Investigating Cointerax: Legit or Scam? The Truth Revealed

Recently, Cointerax.com service popped up, promoting itself as a place where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible supporting information that unmistakably indicates it is, actually, a deceptive platform.

Despite the promises of the most easy, reliable, and client-friendly service, Cointerax.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a clear scam, which steals your funds and never returns them. Any tales about gifts, sponsorship from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Cointerax Scam Overview

Originally, Cointerax poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another notable selling point for this service is partnerships with celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Vitalii Buterin, Jeff Bezos – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look real, rascals employ AI-generated videos where those celebrities advertise the fake crypto service as if it was the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a vivid wrap around a transparent scam.

Cointerax Scam

To begin with, Cointerax repeats the layout of numerous equivalent websites. There are quite a few examples, like Cenvor, Cenotor or Fenomir. They are totally identical in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the site header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Presumably, all these fraudulent websites are led by a single team of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Cointerax Scam Works?

Cointerax is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the same overall layout. Another shared 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 legitimacy of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the deceptive scheme, criminals set up and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They generally target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign begins. Employing bots and paid advertisements (when feasible), scam actors intensify the visibility of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using deepfake for creating clips with the mentioned celebs that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who enrolls the service immediately.

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

Users get an encouragement to sign up, attracted by the promise of obtaining cryptocurrency prizes valued at thousands of dollars, all without cost. To augment the attractiveness 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 attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Cointerax”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Cointerax, “Start earning with Cointerax – they look rather credible. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, scammers say that getting the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware users happily keep on – especially since the reward appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal information, swindrels 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 mentioned, deceivers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this data 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 alleged bonus right away. To make it at least usable for cryptocurrency purchases, the user should top up the account with the sum of a bonus. At this point, the final stage of the scam kicks in.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any cryptocurrency purchases require you to have capital on your account. In the case of Cointerax, users are also coerced to top up to get the bonuses. And this is what creates most of the money 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 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 actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the website says, you can notice that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to withdraw the capital from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that swindlers have no intentions to send you money. Though to make it look more realistic, they’ve developed a whole bunch of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client regulations say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By asking for your personal data, deceivers 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 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 Cointerax.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Cointerax 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 scam, its masters may contact you with particular files. Alternatively, they may propose you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto funds. As we already figured out, these scammers have no plan of returning your funds. So, what do these email messages and browser plugins represent? You guessed it right – this is another element of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into deliberately installing destructive applications onto your system.

Both plugins and attachments included to emails can function as a carrier for different malicious code. In this situation, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of malware. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always above zero. As noted, their morality is of little concern, and their dignity is already deeply compromised. They have no principles to lose and intend to boost profits.

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