Investigating CoinHobo: Legit or Scam? The Truth Exposed

Recently, Coinhobo.com site appeared, promoting itself as a platform to keep cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather reliable proof that unmistakably indicates it is, in truth, a deceptive platform.

Despite the promises of the most easy, trustworthy, and client-friendly service, Coinhobo.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and never returns them. Any tales about gifts, sponsorship from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

CoinHobo Scam Overview

Originally, CoinHobo poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with exceptionally low commission fees. Another notable marketing point for this service is backing from 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 real, rascals use AI-generated videos with those celebs promote the fake crypto service as the best thing in the world. Obviously, 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.

CoinHobo Scam

First and foremost, CoinHobo shares the design of numerous equivalent online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Cputron, Vegdex or Icloudminer. They are entirely undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with slight discrepancies in the webpage header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Presumably, all these fraudulent online platforms are managed by a single team of swindrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the CoinHobo Scam Works?

CoinHobo is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use several 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 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 begin the fraud, criminals establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They mainly aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign commences. Using bots and paid advertisements (when achievable), fraud actors boost the presence of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using generative AI for creating videos with the mentioned celebrities that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

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

Users obtain an incentive to enroll, drawn by the commitment of obtaining crypto rewards valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To augment the attractiveness of the offer, false suggestions of sponsorship by a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the ads, victims end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with CoinHobo”, “Your crypto savings are secured with CoinHobo, “Start earning with CoinHobo – they look rather credible. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, scammers say that unlocking the promised bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, uninformed users happily proceed – especially since the gift 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 register using your personal info, crooks will not earn even a penny from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is where the main fraud action begins. As I just said, scammers bait folks into registration to get bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Solely 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 alleged bonus right away. To make it at least usable for crypto purchases, you need to top up the account with the equivalent sum. 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 money on your account. In the case of CoinHobo, users are also compelled to top up to use the bonuses. And this is what creates most of the cash flow to this scam website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start engaging on this website hoping to use all the transferred money and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the issues start to surface. When comparing the actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site says, you can spot that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to retrieve the capital from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that fraudsters are naught on intentions to give your money back. Though to make it look more legitimate, they’ve elaborated a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client requirements say, but for the Coinhobo.com they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal information, frauds 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 should go through before getting your money back. And each of these checks will uncover more and more information, 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 Coinhobo.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with CoinHobo 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.

• Immediate Reporting. Your initial step should involve promptly notifying local authorities specializing in financial fraud. Extend your reach by reaching out to wallet providers and engaging with social networks’ technical support teams. These actions serve to raise the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Share among Friends. Amplify your efforts by informing your close friends about the scam. Similar to informing authorities, this dissemination of information restricts the scammers’ potential victim pool.
• Preserve Crucial Information. Compile a comprehensive evidence archive by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. Collect the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These records could provide vital clues for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Exploring Refund Options. While most banks’ refund policies may exclude cryptocurrency payments, it’s advisable to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain hope until you obtain confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Knowledge. Turn your financial setback into an opportunity for growth. View your loss as an investment in understanding the strategies employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their telltale characteristics, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant promises they make. Equipped with this insight, you’ll be well-prepared to spot and evade future traps without suffering additional 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 get in touch with you with specific files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your cryptocurrency savings. As we previously figured out, these deceivers have no intention of giving back your funds. So, what do these messages and browser plugins represent? You guessed – this is another component of the fraudulent scheme designed to entice you into deliberately installing harmful applications onto your device.

Both extensions and files added to emails can serve as a shell for diverse malicious software. In this situation, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all kinds of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always greater than zero. As previously mentioned, their ethics is of little concern, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have nothing to give up and strive to maximize profits.

Frequently asked questions