Investigating BUFBTC: Legit or Scam? The Truth Revealed

Recently, Bufbtc.com website appeared, promoting itself as a place to keep cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that unmistakably reveals it is, in truth, a deceptive service.

Despite the promises of the most convenient, reliable, and customer-centric service, Bufbtc.com does not fulfill any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your funds and never gives them back. Any tales about bonuses, endorsement from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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BUFBTC Scam Overview

Originally, BUFBTC poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with exceptionally low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this site is partnerships with celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look real, con actors use AI-generated videos where those celebrities promote the fraud as if it was the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a vivid wrap around an obvious scam.

BUFBTC Scam

First and foremost, BUFBTC repeats the appearance of numerous similar pages. There are quite a few examples, like Jolotex, Silunex or Gludabs. They are entirely undistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the webpage header. Other details, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Most likely, all these deceptive sites are led by the same gang of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the BUFBTC Scam Works?

BUFBTC is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the same 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 scam, criminals create and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They generally target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign starts. Employing bots and paid advertisements (when possible), fraud actors increase the visibility of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using deepfake for creating videos 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 joins the service immediately.

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

Users obtain an incentive to register, enticed by the assurance of getting crypto rewards valued at hundreds of dollars, all for free. To enhance the attractiveness of the offer, fake suggestions of sponsorship by a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the ads, victims end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with BUFBTC”, “Your crypto savings are secured with BUFBTC, “Start earning with BUFBTC – they look rather authoritative. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that claiming the promoted bonus requires registration. And since nothing concerning happens at this point, uninformed users happily keep on – especially as the gift 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 information, frauds will not be able to 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 mentioned, frauds bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the alleged bonus 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

Eventually, any cryptocurrency purchases require you to have capital on your account. In the case of BUFBTC, users are also compelled to top up to get 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 committed 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 comparing the actual crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can spot 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 swindlers have 0 intentions to send you money. Though to make it look more legitimate, they’ve made up a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client guidelines say, but for the Bufbtc.com they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for your personal info, frauds just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are numerous other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your funds back. And every check will uncover 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 Bufbtc.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with BUFBTC 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 scam, fraudsters may contact you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may propose you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto savings. As we previously figured out, these scoundrels have no intent of returning your funds. So, what can these emails and browser add-ons represent? You guessed – that is another component of the deceptive plan designed to throw you into deliberately installing destructive software onto your system.

Both extensions and attachments included to emails can function as a shell for different malware. In this situation, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among other types of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always existent. As stated, their ethics is of little concern, and their dignity is already seriously marred. They have no principles to lose and strive to maximize profits.

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