MONALAX Reviewed: Legit or Total Ripoff? Read This First

Recently, Monalax.com site popped up, promoting itself as a place where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable evidence that unmistakably indicates it is, in truth, a fraudulent site.

Despite the promises of the most easy, trustworthy, and client-friendly service, Monalax.com does not offer any of them. All this is just a shiny wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and data and never gives them back. Any tales about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.

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MONALAX Scam Overview

Originally, MONALAX poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with exceptionally low commission fees. Another notable marketing point for this platform is partnerships with celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look real, frauds employ deepfake videos with those celebs promote the fraud as if it was the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a blatant wrap around a transparent scam.

MONALAX Scam

Initially, MONALAX repeats the design of many equivalent websites. There are quite a few examples, like Mrcoinx, Metawersal or Nbstk. They are totally indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with small discrepancies in the website header. Other particulars, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Most likely, all these deceptive websites are led by a single gang of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the MONALAX Scam Works?

MONALAX is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use numerous website designs, which still share the identical 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 initiate the deceptive scheme, criminals establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign begins. Utilizing bots and sponsored ads (when achievable), fraud actors intensify the visibility of their deceptive activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using generative AI for creating videos with the mentioned celebs that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

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

Users obtain a stimulus to enroll, drawn by the promise of receiving cryptocurrency benefits valued at thousands of dollars, all without cost. To enhance the appeal of the offer, fake suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these assertions are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the promotions, targets end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with MONALAX”, “Your crypto savings are secured with MONALAX, “Start earning with MONALAX – they look rather reliable. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that retrieving the promoted bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious 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 get away from the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal info, swindrels will not earn even a penny 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 into registration to get bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

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

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any crypto purchases require having funds on your account. With MONALAX, users are also coerced to top up to get the bonuses. And this is what creates most of the money flow to this fraudulent site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the promised gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start trading on this site hoping to use all the credited money and withdraw them.

This is where the issues start to surface. When keeping an eye on the actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site says, you can notice that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to retrieve the capital from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that swindlers are naught on intentions to send you money. But to make the denial look more legitimate, they’ve made up a whole bunch of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what KYC requirements say, but for the Monalax.com they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal information, deceivers 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 uncover 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 Monalax.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with MONALAX 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 timeline of the fraud, its actors may reach out to you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto savings. As we previously figured out, these rascals have no plan of giving back your funds. So, what can these messages and browser plugins represent? You guessed it right – that is another element of the fraudulent scheme designed to entice you into willingly running harmful applications onto your device.

Both plugins and files included to emails can act as a carrier for various malicious software. In this situation, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of malicious programs. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always greater than zero. As noted, their conscience is of no concern, and their dignity is already severely tarnished. They have no principles to lose and aim to maximize gains.

Remove spyware with Gridinsoft Anti-Malware

We have also been using this software on our systems ever since, and it has always been successful in detecting viruses. It has blocked the most common malicious programs as shown from our tests with the software, and we assure you that it can remove spyware as well as other malware hiding on your computer.

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