The Megabitax Scam – What You Need To Know

Recently, Megabitax.com service surfaced, promoting itself as a place to keep cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather reliable evidence that clearly reveals it is, in fact, a deceptive platform.

Despite the promises of the most convenient, trustworthy, and client-friendly service, Megabitax.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a clear scam, which takes your money and never returns them. Any stories about bonuses, endorsement from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Megabitax Scam Overview

Originally, Megabitax poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted selling 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, con actors use AI-generated videos where those celebrities advertise the scam as if it was the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a glaring wrap around an obvious scam.

Megabitax Scam

First and foremost, Megabitax copies the appearance of multiple similar online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Lewixbit, Gendrex or Gefspace. They are entirely indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the webpage header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Probably, all these deceptive online platforms are operated by the same group of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Megabitax Scam Works?

Megabitax is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use several 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 legitimacy of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the fraud, criminals create and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign commences. Utilizing bots and sponsored advertisements (when feasible), fraud actors intensify the presence of their deceptive activities to possible victims. And as I said, crooks do not shy away using generative AI 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 joins the service immediately.

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

Users get an encouragement to sign up, drawn by the assurance of receiving cryptocurrency prizes valued at thousands of dollars, all without cost. To enhance the appeal of the offer, false suggestions of sponsorship by a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the ads, targets end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Megabitax”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Megabitax, “Start earning with Megabitax – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, crooks say that retrieving the promised bonus requires registration. And as nothing concerning happens at this point, unexperienced users happily keep on – especially since the reward appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to steer away from the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal data, swindrels will not earn even a nickel 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 registration to get bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, swindlers 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 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 initiates the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any cryptocurrency operations require you to have funds on your account. With Megabitax, users are also coerced to top up to use the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the money 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 site hoping to use all the credited capital and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the issues start to surface. When comparing the real cryptocurrency wallet vs what the website 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

There’s no need to explain that fraudsters have no intentions to return your money. But to make it look more legitimate, they’ve made up a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what KYC guidelines say, but for the Megabitax.com they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By asking for your personal data, scammers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are numerous 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 Megabitax.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Megabitax 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 scam, its masters may contact you with specific files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto savings. As we already figured out, these deceivers have no intent of giving back your funds. So, what do these emails and browser add-ons represent? Correct – this is another element of the fraudulent scheme designed to throw you into deliberately installing harmful software onto your system.

Both add-ons and attachments added to email messages can act as a shell for diverse malware. In this situation, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always existent. As stated, their ethics is of no concern, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have no principles to give up and intend to maximize profits.

Frequently asked questions