We Investigated Aletrax: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Aletrax.com site surfaced, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather reliable evidence that clearly indicates it is, actually, a scam service.

Regardless of the promises of the most easy, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Aletrax.com does not offer any of them. All this is just a golden wrap around a dirty scam, which steals your money and data and never gives them back. Any tales about gifts, backing from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

Aletrax Scam Overview

Originally, Aletrax poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with outstandingly low commission fees. Another bright marketing point for this site is backing from celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Vitalii Buterin (Ethereum creator), Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look more realistic, frauds use deepfake videos where those celebrities promote the fraud as if it was the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a vivid wrap around a transparent scam.

Aletrax Scam

First and foremost, Aletrax copies the design of many similar online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Spacexjet, Sneewex or Navbitexchange. They are totally indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the webpage header. Other details, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Probably, all these fraudulent sites are led by a single team of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Aletrax Scam Works?

Aletrax is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use various 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 legitimacy of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To start the scam, criminals set up and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They generally aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign commences. Employing bots and paid advertisements (when feasible), fraud actors increase the visibility of their scam activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers do not disdain using generative AI for creating videos with the mentioned celebs that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the promos, users end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Aletrax”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Aletrax, “Start earning with Aletrax – they look rather authoritative. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that retrieving the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing concerning happens at this point, uninformed users happily keep on – especially as the reward appears to be right behind the corner.

This is the last stage when it is possible to get away from the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal info, rascals will not be able to earn even a penny from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is the starting poing of the main fraud action. As I just mentioned, scammers bait folks into signing up for bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the promised bonus right away. To make at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the sum of a bonus. At this point, the final stage of the scam kicks in.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any crypto purchases require having capital on your account. In the case of Aletrax, users are also compelled to top up to claim the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the cash flow to this scam website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start engaging on this site hoping to use all the deposited money and withdraw them.

This is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When comparing the real cryptocurrency wallet vs what the website says, you can observe that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to retrieve the capital from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

There’s no need to explain that swindlers have 0 intentions to give your money back. But to make it look more legitimate, they’ve made up a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client regulations say, but for the Aletrax.com they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By asking for your personal information, deceivers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are a dozen other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your money back. And each of these checks will share more and more information, which – you guessed it right – will be then sold 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 Aletrax.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• False Celebrity Sponsorship. Aletrax 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. Aletrax.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. Aletrax 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. Aletrax.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%, Aletrax preys on the desire for quick profits. Yet, the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market makes such gains highly unlikely, definitively labeling Aletrax as a scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Aletrax 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 course of the fraud, its masters may contact you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your crypto assets. As we already determined, these rascals have no intent of restoring your funds. So, what do these emails and browser plugins represent? You guessed – this is another element of the scam designed to entice you into deliberately running malicious programs onto your device.

Both extensions and attachments included to email messages can serve as a shell for different malware. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all kinds of malicious programs. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always greater than zero. As noted, their morality is of little concern, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have no scruples to lose and strive to boost revenues.

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