We Investigated BITMINZ: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Bitminz.com website popped up, promoting itself as a platform where you can safely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable evidence that clearly reveals it is, in truth, a deceptive service.

Regardless of the promises of the most easy, reliable, and client-friendly service, Bitminz.com does not offer any of them. All this is just a shiny wrap around a clear scam, which steals your money and never returns them. Any stories about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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BITMINZ Scam Overview

Originally, BITMINZ poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this platform 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 more realistic, con actors use deepfake videos where those celebrities promote the scam as if it was the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a vivid wrap around an obvious scam.

BITMINZ Scam

Initially, BITMINZ shares the appearance of many equivalent online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Wulbit, Osweu or Mbfeast. They are totally undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with small discrepancies in the site header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Probably, all these scam online platforms are managed by a single team of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the BITMINZ Scam Works?

BITMINZ is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the similar 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 advanced psychological tricks that make the user believe in the validity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To initiate the fraud, criminals create and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They mainly focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign starts. Employing bots and sponsored advertisements (when feasible), scam actors increase the presence of their deceptive activities to potential victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not shy away using deepfake for creating videos with the mentioned celebs that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

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

Users obtain a stimulus to sign up, enticed by the commitment of receiving crypto benefits valued at hundreds of dollars, all for free. To increase the appeal of the offer, fake suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these assertions are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the promotions, victims end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with BITMINZ”, “Your crypto savings are secured with BITMINZ, “Start earning with BITMINZ – they look rather credible. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that retrieving the promoted bonus requires registration. And since nothing questionable happens at this point, unaware users happily move on – especially as the reward 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 information, 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 mentioned, deceivers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the claimed bonus right away. To make it at least usable for cryptocurrency purchases, you need to top up the account with the sum of a bonus. At this point, the final stage of the scam kicks in.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any crypto operations require having capital on your account. In the case of BITMINZ, users are also compelled to top up to use the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the money flow to this scam site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this website hoping to use all the credited capital and withdraw them.

This, however, 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 pull out the money from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that fraudsters have no intentions to give your money back. But to make the denial look more realistic, they’ve made up a whole pack of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client requirements say, but for the Bitminz.com they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for your personal information, scammers just stall hoping for you to understand that you’ve been scammed 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 each of these checks 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 Bitminz.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• False Celebrity Sponsorship. BITMINZ 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. Bitminz.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. BITMINZ 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. Bitminz.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%, BITMINZ preys on the desire for quick profits. Yet, the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market makes such gains highly unlikely, definitively labeling BITMINZ as a scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with BITMINZ 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 course of the scam, scoundrels may get in touch with you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may offer you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your cryptocurrency savings. As we earlier determined, these deceivers have no intent of returning your money. So, what can these messages and browser plugins represent? You guessed – this is another component of the fraudulent scheme designed to throw you into willingly running destructive applications onto your system.

Both extensions and files attached to emails can act as a carrier for diverse malware. In this scenario, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among other kinds of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always greater than zero. As noted, their conscience is of little concern, and their dignity is already neck deep in mud. They have no scruples to give up and intend to maximize profits.

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