We Investigated Basfex: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Basfex.com service surfaced, promoting itself as a place to keep cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that clearly confirms it is, in truth, a deceptive platform.

Despite the promises of the most easy, dependable, and customer-centric service, Basfex.com does not follow any of them. All this is just a gilded wrap around a clear scam, which steals your money and never returns them. Any tales about gifts, endorsement from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Basfex Scam Overview

Originally, Basfex poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another notable selling point for this site is partnerships with celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look real, rascals employ AI-generated videos with those celebs promote the fake crypto service 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.

Basfex Scam

Initially, Basfex shares the appearance of numerous similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Adorob, Memav or Flompes. They are completely identical in terms of graphic elements, with minor discrepancies in the website header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Probably, all these deceptive sites are managed by a single gang of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Basfex Scam Works?

Basfex is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the identical 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 initiate the scam, criminals establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They mainly focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign starts. Utilizing bots and sponsored advertisements (when achievable), fraud actors increase the visibility of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using deepfake for creating videos with the mentioned celebrities that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who enrolls the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the ads, targets end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Basfex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Basfex, “Start earning with Basfex – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that obtaining the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, uninformed users happily proceed – especially since the gift 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, crooks will not 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 said, scammers bait folks into signing up for bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the promised bonus is not available for withdrawal 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 begins.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any crypto operations require you to have capital on your account. In the case of Basfex, users are also coerced to top up to get the bonuses. And this is what creates most of the money 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 trading on this site hoping to use all the deposited capital and withdraw them.

This is where the problems start to surface. When keeping an eye on the actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site says, you can observe that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out the funds from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that scoundrels are naught on intentions to give your money back. Though to make the fraud look more realistic, they’ve crafted a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what KYC guidelines say, but for the Basfex.com they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By asking for your personal info, frauds just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are multiple other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your funds back. And every check 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 Basfex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Unsubstantiated Credibility. Basfex employs fraudulent celebrity endorsements, often featuring names like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. These false claims extend to fictitious partnerships with reputable entities like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask, despite the absence of genuine connections.
• Implausible Earnings Claims. Promising remarkable returns of 50-100-200%, Basfex exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Basfex as a scam.
• Dubious Corporate Information. Basfex arouses suspicion by providing inadequate documentation about ownership, location, and registration. Furthermore, the lack of legitimate contact information and the recent registration of domain and social media profiles deepen skepticism.
• Exclusive Cryptocurrency Payments. Basfex.com solely accepts payments in cryptocurrencies, refraining from traditional bank transfers and other payment methods. This approach not only shrouds the company’s identity but also prevents the possibility of requesting refunds.
• Potential Pyramid Scheme. The scam relies on a Ponzi-like referral structure disseminated through social media. Nevertheless, only initial participants profit, often at the expense of funds brought in by subsequent members.
• Groundless Hype Tactics. Basfex utilizes fabricated claims about non-existent events, such as securing contracts with Coinbase or receiving endorsements from Elon Musk. This manipulative strategy aims to foster belief in money returns and encourages individuals to top up their accounts again.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Basfex 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, fraudsters may reach out to you with specific files. Alternatively, they may propose you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto funds. As we already determined, these deceivers have no intention of returning your money. So, what can these email messages and browser plugins represent? Correct – that is another element of the scam designed to entice you into willingly installing harmful software onto your system.

Both add-ons and attachments attached to email messages can serve as a carrier for diverse malicious code. In this case, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among other types of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always existent. As noted, their morality is of little concern, and their reputation is already neck deep in mud. They have nothing to lose and intend to boost profits.

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