Photo by Rob Potter
The crypto community love telegram. It seems every crypto-currency has its group with thousands of users discussing price movements, tech and whitepapers 24/7. It makes you feel you're part of a big community.
It's not long, however, until you get invited into a pump group. Doesn't it make you feel great that the community that is working together to makes you rich?
You've heard it before: Pump and dumps are happening all the time. People are obviously making an absolute killing on it. When you get that invite to pump groups you think you're finally in the game that will make you rich with just a few clicks. The temptation is unbearable. They promise to 10X your money in a matter of minutes. All you have to do is follow the signal, buy when they tell you and sell a few minutes after, jumping up and down you've just won the fucking lottery! Like you've finally solved the riddle on how to make yourself the king of the jungle! You're already buying lambos and getting on board your own private jet in your mind.
So you sit there and wait for the signal. 1 hour left. You can't wait. 30 minutes left. What are you going to spend your money on? Your starting to sweat! 10 minutes left. Every minute starts to feel like an hour. 5 minutes left. 1 minute left. 0 minutes left. And there it is, your chance to make it happen. They tell you the name of the coin and your sweaty fingers can't move fast enough to put that cash in and ride that rocket to the f*ing moon!
Time slows down, you're watching the numbers, trying to make sense of what is happening. Before you know it, you get the sell signal. You can hardly wait to check how much money you've made.
You check, double check and then your heart sinks and your dreams vanish. How could you have been so foolish, thinking that this is for real? You've been taken for a ride. Hook, line, and sinker. Your investment has divided itself into a fraction of what it once was. You hang your head in shame and wish you weren't such a fool!
This was me. Of course, this was a little exaggerated as I only invested £8 and was very suspicious that I might lose it, but I wanted to test it just in case. I don't doubt thousands of people are losing money every day on these Telegram 'pump' groups.
The reality is pump groups are actually dumping groups. They are created so that people buy their dumps. When the whales want to pump a coin, they aren't concerned about the little goldfish and plankton with there few hundred or thousands. They just want to eat you for lunch. They need the little fish to eat up their dumps for it to work. This is the real purpose of 'dump' groups.
Moral of the story? Unless you have 10s or 100s of millions to invest, you will never win at the 'pump and dump' game. They have far more advantage to you and need you to play their game. Just like the humpback whales that work together to create a wall of bubbles to trap their prey before scooping them up in one huge mouthful, these crypto-whales are scooping the little fish and with it destroying their little dreams.
Just beware and let your friends know not to play this rigged game.
