We Investigated Beastok: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Beastok.one service popped up, promoting itself as a place to keep cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather credible evidence that clearly confirms it is, actually, a scam service.

Despite the promises of the most easy, dependable, and client-friendly service, Beastok.one does not offer any of them. All this is just a golden wrap around a clear scam, which steals your funds and never gives them back. Any stories about gifts, endorsement from celebrities etc are absent as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Beastok Scam Overview

Originally, Beastok poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with outstandingly low commission fees. Another bright marketing point for this service is backing from celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. 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, rascals employ AI-generated videos where those celebrities promote the fraud as the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around a transparent scam.

Beastok Scam

To begin with, Beastok shares the design of many equivalent online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Metobitex, Beastmer or Ltdbitcoin. They are entirely identical in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the website header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Presumably, all these scam websites are led by the same group of scammers.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Beastok Scam Works?

Beastok is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the same overall layout. Another shared 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 initiate the fraud, criminals set up and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They mainly aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign begins. Using bots and sponsored advertisements (when feasible), scam actors increase the presence of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not disdain using deepfake for creating clips with the mentioned celebs 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 Beastok in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users obtain a stimulus to register, drawn by the promise of getting cryptocurrency prizes valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To increase the attractiveness of the offer, fake suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the promos, targets end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Beastok”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Beastok, “Start earning with Beastok – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, crooks say that unlocking the pledged bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, unexperienced users happily proceed – especially since the gift appears to be right behind the corner.

This is the last stage when it is possible to steer away from the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal information, rascals will not 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 said, deceivers bait folks into signing up to get bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks 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 crypto purchases, you need to top up the account with the sum of a bonus. And this is what initiates the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

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

This is where the victim notices the problems. 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 withdraw 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 fraudsters are naught on intentions to return your money. Though to make it look more realistic, they’ve made up a whole bunch of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client requirements say, but for the Beastok.one they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal data, scammers just stall hoping for you to understand that you’ve been scammed and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are numerous 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 traded 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 Beastok.one. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Absent company details. Beastok 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 Beastok 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 Beastok, 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 Beastok is a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Beastok 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.

• Immediate Reporting. Your initial step should involve promptly notifying local authorities specializing in financial fraud. Extend your reach by reaching out to wallet providers and engaging with social networks’ technical support teams. These actions serve to raise the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Share among Friends. Amplify your efforts by informing your close friends about the scam. Similar to informing authorities, this dissemination of information restricts the scammers’ potential victim pool.
• Preserve Crucial Information. Compile a comprehensive evidence archive by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. Collect the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These records could provide vital clues for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Exploring Refund Options. While most banks’ refund policies may exclude cryptocurrency payments, it’s advisable to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain hope until you obtain confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Knowledge. Turn your financial setback into an opportunity for growth. View your loss as an investment in understanding the strategies employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their telltale characteristics, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant promises they make. Equipped with this insight, you’ll be well-prepared to spot and evade future traps without suffering additional financial setbacks.

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 scam, its masters may get in touch with you with particular files. Alternatively, they may offer you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we earlier figured out, these scammers have no intent of giving back your money. So, what can these emails and browser plugins represent? Correct – this is another side of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into willingly running malicious applications onto your system.

Both plugins and files attached to emails can act as a carrier for diverse malware. In this situation, 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 significant. As previously mentioned, their ethics is of little concern, and their dignity is already neck deep in mud. They have no principles to lose and intend to maximize gains.

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