Investigating Avantexch: Legit or Scam? The Truth Exposed

Recently, Avantexch.com service popped up, promoting itself as a platform where you can safely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable evidence that clearly reveals it is, actually, a deceptive site.

Regardless of the promises of the most easy, reliable, and customer-centric service, Avantexch.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a shiny wrap around a dirty scam, which steals your funds and never returns them. Any tales about gifts, backing from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Avantexch Scam Overview

Originally, Avantexch poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this service is backing from celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Vitalii Buterin (Ethereum creator), Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look real, frauds employ deepfake videos with those celebs promote the fake crypto service as if it was the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a vivid wrap around an obvious scam.

Avantexch Scam

First and foremost, Avantexch copies the design of numerous similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Bitcoininvestexperts, Accruecoinstrade or Aqrai. They are totally indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the website header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Most likely, all these fraudulent sites are managed by the same gang of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Avantexch Scam Works?

Avantexch is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the similar overall layout. Another common 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 establish and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They generally target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign begins. Utilizing bots and sponsored advertisements (when possible), fraud actors intensify the exposure of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not shy away 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 joins the service immediately.

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

Users obtain an encouragement to enroll, attracted by the promise of getting cryptocurrency rewards valued at hundreds of dollars, all free of charge. To augment the appeal of the offer, false claims of sponsorship by a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the promotions, targets end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Avantexch”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Avantexch, “Start earning with Avantexch – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, crooks say that retrieving the pledged bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, uninformed users happily keep on – especially as the reward appears to be right behind the corner.

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

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is where the main fraud action begins. As I just mentioned, deceivers bait folks into signing up to get bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the claimed bonus is not available for withdrawal right away. To make at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, you need to top up the account with the equivalent sum. And this is what initiates the final step of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any cryptocurrency purchases require you to have capital on your account. With Avantexch, users are also coerced to top up to claim the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates the majority of the cash flow to this scam website. 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 transferred funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When keeping an eye on the actual crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can spot 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

There’s no need to explain that swindlers have zero intentions to give your money back. But to make it look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what KYC guidelines say, but in this case they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By asking for your personal info, scammers 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 should go through before getting your money back. And every check will reveal more and more info of yours, 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 Avantexch.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Cryptocurrency-Only Transactions. Avantexch.com insists on cryptocurrency payments exclusively, excluding conventional methods like bank transfers. This strategy ensures anonymity for the scam and eliminates any possibility of seeking refunds.
• Dubious Company Credentials. Avantexch arouses suspicion by failing to provide critical information about ownership, location, and legal registration. The lack of valid contact details and the recent creation of domain and social media profiles cast doubt on its legitimacy.
• Baseless Hype Generation. Avantexch resorts to fabricating non-existent achievements, such as contracts with Coinbase or endorsements from Elon Musk, to manipulate emotions and enhance the perception of potential returns, enticing victims to invest more.
• Fictitious Celebrity Association. Avantexch employs a deceptive tactic by falsely associating itself with well-known figures like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. Additionally, the scam falsely claims partnerships with established entities like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask to bolster its false credibility.
• Potential Ponzi-Like Model. The scam operates on a pyramid-style referral system disseminated through social media, benefiting only initial participants and relying on later investments to sustain the illusion.
• Unrealistic Profit Promises. Promising improbable returns of 50-100-200%, Avantexch capitalizes on the desire for high profits. However, the tumultuous nature of the cryptocurrency market renders such gains implausible, solidifying Avantexch.com as a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Avantexch 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.

• Secure Your Actions. Begin by promptly reporting the scam to appropriate local authorities tasked with handling financial fraud. Notify wallet providers and engage with social networks’ technical support teams. By taking these measures, you contribute to making the scammers’ operations significantly more difficult.
• Expand Awareness. Extend your efforts by sharing the scam information with your close friends. This action has a parallel effect to reporting to the authorities, as disseminating details about fraudulent crypto services reduces the potential victims they can deceive.
• Gather Evidence. Preserve comprehensive evidence by capturing screenshots and saving all pertinent data linked to the deceptive website. Collect the URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These materials could prove invaluable for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Explore Refund Possibilities. While cryptocurrency payments generally fall outside the scope of refund policies within most banks, it’s worth investigating the potential for a refund in specific circumstances. Maintain optimism until you definitively confirm the loss.
• Convert Mistake into Wisdom. Transform your financial setback into a valuable learning experience. Treat your loss as an investment in understanding the tactics of crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their key characteristics, how they lure individuals, and the grandiose promises they make. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be well-equipped to recognize and avoid falling into future traps without incurring further losses.

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 actors may reach out to you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may propose you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your cryptocurrency assets. As we already determined, these scoundrels have no plan of restoring your funds. So, what can these messages and browser extensions represent? You guessed – that is another element of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into deliberately running malicious software onto your system.

Both extensions and attachments attached to emails can serve as a shell for diverse malware. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other kinds of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always greater than zero. As previously mentioned, their conscience is of little concern, and their dignity is already seriously marred. They have no scruples to lose and intend to maximize revenues.

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