We Investigated Cryptostakez: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Cryptostakez.com website surfaced, promoting itself as a place where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that unmistakably indicates it is, in fact, a deceptive site.

Despite the promises of the most easy, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Cryptostakez.com does not offer any of them. All this is just a golden wrap around a dirty scam, which steals your money and never gives them back. Any stories about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

Cryptostakez Scam Overview

Originally, Cryptostakez poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with outstandingly low commission fees. Another notable marketing point for this service is partnerships with celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Vitalii Buterin, Jeff Bezos – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look more realistic, rascals use deepfake videos where those celebrities promote the scam as the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a blatant wrap around an obvious scam.

Cryptostakez Scam

First and foremost, Cryptostakez copies the design of multiple similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Crystallas, Diceparadise or Dragonlot. They are entirely indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the site header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Most likely, all these scam websites are led by a single team of scammers.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Cryptostakez Scam Works?

Cryptostakez is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly 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 sophisticated 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 scam, criminals set up and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign starts. Using bots and sponsored promotions (when achievable), fraud actors boost the exposure of their deceptive activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not disdain using generative AI 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 enrolls the service immediately.

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

Users receive an incentive to sign up, attracted by the assurance of obtaining crypto benefits valued at thousands of dollars, all free of charge. To increase the attractiveness 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

After clicking the promos, victims end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Cryptostakez”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Cryptostakez, “Start earning with Cryptostakez – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, crooks say that claiming the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, uninformed 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 get away from the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal info, rascals 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, frauds bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the promised bonus is not available to use right away. To make at least crypto 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

Eventually, any cryptocurrency purchases require you to have capital on your account. With Cryptostakez, users are also compelled to top up to claim the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the cash flow to this scam site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start trading on this website hoping to use all the transferred money 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 observe 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

There’s no need to explain that scoundrels have no intentions to return your money. But to make the denial look more legitimate, they’ve elaborated a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what KYC guidelines say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

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

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Cryptostakez 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.

• Secure Your Actions. Begin by promptly reporting the scam to appropriate local authorities tasked with handling financial fraud. Notify wallet providers and engage with social networks’ technical support teams. By taking these measures, you contribute to making the scammers’ operations significantly more difficult.
• Expand Awareness. Extend your efforts by sharing the scam information with your close friends. This action has a parallel effect to reporting to the authorities, as disseminating details about fraudulent crypto services reduces the potential victims they can deceive.
• Gather Evidence. Preserve comprehensive evidence by capturing screenshots and saving all pertinent data linked to the deceptive website. Collect the URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These materials could prove invaluable for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Explore Refund Possibilities. While cryptocurrency payments generally fall outside the scope of refund policies within most banks, it’s worth investigating the potential for a refund in specific circumstances. Maintain optimism until you definitively confirm the loss.
• Convert Mistake into Wisdom. Transform your financial setback into a valuable learning experience. Treat your loss as an investment in understanding the tactics of crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their key characteristics, how they lure individuals, and the grandiose promises they make. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be well-equipped to recognize and avoid falling into future traps without incurring further losses.

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 reach out to you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may offer you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto funds. As we earlier figured out, these scoundrels have no intention of returning your capital. So, what can these email messages and browser add-ons represent? You guessed – this is another component of the scam designed to throw you into deliberately running destructive programs onto your device.

Both add-ons and attachments attached to email messages can serve as a carrier for various malware. In this situation, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all kinds of malicious programs. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always existent. As stated, their ethics is of negligible importance, and their dignity is already severely tarnished. They have no scruples to give up and aim to maximize profits.

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