Investigating Lykcoin: Legit or Scam? The Truth Exposed

Recently, Lykcoin.com site popped up, promoting itself as a platform to store cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather credible evidence that clearly reveals it is, actually, a fraudulent service.

Regardless of the promises of the most user-friendly, dependable, and client-friendly service, Lykcoin.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and data and never returns them. Any tales about bonuses, endorsement from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Lykcoin Scam Overview

Originally, Lykcoin poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted selling point for this service is partnerships with celebrities that are known in the crypto world. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look more realistic, rascals use AI-generated videos where those celebrities advertise the fraud as the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around an obvious scam.

Lykcoin Scam

First and foremost, Lykcoin repeats the design of numerous similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Microjex, Natelax or Plasunex. They are completely indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with small discrepancies in the webpage header. Other particulars, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Probably, all these deceptive online platforms are led by a single group of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Lykcoin Scam Works?

Lykcoin is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the same overall layout. Another mutual 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 authenticity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To start the deceptive scheme, criminals establish and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They mainly focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign begins. Utilizing bots and sponsored promotions (when achievable), scam actors intensify the presence of their scam activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers 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 Lykcoin in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the promos, targets end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Lykcoin”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Lykcoin, “Start earning with Lykcoin – they look rather credible. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that claiming the promoted bonus requires registration. And since nothing questionable happens at this point, unaware users happily proceed – especially since the gift appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal data, frauds 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 for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, swindlers can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the alleged bonus is not available for withdrawal 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

Obviously, any cryptocurrency operations require you to have capital on your account. With Lykcoin, users are also compelled to top up to use 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 engaging on this site hoping to use all the deposited funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When comparing the real cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site says, you can spot that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out the funds 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 return your money. Though to make the fraud look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Usually, they repeat what KYC requirements say, but in this case they are here only 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 multiple other checks you should go through before getting your funds back. And each of these checks will reveal more and more information, which – you guessed it right – will be then marketed 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 Lykcoin.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Lykcoin 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 timeline of the scam, scoundrels may reach out to you with specific files. Alternatively, they may offer you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your crypto funds. As we earlier figured out, these rascals have no intention of returning your funds. So, what can these email messages and browser plugins represent? Correct – this is another element of the fraudulent scheme designed to entice you into willingly running destructive software onto your computer.

Both add-ons and attachments attached to emails can function as a shell for various malicious code. In this scenario, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of malware. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always above zero. As noted, their morality is of negligible importance, and their reputation is already severely tarnished. They have no scruples to give up and aim to maximize profits.

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