We Investigated Filt-ex: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Filt-ex.com service appeared, promoting itself as a platform where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable evidence that unmistakably confirms it is, in fact, a fraudulent site.

Regardless of the promises of the most easy, dependable, and client-friendly service, Filt-ex.com does not follow any of them. All this is just a golden wrap around a dirty scam, which takes your money and data and never gives them back. Any tales about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are absent as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Filt-ex Scam Overview

Originally, Filt-ex poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with exceptionally low commission fees. Another highlighted selling point for this platform 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 real, frauds use deepfake videos where those celebrities promote the fraud as if it was the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around a transparent scam.

Filt-ex Scam

Initially, Filt-ex copies the layout of multiple equivalent websites. There are quite a few examples, like Bibtc, Rynaxe or Zoomexer. They are completely indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the webpage header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Presumably, all these deceptive sites are operated by the same group of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Filt-ex Scam Works?

Filt-ex is a part of a large 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 initiate the scam, criminals set up and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign starts. Utilizing bots and sponsored ads (when feasible), fraud actors increase the presence of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, crooks do not disdain using deepfake for creating videos with the aforementioned celebrities that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Users obtain an incentive to enroll, drawn by the commitment of receiving cryptocurrency rewards valued at hundreds of dollars, all without cost. To enhance the attractiveness of the offer, false suggestions of sponsorship by a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these assertions are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the promotions, victims end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Filt-ex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Filt-ex, “Start earning with Filt-ex – they look rather credible. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that unlocking the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing questionable happens at this point, uninformed users happily keep on – especially since the bonus 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 information, swindrels will not be able to earn even a penny from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is the starting poing of the main fraud action. As I just said, deceivers bait folks into signing up to get bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the promised bonus right away. To make it at least usable for cryptocurrency purchases, the user should top up the account with the equivalent sum. At this point, the final stage of the scam begins.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any crypto purchases require you to have money on your account. In the case of Filt-ex, users are also coerced to top up to use the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the money flow to this fraudulent website. 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 transferred funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When comparing the actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site says, you can observe 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

There’s no need to explain that swindlers have zero intentions to return your money. But to make it look more legitimate, they’ve made up a whole bunch of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what KYC requirements say, but in this case they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

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

• Absent company details. Filt-ex 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 Filt-ex 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 Filt-ex, 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 Filt-ex is a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Filt-ex 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.

• Immediate Reporting. Your initial step should involve promptly notifying local authorities specializing in financial fraud. Extend your reach by reaching out to wallet providers and engaging with social networks’ technical support teams. These actions serve to raise the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Share among Friends. Amplify your efforts by informing your close friends about the scam. Similar to informing authorities, this dissemination of information restricts the scammers’ potential victim pool.
• Preserve Crucial Information. Compile a comprehensive evidence archive by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. Collect the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These records could provide vital clues for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Exploring Refund Options. While most banks’ refund policies may exclude cryptocurrency payments, it’s advisable to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain hope until you obtain confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Knowledge. Turn your financial setback into an opportunity for growth. View your loss as an investment in understanding the strategies employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their telltale characteristics, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant promises they make. Equipped with this insight, you’ll be well-prepared to spot and evade future traps without suffering additional financial setbacks.

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 scam, its masters may get in touch with you with particular files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your crypto funds. As we already determined, these rascals have no intent of returning your capital. So, what do these emails and browser plugins represent? You guessed it right – that is another element of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into deliberately running harmful applications onto your system.

Both add-ons and attachments added to email messages can serve as a carrier for different malicious code. In this scenario, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among other kinds of malware. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always significant. As stated, their morality is of negligible importance, and their dignity is already deeply compromised. They have no principles to lose and intend to boost gains.

Remove spyware with Gridinsoft Anti-Malware

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