We Investigated Upionex: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Upionex.com website appeared, promoting itself as a place where you can securely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable proof that unmistakably confirms it is, in fact, a deceptive site.

Regardless of the promises of the most easy, reliable, and customer-centric service, Upionex.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a blatant scam, which takes your money and never returns them. Any stories about gifts, sponsorship from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

Upionex Scam Overview

Originally, Upionex poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with outstandingly low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this site 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, con actors employ AI-generated videos with those celebs promote the scam as if it was 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 glaring wrap around an obvious scam.

Upionex Scam

To begin with, Upionex shares the layout of multiple similar pages. There are quite a few examples, like Coin, Coinairo or Bitsmoon. They are completely indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the webpage header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Presumably, all these scam sites are led by the same gang of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Upionex Scam Works?

Upionex 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 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 complex 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 initiate the deceptive scheme, criminals set up and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They generally focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign commences. Using bots and paid promotions (when feasible), scam actors intensify the visibility of their scam activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using generative AI for creating videos with the aforementioned celebrities that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who enrolls the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

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

This is the last stage when it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal information, swindrels will not be able to 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, frauds bait folks into registration to get bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this data 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 crypto purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the sum of a bonus. And this is what starts the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any cryptocurrency purchases require you to have funds on your account. With Upionex, users are also compelled to top up to claim the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the cash flow to this fraudulent 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 deposited money and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the problems start to surface. When comparing the real crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can observe that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out the money 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 have zero intentions to return your money. But to make it look more legitimate, they’ve made up a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what KYC guidelines say, but for the Upionex.com they are here only to make the wireout 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 a dozen other checks you would desperately need to undergo 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 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 Upionex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• False Celebrity Sponsorship. Upionex often resorts to fake endorsements from celebrities such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. This fraudulent tactic extends to claiming partnerships with reputable companies like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask, despite lacking any genuine affiliations.
• Cryptocurrency-Only Payments. Upionex.com exclusively accepts payments in cryptocurrencies, rejecting traditional bank transfers and other methods. This approach not only masks the company’s identity but also eliminates the possibility of seeking refunds.
• Dubious Company Information. Upionex raises suspicion by withholding essential ownership, location, and registration details. Furthermore, the absence of legitimate contact information and the recent establishment of domain and social media pages intensify skepticism.
• Unsubstantiated Hype. Upionex.com employs groundless hype tactics, fabricating events like securing contracts with Coinbase or receiving endorsements from Elon Musk. These manipulative techniques aim to instill false confidence and encourage further investments.
• Potential Pyramid Scheme. The scam relies on a structure resembling a Ponzi scheme, leveraging a referral system spread through social media. However, only initial participants benefit, often at the expense of subsequent investors.
• Implausible Claims. Promising returns of 50-100-200%, Upionex preys on the desire for quick profits. Yet, the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market makes such gains highly unlikely, definitively labeling Upionex as a scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Upionex 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 duration of the scam, its masters may contact you with particular files. Alternatively, they may propose you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto savings. As we earlier determined, these scoundrels have no intent of returning your money. So, what do these emails and browser add-ons represent? You guessed it right – this is another element of the fraudulent scheme designed to entice you into willingly running malicious applications onto your system.

Both extensions and files included to emails can serve as a shell for diverse malicious software. In this situation, 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 greater than zero. As previously mentioned, their morality is of little concern, and their dignity is already neck deep in mud. They have no principles to lose and intend to boost gains.

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