We Looked Into Duobitex: Scam or Trustworthy? The Verdict

Recently, Duobitex.com website appeared, promoting itself as a platform where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible proof that unmistakably confirms it is, in fact, a fraudulent service.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, dependable, and customer-centric service, Duobitex.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a shiny wrap around a dirty scam, which steals your funds and never returns them. Any stories about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

Duobitex Scam Overview

Originally, Duobitex poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another bright marketing point for this platform is partnerships with 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 more realistic, frauds use deepfake videos where those celebrities advertise the fake crypto service as 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 blatant wrap around a transparent scam.

Duobitex Scam

First and foremost, Duobitex shares the layout of multiple equivalent online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Nimmex, Jogse or Saxful. They are completely identical in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the site header. Other details, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Presumably, all these fraudulent online platforms are managed by the same team of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Duobitex Scam Works?

Duobitex is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use several 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 advanced 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 start the deceptive scheme, criminals establish 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 promotions (when possible), fraud actors intensify the visibility of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not shy away using generative AI for creating clips with the aforementioned celebs that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Users obtain an incentive to register, attracted by the assurance of receiving crypto rewards valued at hundreds of dollars, all for free. To enhance the attractiveness of the offer, fake suggestions of sponsorship by a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the promos, users end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Duobitex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Duobitex, “Start earning with Duobitex – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that unlocking the pledged bonus requires registration. And since nothing questionable happens at this point, uninformed users happily move on – especially as 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 register using your personal info, swindrels 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 said, deceivers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, swindlers 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 it at least usable for cryptocurrency purchases, you need to 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

It is obvious that any cryptocurrency operations require you to have capital on your account. In the case of Duobitex, users are also forced to top up to get 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 participating on this website hoping to use all the transferred money and withdraw them.

This is where the victim notices the issues. 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 withdraw the money 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 return your money. Though to make the fraud look more realistic, they’ve crafted a whole bunch of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Most of them repeat what KYC requirements 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 accept the loss 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 share more and more information, which – you guessed it right – will be then traded 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 Duobitex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Duobitex 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 specific files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto funds. 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 component of the deceptive plan designed to throw you into willingly running harmful software onto your system.

Both extensions and files included to emails can act as a shell for different malicious software. In this situation, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other kinds of malicious programs. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always existent. As previously mentioned, their morality is of no concern, and their dignity is already seriously marred. They have no principles to give up and strive to boost profits.

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