How I Thought I got Scammed by a Crypto Conference…

It’s early in the morning, I’ve just had a long conference call with my team and am rushing to get ready. I get an Uber to head to the Crypto Health Summit in Downtown LA. I have high expectations. I look forward to the discussions. How healthcare, something so vitally important, could be made better through blockchain-tech.

It’s about a 40 minute drive. I hardly look up from my phone whilst in the Uber. Suddenly, “Madam, we are here!” I say thank you and start to get out of the car. Something doesn’t seem quite right…

The spot appears to be an abandoned lockup. The neighbourhood looks bleak. I’ve ended up in Skid Row. “I’m so sorry, I must’ve entered the wrong address!” I go to the website and check the address over and over again. Doesn’t seem to be a mistake there. Maybe it’s hidden somewhere?

“I cannot leave you here madam, let me take you somewhere else, it’s not safe” says the Uber driver. As a foreigner alone in a big city, I decide to trust the driver’s judgement and ask to go to a cafe nearby, somewhere with a bit less decay.

“Fashion District?” Sure, why not.

There must be a mistake, I think to myself. Maybe they forgot to update the address or maybe changed it by mistake? I decide to ring up the event organisers. But alas, no phone numbers on the website. No phone numbers in emails… In fact the emails have been auto sent through a mail client. I start to get nervous.

I look them up on their social media. No presence. I check out the twitter and Linkedin page of the guy that invited me to speak at the event — one recent retweet and no activity since 2015 before that. Linkedin too is rather inactive. I check their domain registration — anonymous… This poor guy has got hacked and now some scammers are using his profiles to do scammy crypto events!

In fact I suddenly realise that this is a whole industry. I was contacted a few days prior to this by a friend from Russia asking to go for coffee, he was adamant that I will be in Moscow. I was confused. He said I am listed as a speaker at a crypto conference taking place over there. I had not agreed to do such a thing or even attend the event.

I started to put the picture together — I got scammed. But why, I didn’t pay them anything. In fact they said they would pay me to be part of the panel… I see, very clever! Of course they want to make sure I think it is real so I would share on social that I am going, helping them perhaps get money from sponsors as the event was supposed to be free.

I felt disappointed in myself for not doing more research. Annoyed at scammers. Thinking I could’ve got on a plane back to my family the previous evening. But hey, that’s life. I get an Uber back to the apartment.

Just as I climb out of the car I receive an email from the so called organisers— “Sorry, we are here, we don’t see you”. Bastards, I think to myself. They have taken it one step too far. “No really, we are here at this address now”.

I demand they take a picture.

They ask me to take part of a panel after lunch on healthcare administrators and patients experience. Well okay… I hesitate but then decide to go back. If this is indeed real, I will talk about something I am very proud of — the Estonian e-health records, now on blockchain.

Also, of course I want to introduce our project Black Insurance . Healthcare and insurance go together, if we can improve one side, there is hope that the other will follow. Plus, I’d maybe get a great story out of it.

I decide to have lunch somewhere nearby and walk back to the event. How bad can it be?

In the short 20 minute walk I see a whole different side to the US. Skid Row has the highest population of homeless people (between 5000 and 8000). The year seems to be 1980 by the looks of it. Streets are dormant and filthy. Every few meters, someone is sleeping or resting their feet on the floor. Buildings are abandoned and derelict.

The last block before the event I start to feel really uncomfortable. At first I was feeling disbelief and shock by seeing the state people are in . The greatest country in the world apparently. That was soon replaced by danger. I was nearly around the corner. Next, a scene out of The Walking Dead appeared before me.

People, climb out of tents, to my best assessment probably on fentanyl, and start to approach me from both sides of the street. They move slowly, with jerky movements. This is it. Good bye kids, I love you. I speed up my step.

As I turn around the corner I have arrived, with the followers still behind me. A suited man asks if I am here for the crypto event. I run across the street to meet him, adrenaline is running high. I sigh in relief and decide a cigarette is well earned.

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And it is indeed a crypto event! The abandoned lockup, now with metal curtains raised, is a studio. Across the street a lady of the night is carefully sweeping the front of her tarpaulin home.

This is quite the contrast to Consensus 2018 I attended in NY the previous week. The flash afterparties on rooftops. Lambos and young men in suits. Apparently they were giving away three Aston Martins at a boat party, sponsored by a blockchain startup. Many conversations shallow, presentations full of buzzwords.

This here in Skid Row, this was real. Real people in despair, that had somehow ended up living in tents. People that society has stopped caring and had forgotten about. One could argue that they are lowlives, thieves, addicts. This may now be the case but that wasn’t always their story. Something happened along the way.

Over half a million people in the US are homeless. Even though the economy is apparently booming, homelessness is on the rise. As rent keeps going up an up, in case you lose your job, it is very difficult to get back on track if you have little or no savings and don’t find a new job straight away. Many become addicted due to an injury, once their insurance runs out the meds are taken away, the addiction stays. It is easy to judge without knowing their stories.

And somehow, here we were: Crypto enthusiasts, doctors, developers and investors. We did not fit in, but it made us all have a real think. Why did we get into the blockchain field? To change something. To somehow make the world a better place through technology.

A hope, that maybe a government would be held accountable for how they spend the taxpayers money, so we could make sure that the people outside, that had previously also been taxpayers, find a way out. Could blockchain help us out here?

I sure hope so.

Even though it was a small event, I met some truly wonderful people there. Well done to the young team that plan to take this around the world. A humble event filled with people that want to make a difference.

Even though I slagged off Consensus, I also made a lot of great new relationships there. Some of which hopefully will last a lifetime. I have no doubt many of them will do great things in the field of crypto. And they will do it not because they are after the lambos and quick profits, they are doing it to make the world a better place.

Now, why am I doing this?

Blockchain can solve a lot of problems in many different industries. Right now, insurance sucks. And so many people rely on insurance as a safety net. Right now it is letting them down and costs way too much. Yes, of course it is a very profitable business and I doubt capitalism is going anywhere soon. But it is time to take social responsibility and stop chasing profits as it were the only goal in life.

So, I’m here to fix insurance with my team.

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Stay tuned for more adventures from crypto events by Liina.