Is Pluwex Legit or Another Scam? The Truth Revealed

Recently, Pluwex.com website popped up, promoting itself as a platform where you can securely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable proof that clearly reveals it is, in fact, a scam site.

Despite the promises of the most easy, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Pluwex.com does not fulfill any of them. In fact, all this is just a shiny wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and data and never returns them. Any stories about gifts, endorsement from celebrities etc are absent as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Pluwex Scam Overview

Originally, Pluwex poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another highlighted 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 claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look real, frauds use deepfake videos with those celebs promote the fake crypto service as 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 vivid wrap around an obvious scam.

Pluwex Scam

Initially, Pluwex repeats the appearance of many similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Ragnarbit, Trustwex or Anloko. They are completely identical in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the website header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Probably, all these scam online platforms are managed by a single gang of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Pluwex Scam Works?

Pluwex is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use various 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 legitimacy of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To start the deceptive scheme, criminals establish and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They generally target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign commences. Utilizing bots and sponsored advertisements (when achievable), fraud actors intensify the exposure of their deceptive activities to potential victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not shy away using deepfake for creating videos with the aforementioned celebs that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

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

Users receive an encouragement to sign up, drawn by the commitment of getting crypto benefits valued at hundreds of dollars, all free of charge. To enhance the attractiveness of the offer, false suggestions of sponsorship by a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the ads, users end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Pluwex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Pluwex, “Start earning with Pluwex – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that getting the promised bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware users happily proceed – especially as the reward appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal data, crooks 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 mentioned, frauds bait folks into signing up for bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the promised bonus is not available to use right away. To make at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, you need to top up the account with the equivalent sum. At this point, the final stage of the scam kicks in.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any crypto purchases require having funds on your account. In the case of Pluwex, users are also compelled to top up to claim the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the cash flow to this scam 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 issues start to surface. When keeping an eye on the actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the website says, you can spot that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to retrieve the funds from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that scoundrels have no intentions to send you money. Though to make the fraud look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole bunch of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client requirements say, but for the Pluwex.com they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal 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 would desperately need to undergo before getting your grand back. And each of these checks will reveal 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 Pluwex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Pluwex 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, its masters may contact you with particular files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto assets. As we earlier determined, these scoundrels have no intention of returning your money. So, what do these messages and browser plugins represent? Correct – that is another side of the scam designed to throw you into deliberately running harmful software onto your computer.

Both plugins and files included to email messages can function as a carrier for different malicious code. In this case, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among other kinds of malicious programs. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always above zero. As noted, their conscience is of negligible importance, and their dignity is already seriously marred. They have no scruples to lose and aim to maximize revenues.

Remove spyware with Gridinsoft Anti-Malware

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