SMSChain is an ICO supposedly aiming to let users earn money by using the users phone to send SMS. They claim that users would be able to download their app and start making easy money.
A little Update: SMSChain replied to this post here but did not issue any statement regarding my reply to their post when I pointed out some discrepancies in their reply.
Why is it a scam?
Note: The previous version of this article claims that they are scamming due to extremely high prices, this was due to a calculation error on our site. We are sorry about that.
Prices and payouts
Cell phone plans cost roughly 20$ and include 3000+ SMS (on average). According to SMSChain this means you would earn 15$ per month. Per 3000 SMS you get 15$, making a single text message worth 0.005$. This price is similar to the industry standard for SMS prices. However there is a small detail that is quite important – not all countries cost the same especially less “common” ones cost most.This is where SMSChain wants to help by letting the user sell his SMS.
Why it wont’t work
One of the reasons why this is most likely a Scam is that not all the parts can be blockchained. The purchase order might work like a charm, but the SMS Sender could alter, view or withhold the SMS since its his phone that effectively sends the message, allowing him access to it.
Another reason is the lack of clients. They claim that services like Google and Skype would use their service, which will never happen. Why would you want to use a system that might be somewhat cheaper, but many times more unproffesional? Would you like to recieve your 2FA codes from someone else’s phone? I certainly don’t!
Furthermore the carriers might start banning unlimited SMS for such services whereas Industrial providers wont have such reliability issues.
Do they have fake Team members?
Upon viewing their team, I realized that none of the members mentioned their work for SMSChain on their LinkedIn. On their profile they state that the are still working for other companies.
Did someone just get some random people and put them on the site?
Conclusion
SMSCHAIN is one of the most obvious scams I’ve ever seen. They lack a whitepaper, offer some a get rich quick scheme and have fake team members. Do not invest!
This article only states the author’s opinion, these allegations might not be true
i m now using their app, but after two month i lost mi faith in this project. I think it is a scam. App send daily fiew sms. I have full USA, Canada and Europe plan and it is not using it at all.
Facebook page is dead, telegram chat is full of questions wihout answers. After Two month Im uninstalling app because i have suspicion that i cant trust the app.
Just read it please. Reply from SMS Chain:
https://medium.com/smschainorg/sms-chain-replies-to-coinanalysis-83898f3dfc9d
SMS prices are quite high in a lot of countries, almost everywhere outside of USA, Canada and India. The price to deliver text message in Germany costs around 0.08 USD. There are a lot of companies which try to find cheaper way of delivering messages, especially if they have to deliver millions of them on monthly basis.
No-one is offering 15$ for 100 messages. It is 15$ for 100 messages/day for the whole month. This is 3000 text messages, not 100
Try calculating again!
Actually, it is 0,005$ / SMS:
15$ / month at 100 SMS / day.
100 * 30 SMS = 3000 SMS / month.
15 $ / 3000 SMS = 0,005$ / SMS
You’re just flat out wrong about your “calculations”
Try reading their infogtaphics again, the price isn’t $0.15 per text