We Investigated Ligcoin: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Ligcoin.top website surfaced, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather reliable proof that clearly reveals it is, in fact, a deceptive site.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Ligcoin.top does not offer any of them. In fact, 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 gifts, endorsement from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Ligcoin Scam Overview

Originally, Ligcoin poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with outstandingly low commission fees. Another notable selling point for this platform is backing from celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look real, con actors employ deepfake videos with those celebs advertise the fake crypto service as the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a blatant wrap around a transparent scam.

Ligcoin Scam

First and foremost, Ligcoin copies the appearance of numerous equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Incharity, Hexatrade or Wndzs. They are completely undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the website header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Presumably, all these deceptive sites are managed by the same team of scammers.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Ligcoin Scam Works?

Ligcoin is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals 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 sophisticated 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 fraud, criminals create and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They generally aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign starts. Utilizing bots and paid advertisements (when achievable), scam actors intensify the exposure of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not shy away using deepfake for creating clips with the aforementioned celebs 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 Ligcoin in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the promotions, targets end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Ligcoin”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Ligcoin, “Start earning with Ligcoin – they look rather authoritative. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, scammers say that obtaining the pledged bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware users happily move 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 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 for registration with bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters 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 at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the equivalent sum. At this point, the final stage of the scam kicks in.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any crypto purchases require you to have money on your account. With Ligcoin, 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 engaging on this site hoping to use all the credited funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When keeping an eye on the actual crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can notice 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 are naught on intentions to send you money. But to make the denial look more realistic, they’ve elaborated a whole bunch of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what KYC regulations say, but for the Ligcoin.top they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal info, 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 should go through before getting your grand back. And each of these checks will reveal 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 Ligcoin.top. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Ligcoin 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.

• Secure Your Actions. Begin by promptly reporting the scam to appropriate local authorities tasked with handling financial fraud. Notify wallet providers and engage with social networks’ technical support teams. By taking these measures, you contribute to making the scammers’ operations significantly more difficult.
• Expand Awareness. Extend your efforts by sharing the scam information with your close friends. This action has a parallel effect to reporting to the authorities, as disseminating details about fraudulent crypto services reduces the potential victims they can deceive.
• Gather Evidence. Preserve comprehensive evidence by capturing screenshots and saving all pertinent data linked to the deceptive website. Collect the URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These materials could prove invaluable for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Explore Refund Possibilities. While cryptocurrency payments generally fall outside the scope of refund policies within most banks, it’s worth investigating the potential for a refund in specific circumstances. Maintain optimism until you definitively confirm the loss.
• Convert Mistake into Wisdom. Transform your financial setback into a valuable learning experience. Treat your loss as an investment in understanding the tactics of crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their key characteristics, how they lure individuals, and the grandiose promises they make. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be well-equipped to recognize and avoid falling into future traps without incurring further losses.

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 timeline of the fraud, scoundrels may contact you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your cryptocurrency assets. As we earlier figured out, these deceivers have no plan of restoring your money. So, what can these emails and browser plugins represent? Correct – this is another element of the scam designed to throw you into willingly installing malicious software onto your system.

Both plugins and files included to emails can function as a carrier for various malicious software. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always greater than zero. As previously mentioned, their conscience is of no concern, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have nothing to lose and strive to maximize gains.

Frequently asked questions