We Investigated Imbastox: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Imbastox.com website appeared, promoting itself as a platform where you can securely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that clearly indicates it is, in fact, a fraudulent platform.

Despite the promises of the most easy, reliable, and client-friendly service, Imbastox.com does not follow any of them. All this is just a gilded wrap around a dirty scam, which steals your funds and never gives them back. Any stories about gifts, sponsorship from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Imbastox Scam Overview

Originally, Imbastox poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another notable 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, frauds use AI-generated videos with those celebs promote the scam as if it was the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around an obvious scam.

Imbastox Scam

To begin with, Imbastox copies the design of numerous equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Seyget, Gexchain or Coinxbliss. They are totally indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the webpage header. Other particulars, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Most likely, all these fraudulent sites are operated by a single group of swindrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Imbastox Scam Works?

Imbastox 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 shared 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 authenticity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To start the deceptive scheme, criminals create and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign begins. Employing bots and paid promotions (when possible), scam actors increase the presence of their scam 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 registers the service immediately.

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

Users receive an encouragement to register, enticed by the commitment of receiving crypto benefits valued at thousands of dollars, all without cost. To enhance the attractiveness of the offer, fake claims of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the promotions, victims end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Imbastox”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Imbastox, “Start earning with Imbastox – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that getting the pledged bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, uninformed users happily keep on – especially since the reward appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal information, 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 mentioned, deceivers bait folks into signing up for bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the promised bonus right away. To make at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, 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

Eventually, any cryptocurrency operations require you to have funds on your account. With Imbastox, users are also forced to top up to get the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the money 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 engaging on this website hoping to use all the transferred funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the problems start to surface. When comparing 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 retrieve the money 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. Though to make it look more legitimate, they’ve elaborated a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client requirements say, but for the Imbastox.com they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal data, scammers just stall hoping for you to understand that you’ve been scammed and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are numerous other checks you should go through before getting your grand 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 Imbastox.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Cryptocurrency-Only Transactions. Imbastox.com insists on cryptocurrency payments exclusively, excluding conventional methods like bank transfers. This strategy ensures anonymity for the scam and eliminates any possibility of seeking refunds.
• Dubious Company Credentials. Imbastox arouses suspicion by failing to provide critical information about ownership, location, and legal registration. The lack of valid contact details and the recent creation of domain and social media profiles cast doubt on its legitimacy.
• Baseless Hype Generation. Imbastox resorts to fabricating non-existent achievements, such as contracts with Coinbase or endorsements from Elon Musk, to manipulate emotions and enhance the perception of potential returns, enticing victims to invest more.
• Fictitious Celebrity Association. Imbastox employs a deceptive tactic by falsely associating itself with well-known figures like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. Additionally, the scam falsely claims partnerships with established entities like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask to bolster its false credibility.
• Potential Ponzi-Like Model. The scam operates on a pyramid-style referral system disseminated through social media, benefiting only initial participants and relying on later investments to sustain the illusion.
• Unrealistic Profit Promises. Promising improbable returns of 50-100-200%, Imbastox capitalizes on the desire for high profits. However, the tumultuous nature of the cryptocurrency market renders such gains implausible, solidifying Imbastox.com as a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Imbastox 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, scoundrels may contact you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto assets. As we already figured out, these rascals have no plan of giving back your funds. So, what do these emails and browser add-ons represent? You guessed it right – that is another element of the deceptive plan designed to throw you into deliberately running malicious applications onto your device.

Both extensions and files added to emails can act as a shell for different malicious software. In this scenario, 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 likelihood is always significant. As stated, their morality is of no concern, and their reputation is already neck deep in mud. They have no principles to lose and intend to boost gains.

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