12xTrades Reviewed: Legit or Total Ripoff? Read This First

Recently, 12xtrades.com service popped up, promoting itself as a platform where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible supporting information that clearly indicates it is, in truth, a fraudulent site.

Despite the promises of the most user-friendly, reliable, and client-friendly service, 12xtrades.com does not fulfill any of them. All this is just a golden wrap around a clear scam, which steals your money and never gives them back. Any tales about gifts, backing from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

12xTrades Scam Overview

Originally, 12xTrades poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another notable selling point for this site is backing from celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Vitalii Buterin, Jeff Bezos – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look real, frauds use deepfake videos with those celebs advertise the scam as if it was the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around an obvious scam.

12xTrades Scam

Initially, 12xTrades copies the appearance of multiple equivalent websites. There are quite a few examples, like Mellcoinkon, Techzesh or Flamicut. They are entirely identical in terms of graphic elements, with minor discrepancies in the site header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Probably, all these deceptive sites are managed by a single team of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the 12xTrades Scam Works?

12xTrades is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the similar overall layout. Another mutual element are the ways the scams like NAME are promoted, and the manner all this ends up to the victim of the scam. To reach peak efficiency, frauds apply complex psychological tricks that make the user believe in the authenticity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To start the deceptive scheme, criminals create and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They generally focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign begins. Utilizing bots and paid advertisements (when achievable), scam actors intensify the presence of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not disdain using generative AI for creating clips with the aforementioned celebs that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

Promotions of cryptoscams like 12xTrades in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users obtain a stimulus to register, enticed by the commitment of getting crypto benefits valued at hundreds of dollars, all without cost. To increase the attractiveness of the offer, false claims of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these assertions are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the promotions, targets end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with 12xTrades”, “Your crypto savings are secured with 12xTrades, “Start earning with 12xTrades – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that unlocking the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware users happily move on – especially as the bonus appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal data, rascals will not be able to earn even a nickel from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is the starting poing of the main fraud action. As I just said, frauds bait folks into signing up to get bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the promised bonus right away. To make it at least usable for cryptocurrency purchases, the user should top up the account with the sum of a bonus. And this is what starts the final step of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any crypto purchases require having funds on your account. With 12xTrades, users are also compelled to top up to get the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the money flow to this scam site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the committed gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this website hoping to use all the deposited funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the issues start to surface. When comparing the actual crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can observe that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to retrieve the funds from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that fraudsters have no intentions to send you money. But to make the fraud look more realistic, they’ve developed a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what KYC requirements say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By asking for your personal information, deceivers just stall hoping for you to understand that you’ve been scammed and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are multiple other checks you should go through before getting your money back. And each of these checks will uncover more and more information, which – you guessed it right – will be then marketed on the Darknet. Never reveal your real info to strangers!

Signs of Scam

I gathered several facts that point at the scammy nature of the 12xtrades.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• False Celebrity Sponsorship. 12xTrades often resorts to fake endorsements from celebrities such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. This fraudulent tactic extends to claiming partnerships with reputable companies like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask, despite lacking any genuine affiliations.
• Cryptocurrency-Only Payments. 12xtrades.com exclusively accepts payments in cryptocurrencies, rejecting traditional bank transfers and other methods. This approach not only masks the company’s identity but also eliminates the possibility of seeking refunds.
• Dubious Company Information. 12xTrades raises suspicion by withholding essential ownership, location, and registration details. Furthermore, the absence of legitimate contact information and the recent establishment of domain and social media pages intensify skepticism.
• Unsubstantiated Hype. 12xtrades.com employs groundless hype tactics, fabricating events like securing contracts with Coinbase or receiving endorsements from Elon Musk. These manipulative techniques aim to instill false confidence and encourage further investments.
• Potential Pyramid Scheme. The scam relies on a structure resembling a Ponzi scheme, leveraging a referral system spread through social media. However, only initial participants benefit, often at the expense of subsequent investors.
• Implausible Claims. Promising returns of 50-100-200%, 12xTrades preys on the desire for quick profits. Yet, the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market makes such gains highly unlikely, definitively labeling 12xTrades as a scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with 12xTrades site and fell victim to that scam, there are still some steps to take. They will make further scam attempts harder, and also boost the knowledge about that scam among folks.

• Report the scam to authorities. Search for local authorities responsible for financial frauds, and also notify wallet providers and social networks via their tech support. It is essential to make the further operations of these scammers much harder.
• Tell your close friends. That step is similar to reporting to the authorities, and has similar effects. By posting info about scam crypto service, you decrease the pool of people they can fool.
• Get evidence. Screenshot or save all the information related to the website. URL, screenshot of a main page, login window, EULA, account top-up menu, wallet addresses – all these things may be useful for authorities to find the scammers.
• Check whether you can ask for a refund. As I’ve said above, crypto payments do not fall under refund policies in most banks. Nonetheless, in some circumstances, it is still possible. Never lose hope until you actually confirm it is gone.
• Make your mistake your lesson. Financial losses are always a reason for frustration, but let’s imagine it was a pay for scam revealing courses. Remember the key features of these crypto scam sites, the way they attract people and what they promise. In the future, you will easily recognize a trap of spending no money.

Scan your system for possible malware infections

Beware of cross scams! Scam actors can use your trust to make you download some stuff or interact with certain documents. It may be a trap that installs malware to your system. There are no moral barriers or limits for these scoundrels.

Throughout the timeline of the scam, its masters may get in touch with you with particular files. Alternatively, they may propose you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your crypto savings. As we previously figured out, these scoundrels have no intention of giving back your money. So, what can these email messages and browser extensions represent? You guessed it right – that is another element of the scam designed to entice you into deliberately installing malicious programs onto your computer.

Both extensions and files included to email messages can act as a shell for various malicious software. In this case, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among all forms of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always greater than zero. As previously mentioned, their ethics is of no concern, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have no principles to lose and strive to maximize revenues.

Frequently asked questions