We Investigated Crypto-base: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Crypto-base.online site popped up, promoting itself as a platform where you can safely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that unmistakably reveals it is, in fact, a scam service.

Regardless of the promises of the most user-friendly, dependable, and customer-centric service, Crypto-base.online does not fulfill any of them. All this is just a golden wrap around a dirty scam, which steals your money and data and never returns them. Any stories about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Crypto-base Scam Overview

Originally, Crypto-base poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with outstandingly low commission fees. Another notable selling 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 says about being supported by them. To make these claims look real, rascals use deepfake videos with those celebs promote the fake crypto service 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 vivid wrap around an obvious scam.

Crypto-base Scam

First and foremost, Crypto-base repeats the layout of numerous similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Crasnex, Chinswap or Castellbus. They are entirely undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with small discrepancies in the webpage header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Most likely, all these deceptive sites are managed by a single gang of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Crypto-base Scam Works?

Crypto-base is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use various 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 validity 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 popular social media platforms. They mainly aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign starts. Using bots and paid promotions (when feasible), fraud actors intensify the exposure of their deceptive activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not shy away using generative AI for creating clips with the mentioned celebrities that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who enrolls the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

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

This is the last stage when it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal info, crooks will not be able to 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 said, deceivers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Exclusively 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 promised 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 equivalent sum. And this is what initiates the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any crypto purchases require having funds on your account. In the case of Crypto-base, users are also coerced to top up to use the bonuses. And these top ups 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 deposited funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the victim notices the issues. When comparing the real crypto wallet vs what the site 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 are naught on intentions to give your money back. Though to make it look more realistic, they’ve made up a whole bunch of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what KYC guidelines say, but in this case they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for 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 numerous other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your grand back. And every check 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 Crypto-base.online. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Absent company details. Crypto-base 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 Crypto-base 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 Crypto-base, 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 Crypto-base is a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Crypto-base 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 timeline of the fraud, its masters may contact you with specific files. Alternatively, they may offer you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto assets. As we already determined, these deceivers have no intent of returning your money. So, what do these email messages and browser plugins represent? Correct – that is another side of the scam designed to entice you into willingly running malicious programs onto your computer.

Both extensions and attachments added to emails can act as a shell for diverse malicious software. In this scenario, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among other types of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always above zero. As noted, their morality is of little concern, and their dignity is already neck deep in mud. They have no principles to give up and aim to boost gains.

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