The Gctzy Scam – Don’t Become the Next Victim

Recently, Gctzy.com site surfaced, promoting itself as a place where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible evidence that clearly confirms it is, in truth, a deceptive platform.

Despite the promises of the most user-friendly, dependable, and customer-centric service, Gctzy.com does not fulfill any of them. In fact, all this is just a shiny wrap around a blatant scam, which takes your money and never gives them back. Any tales about gifts, endorsement from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Gctzy Scam Overview

Originally, Gctzy poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this platform is backing from 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 more realistic, rascals employ AI-generated videos with those celebs advertise the scam as the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a blatant wrap around a transparent scam.

Gctzy Scam

First and foremost, Gctzy repeats the layout of many similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Noretex, Qnamo or Ogonto. They are totally indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with slight discrepancies in the website header. Other details, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Most likely, all these deceptive sites are led by the same gang of swindrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Gctzy Scam Works?

Gctzy is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use various 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 advanced psychological tricks that make the user believe in the legitimacy of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To initiate the fraud, criminals establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They generally aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign commences. Utilizing bots and sponsored promotions (when achievable), scam actors increase the exposure of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not shy away using generative AI for creating clips with the mentioned celebrities that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who enrolls the service immediately.

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

Users obtain an encouragement to sign up, attracted by the assurance of receiving cryptocurrency benefits valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To increase the appeal of the offer, fake suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these assertions are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the promos, targets end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Gctzy”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Gctzy, “Start earning with Gctzy – they look rather authoritative. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that obtaining the promised bonus requires registration. And since nothing questionable happens at this point, unaware users happily keep on – especially as the reward 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 data, frauds will not 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 mentioned, frauds bait folks into registration for bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this info 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 cryptocurrency purchases, the user should top up the account with the equivalent sum. And this is what initiates the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any crypto purchases require you to have funds on your account. With Gctzy, users are also coerced to top up to get the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the money flow to this fraudulent site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the committed gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start engaging on this website hoping to use all the transferred funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the victim notices the issues. When comparing the actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site says, you can spot that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to retrieve 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 fraudsters have 0 intentions to return your money. Though to make it look more legitimate, they’ve developed a whole bunch of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what KYC guidelines say, but in this case they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal information, 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 money back. And each of these checks will uncover 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 Gctzy.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Gctzy 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 to Authorities. Your initial action should involve reporting the scam to local authorities responsible for addressing financial fraud. Additionally, reach out to wallet providers and engage with the technical support teams of social networks. This collective effort raises the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Inform Your Inner Circle. Extend your impact by sharing information about the scam with your close friends. Similar to notifying authorities, this dissemination of details curbs the scammers’ potential to deceive.
• Document the Trail. Assemble a comprehensive record by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. This encompasses the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These materials offer invaluable leads for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Explore Refund Possibilities. While cryptocurrency payments may not typically align with traditional bank refund policies, it’s worthwhile to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain a positive outlook until you secure confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Insight. Shift your focus from the financial loss to gaining wisdom. Consider your loss as an investment in comprehending the tactics employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their distinctive traits, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant pledges they make. This knowledge equips you to recognize and avoid future traps, minimizing the risk of enduring further 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 fraud, fraudsters may contact you with particular files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your cryptocurrency assets. As we earlier determined, these scammers have no plan of restoring your funds. So, what do these emails and browser extensions represent? You guessed – this is another component of the deceptive plan designed to throw you into deliberately installing malicious applications onto your computer.

Both extensions and attachments attached to email messages can act as a shell for various malware. 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 likelihood is always existent. As noted, their ethics is of no concern, and their dignity is already seriously marred. They have no principles to give up and aim to maximize profits.

Frequently asked questions