs to sell to consumers. If majority of the sales (or in case of DagCoin all of the sales) goes to the members, then the purpose of the company is not to sell a product to consumers but to cycle the money of members to other members, which is a pyramid scheme.
      Ergo, DagCoin is (still) a pyramid scheme.

      To "Unknown" (3 Sep 2018 at 03:11):
      No, you do not need to be a member to be able to do the due diligence done above.

      You don't need to give your money to a robber to be able to tell he wants to rob you. It becomes obvious when you check how he operates (is going to take your money and not give them back).

      Also you do not need to give your car to a robber to be able to tell he's committing a grand theft auto. It becomes obvious when you check how he operates (is going to take your car and not give it back).

      Similarly you don't need to give your money to someone who has promoted a Pyramid/Ponzi scheme in the past and does it again to be able to tell he's running a Pyramid/Ponzi scheme again. It is obvious when you check how the company operates (takes your money and expects more victims to come in and pay you back.)

      Delete
    3. Similarweb shows a bit different readings:
      https://www.similarweb.com/website/successfactory.com#overview
      - A major traffic source to the site might be the members checking there accounts every now and then.

      Google Trends shows only a minor interest towards DagCoin:
      https://trends.google.fi/trends/explore?date=2014-10-01%202019-06-13&q=onecoin,dagcoin
      - Nothing much happening there.

      Delete
  6. How would you construe the value of any new cryptocurrency on the market?

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/shermanlee/2018/01/22/explaining-directed-acylic-graph-dag-the-real-blockchain-3-0/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "How would you construe the value of any new cryptocurrency on the market?"

      Well, I'd start with the basic test:

      1) Is the "new cryptocurrency" marketed with a MLM business model where old members are getting paid solely from the membership fees of new members, a.k.a pyramid scam?

      2) Is it so that the cryptocurrency cannot be exchanged into fiat currency (or other cryptocurrencies) in any public exchange, i.e. no real valuation for the currency?

      3) If there is an exchange where the cryptocurrency can be exchanged, is the only flow of money into that exchange from the membership fees of the new members, a.k.a. Ponzi fraud?

      Even one "yes" to those questions is a red flag that says you should stay far away from the opportunity in question.
      DagCoin ticks all three check marks here.

      Delete
  7. Shall we re-vamp this discussion now? Do you still think Dagcoin is a scam? With all that has come up and with all the technology that has been developed?

    I'd like to hear your thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't really followed Dagcoin for a long time, just checking a thread about it on murobbs occasionally. Oh, and that thread only has posts about the scam-like features of Dagcoin.

      Here's the thread (in Finnish):
      https://murobbs.muropaketti.com/threads/dagcoin-taenne-kaikki-onecoin-tekijaet-naeyttaevaet-keraeaentyvaen.1387157/page-41

      And yes, I still think that it is a scam. It has always been very similar to OneCoin. Same shit but different wrappers. Furthermore, I wouldn't recommend ANYTHING that Kari Wahlroos and Igor Alberts have promoted even to my worst enemies. Their names alone should be considered as a major red flag.

      Delete
  8. Is DagCoin still a scam?
    Of course it is.
    The business model has not changed so what I wrote here (12 June 2019) still applies:

    The company has 0 income other than the money invested by members, so any returns paid to old members are automatically paid from the investments of new members.
    Ergo, DagCoin is a Ponzi scheme, what comes to the "internal exchange" where DagCoins can be sold (and the profit can be made).

    Equally, DagCoin 100% fails the pyramid scheme test:
    In the U.S. the court sees these four as a same thing:
    1. "Sign up and pay a membership fee so you will get a free product."
    2. "Buy this product and you can sign up and get a discount for the membership fee."
    3. "When you buy this product, you'll become a member for free."
    and (as a variation of the above):
    4. "You have to sign up as a member to be able to buy this product."

    For the view of the law, in all cases there is money paid and membership received. Therefore the money is seen as a membership fee. How the payment is divided between the price of the attached product and the actual membership is irrelevant. It can be 50/50, 0/100 or 100/0 - it just doesn't matter.
    And if existing members get recruitment bonuses paid from the membership fees of new members, it is a pyramid scheme by definition.
    Ergo, DagCoin is also a pyramid scheme.

    And even if this was not the case, we learned from the court case of Vemma that the MLM company needs to sell to consumers. If majority of the sales (or in case of DagCoin all of the sales) goes to the members, then the purpose of the company is not to sell a product to consumers but to cycle the money of members to other members, which is a pyramid scheme.
    Ergo, DagCoin is (still) a pyramid scheme.


    Technology-wise every move the DagCoin has done has only moved the further away from being a cryptocurrency.

    DagCoin no longer operates on Byteball infrastructure. Instead they have their own "DagChain". However they still market their open source approach by pointing to their github ( https://github.com/dagcoin ). And this is where things get interesting:
    - The "Dagchain" was taken into use 8th of May 2018.
    - The core library has not been updated since 29th of April 2018, which means it was never updated to the new DagChain.
    - The hub (decentralized node storing a dagchain copy) has not been updated since 25th of May 2018.
    - None of the projects have received any updates since 21st of February 2019 (actually 29th of November 2018 if we count out the example repository).

    The hub is the key here: if the hub has not been updated to be able to use the new DagChain, then there is only one copy of the new "DagChain", and it is in DagCoin server (which, from the URL, can be seen to be in Amazon cloud). If there is only one copy of the DagChain, it is worthless as it will be lost (with all the dagcoins ever issued) the moment Nils forgets to pay for the electricity bill.

    Then to the DagChain (which for all that we know could be located in a SQL database):
    - in order to exchange DAGs to euros, you must use the internal exchange.
    - if you have your coins in internal exchange, they are not stored in the DagChain (and therefore do not even exist).
    - if you want to send DAGs to merchant, you have to movethem to your wallet (which brings them into the DagChain).
    - if you have moved DAGs to the DagChain, you cannot move them back to internal exchange.

    This means DAGs cannot be exchanged to euros by merchants and they are therefore worthless.

    ReplyDelete

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