Recently, Astroxcoin.com site surfaced, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that clearly reveals it is, actually, a scam site.
Despite what Astroxcoin site says, they won’t ever refund your capital. Even though the figures displayed in the “member area”, there is no way to take out even a coin. All pledges regarding crypto bonuses are empty as well.
Astroxcoin Scam Overview
The key service that Astroxcoin strives to provide is a secure and user-friendly crypto wallet service. The website pledges exchange services, tools for handling wallets, transfers, dashboards, and similar stuff. In reality, they try to emulate the functionality of a crypto exchange, akin to Binance or Coinbase. However, it in fact only serves as a cover intended to deceive the cautious.
Initially, Astroxcoin imitates the appearance of multiple similar pages. There are quite a few examples, like Thecloudcoin, Kuex or Kovrex. They are completely indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with small discrepancies in the website header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Presumably, all these scam websites are operated by the same gang of scammers.
Cryptocurrency Scam Summary
| Website | Astroxcoin.com |
| Hosting | AS13335 Cloudflare, Inc. United States, San Francisco |
| IP Address | 104.21.45.250 |
| Threat Type | Scam/Fraud |
| Scam Type | Fraudulent offers of cryptocurrency services |
How the Astroxcoin Scam Works?
Astroxcoin is yet another webpage within a wide-ranging network of linked crypto deceptive platforms. The managers utilize various brand identities and websites, like Astroxcoin.com, to trap victims. However, these false sites possess the same designs, terms of service, and About content. This unveils their origins as components of the equal criminal network, which promotes the same mode of scam under different covers. The fraudsters merely duplicate the equal deceptive website under diverse names to fool users into believing they are enrolling a new opportunity. However, in actuality, it’s the identical system of scammers orchestrating the deceptive pledges and undertakings to seize deposited money. The operators cleverly utilize psychological tactics and appealing offers to carry out their unscrupulous plans.
Step 1: Spreading
To initiate the deceptive scheme, criminals establish and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign commences. Employing bots and paid promotions (when achievable), scam actors intensify the exposure of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. This approach enables them to cast a wide net and interact with their aimed viewers. This audience typically comprises of cryptocurrency fans seeking opportunities to generate profits.
Users get an encouragement to enroll, attracted by the assurance of obtaining crypto rewards valued at hundreds of dollars, all without cost. To enhance the attractiveness of the offer, false suggestions of sponsorship by a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.
Step 2: Gaining Traffic
People who show interest visit Astroxcoin.com via links featured in ads or bot-generated posts. The website utilizes captivating visuals, design features that appear legitimate, and assertions of holding a valid license, all intended to project an initial image of reliability.
Step 3: Data Gathering
To claim their benefits, users need to proactively create an account on Astroxcoin and get instructions to provide sensitive and private data during the registration process. This comprises linking their cryptocurrency wallets, sharing email addresses, supplying phone numbers, sending in identification documents, and more.
Step 4: Requesting funds
Once enrolled, users notice considerable amounts of cryptocurrency, valued at thousands of dollars, within their Astroxcoin wallets. Nevertheless, as is typical with such bonuses, you cannot withdraw them before topping up your account. Typically, a payment of $100 is asked to access the sign-up bonus. This condition serves as the snare that eventually results to the money loss.
Step 5: Disappear
The moment the deposit is sent, the deceivers cease all interaction. They go ahead to block users, remove accounts, and vanish with both the deposited money and critical individual information. The fabricated rewards remain perpetually uncredited, as they lack actual existence. They operate purely as a fraudulent maneuver. This method forms the foundation for the fraudsters’ capability to deceive victims and embezzle hard-earned earnings through their duplicative web crypto fraud.
Signs of Scam
I gathered several facts that point at the scammy nature of the Astroxcoin.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.
- Absent company details. Astroxcoin does not provide any documentation about its ownership, location or registration. No legitimate contact details are given either. Moreover, it appears that the domain and all social network pages were registered quite recently.
- Fake sponsorship from a celebrity. Scams like Astroxcoin like to pick a celebrity as a sponsor of this entire campaign. For obvious reasons, fraudsters generally choose Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, Mark Zuckerberg, and similar celebrities. They do not disdain claiming partnership with a company as well. Even though Coinbase, Binance or MetaMask never heard of Astroxcoin, they do not care – this creates a halo of credibility.
- Potential Ponzi Scheme. The scam relies on a Ponzi-like referral system to spread reach through social media. In fact, only the first members will receive the payoff, at the cost of the money brought by other members.
- Hype without facts. Frauds can cheer up their victims from time to time, using claims about non-existent events. “We got contracts with Coinbase”, “Elon Musk mentioned us as the most prolific crypto project” – you could likely hear something like that. This is made to make people believe in their money return. This can be the sauce to make people top-up their accounts once again.
- Crypto-only incoming payments. Whether the user tries to top-up the account, hackers will only accept payments in crypto – no bank transfers or other payment methods. Such an approach completely hides the identity of the company and deprives you of the ability to ask for a refund.
- Claims are too good to be true. Let’s be sane and sober: even in crypto space, there are not many places where you can earn 50-100-200%. Being able to participate in all of them is nearly impossible, as well as it is impossible to insure or hedge all the risks. Even by that reason alone I can tell that the Astroxcoin is a definite scam.
What Should I do as a Victim?
If you had to deal with Astroxcoin 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 duration of the fraud, its actors may get in touch with you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto funds. As we earlier figured out, these scoundrels have no intent of restoring your capital. So, what can these email messages and browser extensions represent? You guessed it right – this is another component of the fraudulent scheme designed to throw you into deliberately running malicious applications onto your device.
Both plugins and files included to email messages can act as a carrier for various malware. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always significant. As noted, their conscience is of negligible importance, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have no scruples to give up and intend to maximize gains.
Frequently asked questions
- Contact your bank or card provider and ask about chargeback options.
- Save screenshots, receipts, tracking numbers, and emails as evidence.
- Change reused passwords and enable two-factor authentication on important accounts.
- Watch for follow-up phishing emails pretending to offer refunds or delivery updates.
