We Investigated Mizhona: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Mizhona.com service surfaced, promoting itself as a platform where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable evidence that clearly indicates it is, actually, a deceptive service.

Despite the promises of the most user-friendly, reliable, and client-friendly service, Mizhona.com does not follow any of them. All this is just a golden wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and never gives them back. Any stories about bonuses, endorsement from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Mizhona Scam Overview

Originally, Mizhona poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another bright marketing point for this platform is partnerships with celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Vitalii Buterin (Ethereum creator), Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look real, con actors use AI-generated videos with those celebs promote the scam as if it was the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a glaring wrap around an obvious scam.

Mizhona Scam

First and foremost, Mizhona repeats the design of numerous equivalent websites. There are quite a few examples, like Lodfac, Litefair or Hytrex. They are entirely identical in terms of graphic elements, with minor discrepancies in the website header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Most likely, all these fraudulent sites are managed by the same team of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Mizhona Scam Works?

Mizhona is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use several 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 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 deceptive scheme, criminals set up and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They mainly target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign begins. Employing bots and paid advertisements (when feasible), fraud actors intensify the presence of their deceptive activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not shy away using generative AI for creating clips with the aforementioned celebrities that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Users receive an encouragement to register, drawn by the assurance of getting cryptocurrency prizes valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To augment the attractiveness of the offer, fake claims of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the promotions, victims end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Mizhona”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Mizhona, “Start earning with Mizhona – they look rather reliable. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that retrieving the promoted bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, unexperienced users happily proceed – 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 information, rascals 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 for bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Exclusively 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, the claimed bonus is not available for withdrawal right away. To make it at least usable for crypto purchases, the user should 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 capital on your account. In the case of Mizhona, users are also coerced to top up to use the bonuses. And this 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 participating on this site hoping to use all the credited money and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the problems start to surface. When keeping an eye on the real crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can observe that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to withdraw 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 fraudsters have zero intentions to send you money. But to make the denial look more legitimate, they’ve developed a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client guidelines say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal data, frauds 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 money back. And each of these checks will uncover more and more info of yours, 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 Mizhona.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Cryptocurrency-Only Transactions. Mizhona.com insists on cryptocurrency payments exclusively, excluding conventional methods like bank transfers. This strategy ensures anonymity for the scam and eliminates any possibility of seeking refunds.
• Dubious Company Credentials. Mizhona arouses suspicion by failing to provide critical information about ownership, location, and legal registration. The lack of valid contact details and the recent creation of domain and social media profiles cast doubt on its legitimacy.
• Baseless Hype Generation. Mizhona resorts to fabricating non-existent achievements, such as contracts with Coinbase or endorsements from Elon Musk, to manipulate emotions and enhance the perception of potential returns, enticing victims to invest more.
• Fictitious Celebrity Association. Mizhona employs a deceptive tactic by falsely associating itself with well-known figures like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. Additionally, the scam falsely claims partnerships with established entities like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask to bolster its false credibility.
• Potential Ponzi-Like Model. The scam operates on a pyramid-style referral system disseminated through social media, benefiting only initial participants and relying on later investments to sustain the illusion.
• Unrealistic Profit Promises. Promising improbable returns of 50-100-200%, Mizhona capitalizes on the desire for high profits. However, the tumultuous nature of the cryptocurrency market renders such gains implausible, solidifying Mizhona.com as a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Mizhona 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 duration of the scam, fraudsters may get in touch with you with specific files. Alternatively, they may propose you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your crypto funds. As we already determined, these deceivers have no intention of giving back your capital. So, what can these email messages and browser plugins represent? Correct – that is another side of the scam designed to entice you into willingly running malicious applications onto your computer.

Both add-ons and attachments included to emails can function as a shell for various malware. In this case, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all kinds of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always greater than zero. As stated, their ethics is of negligible importance, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have nothing to give up and aim to maximize gains.

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