Investigating Criptot: Legit or Scam? The Truth Exposed

Recently, Criptot.com service popped up, promoting itself as a place where you can safely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable proof that unmistakably indicates it is, actually, a deceptive platform.

Regardless of the promises of the most easy, trustworthy, and client-friendly service, Criptot.com does not follow any of them. All this is just a golden wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and data and never returns them. Any tales about bonuses, endorsement from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Criptot Scam Overview

Originally, Criptot poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with outstandingly low commission fees. Another notable selling point for this platform is partnerships with celebrities that are known as crypto activists. 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, con actors employ deepfake videos with those celebs advertise the scam as the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a glaring wrap around an obvious scam.

Criptot Scam

First and foremost, Criptot shares the appearance of multiple similar pages. There are quite a few examples, like Jefbit, Jeffbin or Aletrax. They are entirely undistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with minor discrepancies in the website header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Probably, all these deceptive sites are operated by a single group of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Criptot Scam Works?

Criptot is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use numerous website designs, which still share the similar 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 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 deceptive scheme, criminals create and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They generally target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign starts. Utilizing bots and sponsored advertisements (when possible), scam actors intensify the visibility of their deceptive activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not disdain using deepfake for creating videos with the aforementioned celebs that promote 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 Criptot in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users obtain an encouragement to sign up, enticed by the promise of obtaining crypto benefits valued at thousands of dollars, all free of charge. To increase the attractiveness of the offer, fake claims 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 Criptot”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Criptot, “Start earning with Criptot – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that obtaining the promised 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.

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, rascals 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, frauds bait folks into registration for 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, crooks can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the promised bonus right away. To make it at least usable for crypto purchases, you need to top up the account with the sum of a bonus. And this is what starts the final step of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any cryptocurrency purchases require having capital on your account. In the case of Criptot, users are also coerced to top up to use the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the money flow to this scam site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the committed gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start trading on this website hoping to use all the deposited money and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the problems start to surface. When keeping an eye on the actual crypto wallet vs what the site says, you can notice that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out the capital from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that swindlers are naught on intentions to give your money back. Though to make the denial look more legitimate, they’ve developed a whole bunch of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what KYC requirements say, but in this case they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal information, 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 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 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 Criptot.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Criptot 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 duration of the fraud, its actors may get in touch with you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may propose you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your crypto funds. As we earlier figured out, these deceivers have no intent of restoring your funds. So, what can these messages and browser extensions represent? You guessed – this is another side of the scam designed to throw you into deliberately running malicious programs onto your device.

Both add-ons and files attached to email messages can act as a shell for various malicious software. In this situation, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among other kinds of malware. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always greater than zero. As previously mentioned, their conscience is of negligible importance, and their dignity is already severely tarnished. They have no principles to give up and intend to boost profits.

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