Investigating Exwox: Legit or Scam? The Truth Exposed

Recently, Exwox.com website popped up, promoting itself as a platform where you can safely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible proof that clearly confirms it is, in truth, a fraudulent platform.

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

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Exwox Scam Overview

Originally, Exwox poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with outstandingly low commission fees. Another bright marketing point for this site is partnerships with celebrities that are known in the crypto world. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look more realistic, frauds use AI-generated videos where those celebrities promote the scam as the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a glaring wrap around an obvious scam.

Exwox Scam

First and foremost, Exwox shares the appearance of many similar online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Dexrium, Yurbtc or Xodropex. They are completely undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the webpage header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Presumably, all these deceptive online platforms are operated by the same team of swindrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Exwox Scam Works?

Exwox is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the same 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 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 initiate the deceptive scheme, criminals set up and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign starts. Employing bots and paid ads (when achievable), fraud actors intensify the presence of their deceptive activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers 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 registers the service immediately.

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

Users receive an incentive to sign up, drawn by the promise of getting cryptocurrency prizes valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To enhance the appeal 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 following the ads, users end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Exwox”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Exwox, “Start earning with Exwox – they look rather reliable. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that unlocking the promoted bonus requires registration. And since nothing questionable happens at this point, uninformed users happily proceed – especially since the bonus 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 data, frauds 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, deceivers bait folks into registration to get bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this information 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 claimed bonus right away. To make it at least usable for crypto purchases, the user should top up the account with the sum of a bonus. At this point, the final stage of the scam begins.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any cryptocurrency operations require having money on your account. With Exwox, users are also coerced to top up to use the bonuses. And this is what creates most of the cash 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 participating on this website hoping to use all the transferred capital and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the victim notices the problems. 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 withdraw the money from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

There’s no need to explain that swindlers have 0 intentions to return your money. Though to make the denial look more realistic, they’ve elaborated a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client requirements say, but for the Exwox.com they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for 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 would desperately need to undergo before getting your grand back. And each of these checks will share 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 Exwox.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Exwox 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, rascals may get in touch with you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may propose you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your cryptocurrency assets. As we already determined, these deceivers have no plan of restoring your money. So, what do these messages and browser extensions represent? You guessed – that is another component of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into deliberately running harmful applications onto your system.

Both extensions and files attached to emails can act as a shell for diverse malicious software. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other kinds of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always significant. As noted, their morality is of no concern, and their reputation is already neck deep in mud. They have nothing to give up and aim to maximize profits.

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