The Mababit Scam – Don’t Become the Next Victim

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

Regardless of the promises of the most user-friendly, trustworthy, and client-friendly service, Mababit.com does not fulfill any of them. All this is just a shiny wrap around a dirty scam, which steals your funds and never gives them back. Any tales about gifts, sponsorship from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Mababit Scam Overview

Originally, Mababit poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with outstandingly low commission fees. Another notable selling point for this platform is backing from 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, con actors employ AI-generated videos where those celebrities promote the fake crypto service as 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 glaring wrap around a transparent scam.

Mababit Scam

First and foremost, Mababit shares the layout of numerous similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Trade, Sunfloweryx or Stolbit. They are totally indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the webpage header. Other details, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Probably, all these deceptive online platforms are operated by the same group of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Mababit Scam Works?

Mababit is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Swindlers 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 sophisticated 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 begin the scam, criminals set up and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They mainly aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign begins. Employing bots and paid advertisements (when feasible), fraud actors increase the visibility of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers 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, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who enrolls the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the ads, targets end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Mababit”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Mababit, “Start earning with Mababit – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that unlocking the promised bonus requires registration. And since nothing concerning happens at this point, unaware users happily keep on – especially as 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 sign up using your personal information, crooks will not be able to 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 for registration with bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this info 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 alleged bonus right away. To make at least crypto purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the sum of a bonus. And this is what starts the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any crypto purchases require you to have funds on your account. With Mababit, users are also forced to top up to use 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 trading on this site hoping to use all the deposited capital and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When comparing the real crypto wallet vs what the website 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 fraudsters have no intentions to send you money. But to make the denial look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole bunch of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what KYC regulations say, but in this case they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal info, scammers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are a dozen other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your grand back. And each of these checks will share more and more info of yours, 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 Mababit.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Mababit 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 scam, rascals may contact you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto funds. As we earlier determined, these scoundrels have no plan of restoring your money. So, what do these emails and browser extensions represent? You guessed it right – this is another side of the scam designed to entice you into willingly installing malicious applications onto your device.

Both add-ons and attachments attached to email messages can serve as a shell for diverse malicious software. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of malicious programs. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always existent. As noted, their ethics is of little concern, and their dignity is already neck deep in mud. They have no scruples to lose and aim to maximize profits.

Frequently asked questions