The Bitfuex Scam – Don’t Become the Next Victim

Recently, Bitfuex.com website popped up, promoting itself as a platform to keep cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that clearly reveals it is, in truth, a fraudulent platform.

Regardless of the promises of the most easy, reliable, and client-friendly service, Bitfuex.com does not fulfill any of them. All this is just a shiny wrap around a clear scam, which takes your money and never returns them. Any tales about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

Bitfuex Scam Overview

Originally, Bitfuex poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with outstandingly low commission fees. Another notable marketing point for this platform 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 more realistic, frauds use deepfake 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 mentioned above, all this is just a vivid wrap around an obvious scam.

Bitfuex Scam

To begin with, Bitfuex shares the layout of multiple similar online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Legacydex, Wollyex or Weex. They are totally identical in terms of visual elements, with small discrepancies in the site header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Probably, all these fraudulent sites are managed by a single group of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Bitfuex Scam Works?

Bitfuex is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the same 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 legitimacy of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To start the scam, criminals create and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They generally focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign begins. Employing bots and paid ads (when feasible), fraud actors intensify the exposure of their deceptive activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not shy away using generative AI for creating clips with the mentioned celebrities that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the ads, victims end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Bitfuex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Bitfuex, “Start earning with Bitfuex – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that retrieving the promoted bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware users happily proceed – especially since the bonus appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to steer away from the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal data, swindrels 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 mentioned, scammers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, 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, 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 having money on your account. In the case of Bitfuex, users are also compelled to top up to use the bonuses. And this is what creates most of the money flow to this fraudulent site. 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 money and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the victim notices the problems. When keeping an eye on the real crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can observe that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to withdraw the money 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 send you money. But to make it look more realistic, they’ve made up a whole bunch of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what KYC guidelines say, but for the Bitfuex.com 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 a dozen other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your funds back. And each of these checks will share more and more info of yours, which – you guessed it right – will be then sold 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 Bitfuex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• False Celebrity Sponsorship. Bitfuex often resorts to fake endorsements from celebrities such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. This fraudulent tactic extends to claiming partnerships with reputable companies like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask, despite lacking any genuine affiliations.
• Cryptocurrency-Only Payments. Bitfuex.com exclusively accepts payments in cryptocurrencies, rejecting traditional bank transfers and other methods. This approach not only masks the company’s identity but also eliminates the possibility of seeking refunds.
• Dubious Company Information. Bitfuex raises suspicion by withholding essential ownership, location, and registration details. Furthermore, the absence of legitimate contact information and the recent establishment of domain and social media pages intensify skepticism.
• Unsubstantiated Hype. Bitfuex.com employs groundless hype tactics, fabricating events like securing contracts with Coinbase or receiving endorsements from Elon Musk. These manipulative techniques aim to instill false confidence and encourage further investments.
• Potential Pyramid Scheme. The scam relies on a structure resembling a Ponzi scheme, leveraging a referral system spread through social media. However, only initial participants benefit, often at the expense of subsequent investors.
• Implausible Claims. Promising returns of 50-100-200%, Bitfuex preys on the desire for quick profits. Yet, the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market makes such gains highly unlikely, definitively labeling Bitfuex as a scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Bitfuex 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 timeline of the scam, its masters may contact you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we previously figured out, these deceivers have no plan of restoring your capital. So, what do these emails and browser plugins represent? You guessed it right – that is another element of the scam designed to throw you into deliberately installing destructive software onto your device.

Both plugins and files added to email messages can function as a shell for various malicious software. In this scenario, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among other types of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always above zero. As previously mentioned, their conscience is of no concern, and their reputation is already severely tarnished. They have no principles to lose and strive to boost gains.

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