We Investigated Bitcfav: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Bitcfav.com website appeared, promoting itself as a platform to store cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather credible evidence that clearly confirms it is, actually, a deceptive platform.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Bitcfav.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and data and never gives them back. Any stories about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Bitcfav Scam Overview

Originally, Bitcfav poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this site is partnerships with 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 AI-generated videos with those celebs promote the fraud as if it was the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, 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.

Bitcfav Scam

Initially, Bitcfav repeats the appearance of numerous equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Bitabix, Vorjex or Wsedex. They are totally indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with slight discrepancies in the webpage header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Most likely, all these fraudulent sites are led by a single group of scammers.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Bitcfav Scam Works?

Bitcfav is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use various 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 sophisticated 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 fraud, criminals create and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They generally aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign commences. Employing bots and paid promotions (when possible), scam actors intensify the exposure of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not shy away using deepfake for creating clips 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 enrolls the service immediately.

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

Users obtain a stimulus to sign up, enticed by the assurance of receiving crypto rewards valued at thousands of dollars, all without cost. To increase the appeal of the offer, fake suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the ads, victims end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Bitcfav”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Bitcfav, “Start earning with Bitcfav – they look rather authoritative. 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, unaware users happily keep on – especially as the reward appears to be right behind the corner.

This is the last stage when it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal info, rascals will not be able to earn even a nickel 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 registration to get bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters 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 at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, you need to 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 cryptocurrency operations require having funds on your account. In the case of Bitcfav, users are also forced to top up to claim the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the cash flow to this fraudulent site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the promised gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start trading on this site hoping to use all the deposited funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the first obvious issues start to surface. When keeping an eye on the real cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site says, you can notice that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out the capital from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

There’s no need to explain that scoundrels are naught on intentions to return your money. But to make it look more realistic, they’ve elaborated a whole bunch of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client guidelines say, but in this case they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal data, deceivers 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 share 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 Bitcfav.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Unsubstantiated Credibility. Bitcfav 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%, Bitcfav exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Bitcfav as a scam.
• Dubious Corporate Information. Bitcfav 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. Bitcfav.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. Bitcfav 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 Bitcfav 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 duration of the fraud, fraudsters may contact you with particular files. Alternatively, they may propose you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto funds. As we previously figured out, these deceivers have no intention of returning your funds. So, what do these email messages and browser plugins represent? Correct – that is another component of the scam designed to throw you into willingly running malicious software onto your system.

Both extensions and files added to emails can serve as a shell for diverse malware. In this situation, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among other types of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always greater than zero. As stated, their ethics is of negligible importance, and their dignity is already seriously marred. They have no scruples to give up and intend to maximize profits.

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