We Investigated Sponbix: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Sponbix.com website appeared, promoting itself as a platform to store cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather reliable proof that clearly indicates it is, actually, a fraudulent service.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, dependable, and customer-centric service, Sponbix.com does not fulfill any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a dirty scam, which takes your money and never gives them back. Any stories about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are absent as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Sponbix Scam Overview

Originally, Sponbix poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with outstandingly low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this service is partnerships with celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look more realistic, frauds use AI-generated videos with those celebs promote the fraud as if it was the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around a transparent scam.

Sponbix Scam

To begin with, Sponbix repeats the appearance of many equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Spacexpace, Primegroup or Weogex. They are entirely identical in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the webpage header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Presumably, all these scam websites are managed by the same team of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Sponbix Scam Works?

Sponbix is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use various 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 advanced 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 begin the fraud, criminals set up and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They generally focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign commences. Employing bots and paid promotions (when feasible), fraud actors increase the visibility of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not shy away using deepfake for creating videos with the aforementioned celebrities that promote 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 Sponbix in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users obtain an encouragement to sign up, attracted by the assurance of receiving crypto prizes valued at hundreds of dollars, all free of charge. To augment the attractiveness of the offer, false claims of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the ads, victims end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Sponbix”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Sponbix, “Start earning with Sponbix – they look rather authoritative. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, crooks say that claiming the pledged bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, uninformed users happily proceed – especially since the bonus 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 data, rascals 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 for bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, swindlers can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the claimed bonus right away. To make at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, 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 cryptocurrency operations require you to have capital on your account. In the case of Sponbix, 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 scam website. 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 funds and withdraw them.

This is where the problems start to surface. When keeping an eye on the real cryptocurrency wallet vs what the website says, you can spot 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 fraudsters have no intentions to send you money. Though to make it look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole bunch of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client guidelines say, but for the Sponbix.com they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal info, deceivers 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 should go through before getting your funds back. And every check will share 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 Sponbix.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Sponbix 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.

• Secure Your Actions. Begin by promptly reporting the scam to appropriate local authorities tasked with handling financial fraud. Notify wallet providers and engage with social networks’ technical support teams. By taking these measures, you contribute to making the scammers’ operations significantly more difficult.
• Expand Awareness. Extend your efforts by sharing the scam information with your close friends. This action has a parallel effect to reporting to the authorities, as disseminating details about fraudulent crypto services reduces the potential victims they can deceive.
• Gather Evidence. Preserve comprehensive evidence by capturing screenshots and saving all pertinent data linked to the deceptive website. Collect the URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These materials could prove invaluable for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Explore Refund Possibilities. While cryptocurrency payments generally fall outside the scope of refund policies within most banks, it’s worth investigating the potential for a refund in specific circumstances. Maintain optimism until you definitively confirm the loss.
• Convert Mistake into Wisdom. Transform your financial setback into a valuable learning experience. Treat your loss as an investment in understanding the tactics of crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their key characteristics, how they lure individuals, and the grandiose promises they make. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be well-equipped to recognize and avoid falling into future traps without incurring further losses.

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 actors may reach out to you with particular files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your cryptocurrency assets. As we already determined, these deceivers have no intention of returning your funds. So, what can these emails and browser plugins represent? Correct – this is another element of the fraudulent scheme designed to throw you into deliberately installing harmful software onto your computer.

Both add-ons and attachments attached to email messages can act as a carrier for different malicious software. In this case, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of malicious programs. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always above zero. As stated, their morality is of no concern, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have no scruples to lose and intend to boost profits.

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