Recently, Tradezon.pro website appeared, promoting itself as a platform to store cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather credible evidence that clearly reveals it is, in truth, a scam service.
Despite the promises of the most convenient, reliable, and client-friendly service, Tradezon.pro does not fulfill any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a dirty scam, which steals your money and data and never gives them back. Any stories about gifts, backing from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.
Tradezon Scam Overview
Originally, Tradezon poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted selling point for this service is backing from celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look real, rascals employ AI-generated videos with those celebs promote the fraud as if it was 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 glaring wrap around a transparent scam.
Tradezon Scam
To begin with, Tradezon copies the appearance of many equivalent online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Lucenax, Lpgsgroup or Sanzolex. They are completely indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the website header. Other particulars, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Presumably, all these deceptive sites are led by the same gang of frauds.
Cryptocurrency Scam Summary
| Website | Tradezon.pro |
| Hosting | AS13335 Cloudflare, Inc. United States, San Francisco |
| IP Address | 104.21.83.40 |
| Threat Type | Scam/Fraud |
| Scam Type | Fraudulent offers of cryptocurrency services |
How the Tradezon Scam Works?
Tradezon is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the similar 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 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 aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign commences. Employing bots and sponsored advertisements (when achievable), fraud actors boost the exposure of their deceptive activities to potential victims. And as I said, fraudsters 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 registers the service immediately.
Promotions of cryptoscams like Tradezon in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes
Users get a stimulus to sign up, enticed by the assurance of receiving crypto rewards valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To increase the attractiveness of the offer, fake suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.
Step 2: Gaining Traffic
After following the promotions, victims end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Tradezon”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Tradezon, “Start earning with Tradezon – they look rather reliable. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, crooks say that getting the pledged bonus requires registration. And since nothing questionable happens at this point, unexperienced users happily proceed – especially since the gift appears to be right behind the corner.
At this point, it is possible to get away from the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal data, crooks will not earn even a nickel from your presence on the website.
Step 3: Data Gathering
This is the starting poing of the main fraud action. As I just mentioned, frauds bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info 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 alleged bonus right away. To make it at least usable for crypto purchases, you need to top up the account with the equivalent sum. And this is what initiates the final step of the scam.
Step 4: Requesting funds
It is obvious that any crypto purchases require having funds on your account. With Tradezon, users are also coerced to top up to use the bonuses. And this is what creates most of the money flow to this scam site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the promised gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start trading on this website hoping to use all the transferred money and withdraw them.
This, however, is where the problems start to surface. When comparing the actual crypto wallet vs what the site says, you can notice 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
Needless to say that swindlers have 0 intentions to return your money. Though to make the fraud look more realistic, they’ve developed a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client guidelines say, but in this case they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.
By asking for your personal information, deceivers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are a dozen other checks you should go through before getting your money back. And each of these checks will share 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 Tradezon.pro. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.
- Unsubstantiated Credibility. Tradezon 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%, Tradezon exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Tradezon as a scam.
- Dubious Corporate Information. Tradezon 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. Tradezon.pro 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. Tradezon 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 Tradezon 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 reach out to you with specific files. Alternatively, they may offer you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your cryptocurrency assets. As we already figured out, these rascals have no intention of giving back your capital. So, what do these emails and browser add-ons represent? Correct – that is another element of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into willingly installing destructive applications onto your device.
Both add-ons and files attached to emails can act as a shell for diverse malicious software. In this scenario, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among all forms of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always significant. As previously mentioned, their conscience is of no concern, and their dignity is already neck deep in mud. They have no scruples to give up and intend to boost gains.
