We Looked at the Evidence: Is Cemonax Legit or Scam?

Recently, Cemonax.com service surfaced, promoting itself as a platform where you can safely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that clearly confirms it is, actually, a deceptive site.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, dependable, and customer-centric service, Cemonax.com does not fulfill any of them. All this is just a golden wrap around a clear scam, which takes your money and never gives them back. Any stories about gifts, sponsorship from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Cemonax Scam Overview

Originally, Cemonax poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted selling point for this platform is partnerships with celebrities that are known in the crypto world. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site says about being supported by 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 obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a blatant wrap around a transparent scam.

Cemonax Scam

First and foremost, Cemonax shares the appearance of multiple similar pages. There are quite a few examples, like Lamerix, Mowdex or Jerkix. They are completely indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with small discrepancies in the site header. Other details, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Probably, all these deceptive sites are managed by the same team of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Cemonax Scam Works?

Cemonax is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the similar 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 validity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To initiate the deceptive scheme, criminals establish and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They mainly target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign commences. Using bots and sponsored ads (when achievable), fraud actors increase the exposure of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not disdain using deepfake for creating videos with the aforementioned celebrities that advertise 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 Cemonax in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users receive an encouragement to register, drawn by the commitment of receiving cryptocurrency prizes valued at thousands of dollars, all free of charge. To enhance the appeal of the offer, fake suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the ads, users end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Cemonax”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Cemonax, “Start earning with Cemonax – they look rather authoritative. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that retrieving the promised bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, uninformed users happily proceed – especially as the gift appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal data, rascals will not be able to 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 said, deceivers bait folks into registration for bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, swindlers can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the claimed bonus is not available for withdrawal right away. To make it at least usable for cryptocurrency purchases, you need to top up the account with the sum of a bonus. And this is what initiates the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any crypto purchases require having funds on your account. With Cemonax, users are also coerced to top up to use the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the money 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 site hoping to use all the deposited money and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When comparing the real cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site 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

Needless to say that scoundrels have no intentions to return your money. Though to make the denial look more legitimate, they’ve elaborated a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client guidelines say, but for the Cemonax.com they are here exclusively to make the wireout 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 should go through before getting your grand back. And every check will reveal more and more information, which – you guessed it right – will be then traded 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 Cemonax.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Cemonax 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 to Authorities. Your initial action should involve reporting the scam to local authorities responsible for addressing financial fraud. Additionally, reach out to wallet providers and engage with the technical support teams of social networks. This collective effort raises the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Inform Your Inner Circle. Extend your impact by sharing information about the scam with your close friends. Similar to notifying authorities, this dissemination of details curbs the scammers’ potential to deceive.
• Document the Trail. Assemble a comprehensive record by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. This encompasses the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These materials offer invaluable leads for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Explore Refund Possibilities. While cryptocurrency payments may not typically align with traditional bank refund policies, it’s worthwhile to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain a positive outlook until you secure confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Insight. Shift your focus from the financial loss to gaining wisdom. Consider your loss as an investment in comprehending the tactics employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their distinctive traits, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant pledges they make. This knowledge equips you to recognize and avoid future traps, minimizing the risk of enduring further financial setbacks.

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, rascals may contact you with particular files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we previously figured out, these scoundrels have no intention of restoring your money. So, what do these messages and browser add-ons represent? You guessed it right – that is another element of the deceptive plan designed to throw you into deliberately running harmful software onto your computer.

Both plugins and files included to email messages can act as a carrier for different malicious code. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of malware. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always greater than zero. As previously mentioned, their morality is of little concern, and their dignity is already severely tarnished. They have no scruples to lose and strive to maximize profits.

Frequently asked questions