Investigating Novabitex: Legit or Scam? The Truth Exposed

Recently, Novabitex.com website surfaced, promoting itself as a platform where you can safely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable evidence that clearly indicates it is, actually, a scam service.

Despite the promises of the most convenient, trustworthy, and client-friendly service, Novabitex.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a clear scam, which steals your money and data and never gives them back. Any tales about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Novabitex Scam Overview

Originally, Novabitex poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with exceptionally low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this platform is partnerships with celebrities that are known in the crypto world. 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 deepfake videos where those celebrities advertise the scam as 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 a transparent scam.

Novabitex Scam

Initially, Novabitex repeats the design of multiple similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Revolby, Teronex or Usaxmoon. They are entirely undistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the webpage header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Presumably, all these fraudulent sites are operated by a single team of scammers.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Novabitex Scam Works?

Novabitex is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the similar 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 validity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To initiate the fraud, criminals create and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They mainly target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign starts. Utilizing bots and sponsored ads (when feasible), scam actors increase the exposure of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers do not disdain using deepfake for creating videos with the aforementioned celebs that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the promotions, targets end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Novabitex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Novabitex, “Start earning with Novabitex – they look rather authoritative. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that retrieving the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing questionable happens at this point, unexperienced users happily keep on – especially as 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 sign up using your personal data, frauds 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 said, scammers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

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

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any crypto purchases require you to have funds on your account. With Novabitex, users are also forced to top up to get the bonuses. And these top ups 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 engaging on this website hoping to use all the deposited money and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the victim notices the problems. When keeping an eye on the actual crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can notice that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out the funds from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

There’s no need to explain that swindlers have 0 intentions to send you money. Though to make it look more realistic, they’ve crafted a whole bunch of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what KYC requirements say, but for the Novabitex.com they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal info, scammers 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 would desperately need to undergo before getting your funds back. And every check will share more and more information, 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 Novabitex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Novabitex 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 course of the scam, its masters may get in touch with you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your cryptocurrency savings. As we previously determined, these deceivers have no plan of giving back your money. So, what do these messages and browser add-ons represent? Correct – that is another component of the scam designed to entice you into deliberately running destructive programs onto your system.

Both extensions and attachments added to email messages can function as a shell for various malicious software. In this case, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other types of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always significant. As noted, their morality is of no concern, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have no scruples to lose and strive to maximize profits.

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