We Investigated Bilgary: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Bilgary.com service popped up, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather reliable evidence that unmistakably indicates it is, actually, a fraudulent platform.

Despite the promises of the most easy, dependable, and customer-centric service, Bilgary.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a clear scam, which steals your funds and never returns them. Any stories about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Bilgary Scam Overview

Originally, Bilgary poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted selling point for this platform 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 says about being supported by them. To make these claims look more realistic, rascals use deepfake videos where those celebrities promote the fraud as 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 glaring wrap around an obvious scam.

Bilgary Scam

First and foremost, Bilgary repeats the layout of numerous equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Cevonix, Dogespase or Opetap. They are completely identical in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the webpage header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Presumably, all these scam websites are led by the same group of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Bilgary Scam Works?

Bilgary is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Scammers 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 authenticity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To initiate the deceptive scheme, criminals set up and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They generally aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign begins. Employing bots and sponsored promotions (when feasible), scam actors boost the exposure of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not disdain using deepfake for creating videos with the aforementioned celebs that promote 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 Bilgary in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the promos, victims end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Bilgary”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Bilgary, “Start earning with Bilgary – they look rather reliable. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, crooks say that unlocking the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, uninformed users happily proceed – especially as 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, frauds 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, scammers bait folks into registration to get bonuses. And all the personal data 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. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the alleged bonus is not available for withdrawal right away. To make it at least usable for cryptocurrency purchases, 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

It is obvious that any cryptocurrency operations require you to have capital on your account. In the case of Bilgary, users are also compelled to top up to use the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the cash flow to this fraudulent website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start trading on this website hoping to use all the transferred funds and withdraw them.

This is where the victim notices the issues. When comparing the real 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 money 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 send you money. But to make the fraud look more realistic, they’ve developed a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what KYC guidelines say, but for the Bilgary.com they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting 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 should go through before getting your grand back. And each of these checks will reveal more and more info of yours, 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 Bilgary.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Cryptocurrency-Only Transactions. Bilgary.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. Bilgary 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. Bilgary 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. Bilgary 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%, Bilgary capitalizes on the desire for high profits. However, the tumultuous nature of the cryptocurrency market renders such gains implausible, solidifying Bilgary.com as a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Bilgary 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 timeline of the scam, its masters may get in touch with you with specific files. Alternatively, they may offer you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your cryptocurrency savings. As we earlier figured out, these scammers have no plan of giving back your funds. So, what do these messages and browser plugins represent? You guessed – that is another component of the scam designed to throw you into willingly installing harmful applications onto your system.

Both plugins and files attached to emails can serve as a carrier for diverse malware. In this situation, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among all kinds of malicious programs. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always greater than zero. As stated, their conscience is of no concern, and their dignity is already severely tarnished. They have no principles to lose and aim to maximize gains.

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