We Investigated Calabit: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Calabit.com site popped up, promoting itself as a place where you can securely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible supporting information that clearly reveals it is, in fact, a deceptive platform.

Regardless of the promises of the most easy, reliable, and client-friendly service, Calabit.com does not follow any of them. All this is just a gilded wrap around a clear scam, which steals your money and data and never gives them back. Any stories about gifts, endorsement from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Calabit Scam Overview

Originally, Calabit poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this platform is partnerships with celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. 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, rascals employ AI-generated videos with those celebs advertise the fake crypto service as 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 glaring wrap around a transparent scam.

Calabit Scam

First and foremost, Calabit repeats the design of numerous equivalent online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Teslalex, Colebitx or Macxmusk. They are entirely undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the website header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Most likely, all these scam websites are operated by a single team of scammers.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Calabit Scam Works?

Calabit is a part of a extensive 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 sophisticated 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 start the deceptive scheme, criminals establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They mainly aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign starts. Employing bots and sponsored advertisements (when achievable), fraud actors increase the exposure of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not disdain using deepfake for creating clips with the aforementioned celebrities that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Users get a stimulus to sign up, drawn by the commitment of receiving cryptocurrency prizes valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To augment the appeal of the offer, fake claims of cooperation with a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the promos, targets end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Calabit”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Calabit, “Start earning with Calabit – they look rather authoritative. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, scammers say that claiming the promised 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.

This is the last stage when it is possible to steer 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 mentioned, scammers bait folks into registration to get bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, swindlers can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the alleged bonus is not available to use right away. To make at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the sum of a bonus. And this is what starts the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any crypto purchases require you to have capital on your account. With Calabit, users are also coerced to top up to get the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the cash flow to this scam site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the promised gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start engaging on this site hoping to use all the deposited capital and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When comparing the real crypto wallet vs what the site says, you can notice 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 swindlers are naught on intentions to return your money. Though to make the denial look more realistic, they’ve crafted a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client guidelines say, but for the Calabit.com they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal data, scammers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are a dozen other checks you should go through before getting your grand back. And each of these checks will reveal 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 Calabit.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Calabit 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 course of the fraud, scoundrels may contact you with specific files. Alternatively, they may offer you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto assets. As we already determined, these rascals have no intention of returning your capital. So, what can these email messages and browser plugins represent? Correct – this is another component of the fraudulent scheme designed to entice you into willingly running malicious programs onto your system.

Both extensions and files included to email messages can serve as a carrier for diverse malicious code. In this case, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all kinds of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always significant. As previously mentioned, their conscience is of negligible importance, and their reputation is already severely tarnished. They have nothing to give up and intend to boost gains.

Frequently asked questions