We Investigated Opibit: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Opibit.com service surfaced, promoting itself as a platform to store cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather credible supporting information that unmistakably indicates it is, actually, a fraudulent platform.

Despite the promises of the most easy, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Opibit.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a clear scam, which takes your money and never returns them. Any tales about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

Opibit Scam Overview

Originally, Opibit poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted 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 says about being supported by them. To make these claims look real, frauds use deepfake videos with those celebs advertise the fraud as the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a vivid wrap around a transparent scam.

Opibit Scam

Initially, Opibit shares the design of numerous equivalent websites. There are quite a few examples, like Wezbit, Mukella or Qwitex. They are totally indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the webpage header. Other details, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Presumably, all these fraudulent sites are led by a single team of scammers.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Opibit Scam Works?

Opibit is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively 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 validity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the scam, criminals set up and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign starts. Using bots and sponsored advertisements (when feasible), fraud actors increase the exposure of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not disdain using generative AI for creating videos with the mentioned celebrities that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who enrolls the service immediately.

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

Users receive a stimulus to sign up, enticed by the assurance of getting cryptocurrency prizes valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To increase the appeal of the offer, fake suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these assertions are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

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

This is the last stage when it is possible to steer away from the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal info, crooks 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 said, scammers bait folks into registration for bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – email, username, crypto 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, you cannot use the claimed bonus right away. To make it at least usable for crypto 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

Eventually, any cryptocurrency operations require you to have funds on your account. With Opibit, users are also forced to top up to claim the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the cash flow to this fraudulent site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start engaging on this site hoping to use all the credited 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 observe that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to withdraw 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 scoundrels are naught on intentions to give your money back. But to make the denial look more legitimate, they’ve developed a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client requirements say, but in this case they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal info, deceivers 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 money back. And every check will reveal 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 Opibit.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Unsubstantiated Credibility. Opibit 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%, Opibit exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Opibit as a scam.
• Dubious Corporate Information. Opibit 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. Opibit.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. Opibit 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 Opibit 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 course of the fraud, its masters may reach out to you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may offer you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your cryptocurrency savings. As we already figured out, these scammers have no intention of returning your funds. So, what can these email messages and browser plugins represent? Correct – this is another component of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into deliberately installing harmful software onto your system.

Both add-ons and attachments added to emails can function as a shell for various malicious software. In this scenario, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among all forms of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always significant. As previously mentioned, their morality is of no concern, and their reputation is already neck deep in mud. They have no principles to give up and aim to boost gains.

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