KIBO, which claims to be the first decentralized Blockchain and Ethereum smart contract-based lottery, started its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) on 01 October 2016. However, the platform is being touted as a scam.

ICOs or crowdsale have become the most common way for raising funds. In recent times, several projects have raised millions of dollars using this method – DECENT, ICONOMI, eBoost, to name a few. However, investors are advised to maintain high caution and verify the authenticity of the projects before investing.

In a blog post, Nick Tomaino points out many of these upcoming projects don’t even have an appropriate white paper that demonstrates technical research. In fact, companies are raising funds by just selling the “vision” rather than demonstrating traction, ability to execute, or evidence of technical research.

“The crypto market has set the bar shockingly low for entrepreneurs to raise money and this is dangerous for everyone involved”, Tomaino wrote.

Coming back to KIBO, Forklog reported that it has received several letters from readers about the dubious reputation of the project, adding that people are now accusing KIBO creators of fraud.

“Judging from the media space, many investors believed that all the collected money goes to the address of a smart contract Ethereum network. Please note that all the funds are going to a regular address Ethereum network”, Forklog said (roughly translated).

In addition, bitcoin aficionado Nikita Trifonov has explained "What's wrong with Kibo” on Steemit. Trifonov pointed out that the reputation of the Miller brothers who had organized the venture was somewhat tarnished at the moment of the project’s announcement, adding that they are somehow linked to OneCoin, a project currently under investigation of the Scotland Yard.

In addition, Trifonov lists various arguments against KIBO:

• Participating in the project requires spending $130 on a platform, and $1,300 more on tokens – quite strange for a project seeking to conquer the international lotto market.
   
• No mentions as to the development of mobile apps.
   
• Personal account there is copy-pasted from a Finnish project, i.e. it’s stolen.
   
• Out of 350 million tokens issued overall, only 100 million are actually participating in the ICO, while others are reserved for the platform’s owners.
   
• The project’s smart-contract posted on GitHub is poorly executed and has critical vulnerabilities allowing dishonest players to fake the results of their games.
   
• The platform is technically overestimated. After the crowdsale, assuming that all tokens have been sold out, the platform’s price would comprise $26 million, that is, for 25% of tokens.
   
• The white paper is full of bad grammars and errors of style.
   
• Over the course of the platform’s preparation for the ICO, the ‘partner conditions’ changed several times. 

Forklog said that some of the KIBO investors are planning to appeal to the law enforcement agencies with a statement of a criminal case.