We Investigated Coinsdear: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Coinsdear.com site appeared, promoting itself as a place where you can safely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible supporting information that clearly confirms it is, in truth, a deceptive service.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, dependable, and customer-centric service, Coinsdear.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a dirty scam, which steals your money and never gives them back. Any stories about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Coinsdear Scam Overview

Originally, Coinsdear poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted selling point for this service is partnerships with celebrities that are known in the crypto world. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Vitalii Buterin, Jeff Bezos – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look more realistic, frauds use deepfake videos with those celebs advertise the scam as if it was the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around an obvious scam.

Coinsdear Scam

To begin with, Coinsdear copies the design of many equivalent websites. There are quite a few examples, like Chybfmall, Bezvex or X. They are totally identical in terms of visual elements, with slight discrepancies in the site header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Probably, all these scam sites are led by a single group of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Coinsdear Scam Works?

Coinsdear is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the identical 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 authenticity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To initiate the deceptive scheme, criminals create and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They mainly aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign starts. Utilizing bots and paid promotions (when achievable), scam actors intensify the exposure of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using generative AI for creating videos with the aforementioned celebs that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

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

Users get a stimulus to register, attracted by the commitment of obtaining crypto prizes valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To increase the appeal of the offer, fake claims of sponsorship by a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these assertions are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the promos, victims end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Coinsdear”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Coinsdear, “Start earning with Coinsdear – they look rather authoritative. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, scammers say that unlocking the promoted bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware users happily keep on – 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 sign up using your personal information, rascals will not be able to 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 mentioned, scammers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this info 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 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 initiates the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any cryptocurrency operations require having money on your account. In the case of Coinsdear, users are also forced to top up to get the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority 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 participating on this site hoping to use all the transferred capital and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When comparing the real cryptocurrency wallet vs what the website says, you can spot that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out 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 fraudsters are naught on intentions to return your money. Though to make the fraud look more legitimate, they’ve elaborated a whole bunch of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client guidelines say, but for the Coinsdear.com they are here only to make the withdrawal 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 numerous other checks you should go through before getting your funds back. And each of these checks will reveal 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 Coinsdear.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Coinsdear 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 duration of the scam, scoundrels may reach out to you with specific files. Alternatively, they may offer you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we previously figured out, these deceivers have no intention of returning your funds. So, what can these messages and browser plugins represent? You guessed it right – that is another side of the scam designed to entice you into willingly running malicious programs onto your system.

Both add-ons and attachments added to emails can serve as a shell for diverse malware. In this situation, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other kinds of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always greater than zero. As noted, their conscience is of no concern, and their reputation is already severely tarnished. They have no scruples to lose and intend to maximize gains.

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