Marswex Reviewed: Real Deal or Total Ripoff? Read This First

Recently, Marswex.com website popped up, promoting itself as a place where you can securely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible supporting information that unmistakably confirms it is, in fact, a fraudulent site.

Despite the promises of the most convenient, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Marswex.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your funds and never gives them back. Any stories about gifts, backing from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

Marswex Scam Overview

Originally, Marswex poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with outstandingly low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this site is backing from celebrities that are known in the crypto world. Vitalii Buterin (Ethereum creator), Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look real, rascals use deepfake videos where those celebrities promote the fraud as if it was the best thing in the world. For known 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.

Marswex Scam

To begin with, Marswex repeats the design of numerous equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Btcmining, Koinwex or Glidafin. They are completely indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the webpage header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Presumably, all these scam sites are led by a single group of scammers.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Marswex Scam Works?

Marswex 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 similar 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 complex 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 scam, criminals create and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They generally focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign starts. Using bots and sponsored ads (when feasible), fraud actors intensify the exposure of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not disdain using deepfake for creating videos 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 Marswex in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users obtain an encouragement to sign up, enticed by the assurance of receiving crypto prizes valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To increase the appeal of the offer, fake claims of sponsorship by a celebrity are added. 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 appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Marswex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Marswex, “Start earning with Marswex – they look rather reliable. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that getting the promised bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware users happily proceed – especially as the gift 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, crooks 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 said, frauds bait folks into signing up for bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the claimed bonus right away. To make it at least usable for crypto purchases, you need to top up the account with the equivalent sum. And this is what initiates the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any crypto purchases require you to have money on your account. With Marswex, users are also coerced to top up to claim the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the cash flow to this fraudulent website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this website hoping to use all the deposited funds and withdraw them.

This is where the problems start to surface. When comparing the actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site says, you can observe that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out 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 are naught on intentions to return your money. But to make the fraud look more legitimate, they’ve made up a whole bunch of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Most of them repeat what KYC regulations say, but for the Marswex.com they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal info, frauds 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 every check will uncover more and more info of yours, 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 Marswex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Marswex 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.

• Immediate Reporting. Your initial step should involve promptly notifying local authorities specializing in financial fraud. Extend your reach by reaching out to wallet providers and engaging with social networks’ technical support teams. These actions serve to raise the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Share among Friends. Amplify your efforts by informing your close friends about the scam. Similar to informing authorities, this dissemination of information restricts the scammers’ potential victim pool.
• Preserve Crucial Information. Compile a comprehensive evidence archive by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. Collect the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These records could provide vital clues for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Exploring Refund Options. While most banks’ refund policies may exclude cryptocurrency payments, it’s advisable to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain hope until you obtain confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Knowledge. Turn your financial setback into an opportunity for growth. View your loss as an investment in understanding the strategies employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their telltale characteristics, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant promises they make. Equipped with this insight, you’ll be well-prepared to spot and evade future traps without suffering additional 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 duration of the fraud, rascals may contact you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may propose you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your crypto assets. As we earlier determined, these deceivers have no intent of restoring your funds. So, what do these email messages and browser extensions represent? Correct – this is another element of the fraudulent scheme designed to throw you into deliberately installing harmful applications onto your device.

Both plugins and files included to email messages can act as a shell for diverse malicious code. In this situation, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of malware. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always above zero. As previously mentioned, their morality is of no concern, and their dignity is already severely tarnished. They have no scruples to lose and intend to boost revenues.

Frequently asked questions