We Looked Into Moonzex: Scam or Trustworthy? The Verdict

Recently, Moonzex.com service popped up, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather credible evidence that clearly indicates it is, actually, a fraudulent site.

Regardless of the promises of the most user-friendly, reliable, and customer-centric service, Moonzex.com does not fulfill any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a clear scam, which takes your money and never gives them back. Any tales about gifts, backing from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Moonzex Scam Overview

Originally, Moonzex poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with exceptionally low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this service is partnerships with celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Vitalii Buterin, Jeff Bezos – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look more realistic, rascals use deepfake videos where those celebrities promote the fake crypto service as the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a glaring wrap around an obvious scam.

Moonzex Scam

To begin with, Moonzex shares the layout of numerous similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Lomenax, Xenwix or Noxdep. They are completely undistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the site header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Most likely, all these deceptive sites are led by the same team of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Moonzex Scam Works?

Moonzex is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the same overall layout. Another shared 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 start the fraud, criminals set up and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They generally focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign commences. Employing bots and sponsored promotions (when possible), fraud actors boost the visibility of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters 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, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Users get an encouragement to register, attracted by the assurance of obtaining cryptocurrency benefits valued at hundreds of dollars, all free of charge. To augment the appeal of the offer, false suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the ads, targets end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Moonzex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Moonzex, “Start earning with Moonzex – they look rather reliable. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that obtaining the promised bonus requires registration. And since nothing concerning happens at this point, uninformed users happily keep on – especially since the gift appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to steer away from the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal information, frauds will not 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 said, scammers bait folks into signing up to get bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, swindlers 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, the user should top up the account with the sum of a bonus. At this point, the final stage of the scam begins.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any crypto purchases require you to have funds on your account. In the case of Moonzex, users are also compelled to top up to claim the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates the majority of the cash flow to this fraudulent website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the promised gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this site hoping to use all the transferred capital and withdraw them.

This is where the problems start to surface. When keeping an eye on the actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site says, you can spot 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

Needless to say that swindlers have no intentions to send you money. Though 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 in this case they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for 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 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 Moonzex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Unsubstantiated Credibility. Moonzex employs fraudulent celebrity endorsements, often featuring names like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. These false claims extend to fictitious partnerships with reputable entities like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask, despite the absence of genuine connections.
• Implausible Earnings Claims. Promising remarkable returns of 50-100-200%, Moonzex exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Moonzex as a scam.
• Dubious Corporate Information. Moonzex arouses suspicion by providing inadequate documentation about ownership, location, and registration. Furthermore, the lack of legitimate contact information and the recent registration of domain and social media profiles deepen skepticism.
• Exclusive Cryptocurrency Payments. Moonzex.com solely accepts payments in cryptocurrencies, refraining from traditional bank transfers and other payment methods. This approach not only shrouds the company’s identity but also prevents the possibility of requesting refunds.
• Potential Pyramid Scheme. The scam relies on a Ponzi-like referral structure disseminated through social media. Nevertheless, only initial participants profit, often at the expense of funds brought in by subsequent members.
• Groundless Hype Tactics. Moonzex utilizes fabricated claims about non-existent events, such as securing contracts with Coinbase or receiving endorsements from Elon Musk. This manipulative strategy aims to foster belief in money returns and encourages individuals to top up their accounts again.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Moonzex 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 the scam to authorities. Search for local authorities responsible for financial frauds, and also notify wallet providers and social networks via their tech support. It is essential to make the further operations of these scammers much harder.
• Tell your close friends. That step is similar to reporting to the authorities, and has similar effects. By posting info about scam crypto service, you decrease the pool of people they can fool.
• Get evidence. Screenshot or save all the information related to the website. URL, screenshot of a main page, login window, EULA, account top-up menu, wallet addresses – all these things may be useful for authorities to find the scammers.
• Check whether you can ask for a refund. As I’ve said above, crypto payments do not fall under refund policies in most banks. Nonetheless, in some circumstances, it is still possible. Never lose hope until you actually confirm it is gone.
• Make your mistake your lesson. Financial losses are always a reason for frustration, but let’s imagine it was a pay for scam revealing courses. Remember the key features of these crypto scam sites, the way they attract people and what they promise. In the future, you will easily recognize a trap of spending no money.

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 scam, its masters may get in touch with you with specific files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we previously determined, these scoundrels have no intention of giving back your capital. So, what do these email messages and browser extensions represent? You guessed – this is another element of the fraudulent scheme designed to entice you into willingly running harmful applications onto your computer.

Both plugins and attachments added to emails can function as a carrier for various malware. In this situation, I foresee 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 previously mentioned, their ethics is of little concern, and their reputation is already neck deep in mud. They have nothing to lose and intend to maximize revenues.

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