We Investigated Fimecas: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Fimecas.com site surfaced, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather credible supporting information that clearly indicates it is, actually, a scam service.

Despite the promises of the most easy, dependable, and client-friendly service, Fimecas.com does not offer any of them. All this is just a gilded wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and data and never gives them back. Any stories about gifts, backing from celebrities etc are absent as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Fimecas Scam Overview

Originally, Fimecas poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this service is partnerships with celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Vitalii Buterin, Jeff Bezos – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look real, con actors employ AI-generated videos where those celebrities advertise the fraud as the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around a transparent scam.

Fimecas Scam

First and foremost, Fimecas repeats the design of numerous similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Fenutix, Fenax or Fabledodds. They are completely indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the webpage header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Probably, all these scam sites are managed by a single team of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Fimecas Scam Works?

Fimecas is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use numerous 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 begin the deceptive scheme, criminals create and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign starts. Utilizing bots and sponsored ads (when possible), scam actors boost the exposure of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using generative AI for creating videos 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 Fimecas in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users get an incentive to register, attracted by the promise of obtaining crypto rewards valued at hundreds of dollars, all free of charge. To augment the attractiveness of the offer, false suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the promos, targets end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Fimecas”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Fimecas, “Start earning with Fimecas – they look rather reliable. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that unlocking the promised bonus requires registration. And as nothing questionable happens at this point, unaware 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 steer away from the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal information, crooks will not earn even a nickel from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is the starting poing of the main fraud action. As I just mentioned, frauds bait folks into registration to get bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Exclusively 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 promised bonus right away. To make it at least usable for crypto 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

Obviously, any cryptocurrency operations require having capital on your account. In the case of Fimecas, 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 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 credited funds and withdraw them.

This is where the victim notices the problems. When keeping an eye on the real crypto 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

Needless to say that fraudsters have zero intentions to return your money. But to make the denial look more legitimate, they’ve developed a whole bunch of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client requirements say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for your personal info, deceivers 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 funds back. And each of these checks will reveal more and more info of yours, 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 Fimecas.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Absent company details. Fimecas 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 Fimecas 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 Fimecas, 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 Fimecas is a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Fimecas 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 course of the scam, rascals may reach out to you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we earlier determined, these scammers have no plan of returning your funds. So, what do these emails and browser extensions represent? You guessed – this is another element of the scam designed to entice you into willingly running malicious programs onto your computer.

Both plugins and files added to emails can serve as a carrier for diverse malicious software. In this situation, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always significant. As noted, their morality is of little concern, and their dignity is already neck deep in mud. They have no scruples to lose and intend to boost gains.

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