We Looked at the Evidence: Is Xbestwave Legit or Scam?

Recently, Xbestwave.pro website surfaced, promoting itself as a platform where you can safely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable proof that clearly confirms it is, actually, a deceptive platform.

Regardless of the promises of the most user-friendly, dependable, and customer-centric service, Xbestwave.pro does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a clear scam, which takes your funds and never gives them back. Any tales about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Xbestwave Scam Overview

Originally, Xbestwave poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another bright marketing point for this service is backing from celebrities that have relation to 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 where those celebrities advertise the fraud as the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a vivid wrap around a transparent scam.

Xbestwave Scam

To begin with, Xbestwave repeats the design of many equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Skyprax, Luixmusk or Xanbytrade. They are totally indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the site header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Probably, all these deceptive online platforms are operated by a single gang of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Xbestwave Scam Works?

Xbestwave is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use numerous website designs, which still share the similar 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 sophisticated 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 start the deceptive scheme, criminals establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign commences. Using bots and paid ads (when achievable), fraud actors increase the exposure of their deceptive activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not disdain using deepfake for creating clips with the mentioned celebs that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who enrolls the service immediately.

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

Users receive a stimulus to enroll, attracted by the assurance of obtaining cryptocurrency benefits valued at hundreds of dollars, all without cost. To augment the attractiveness of the offer, false claims of sponsorship by a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these assertions are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the ads, users end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Xbestwave”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Xbestwave, “Start earning with Xbestwave – they look rather reliable. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that claiming the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing questionable happens at this point, unexperienced users happily keep on – especially as the reward 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 penny from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is the starting poing of the main fraud action. As I just said, deceivers bait folks into signing up to get bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the alleged bonus is not available to use right away. To make it at least usable for crypto purchases, you need to 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

It is obvious that any crypto purchases require you to have money on your account. In the case of Xbestwave, users are also coerced to top up to get the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the money 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 website hoping to use all the transferred funds and withdraw them.

This is where the victim notices the issues. When keeping an eye on the real cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site says, you can spot that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to retrieve the money from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that scoundrels have 0 intentions to send you money. But to make it look more realistic, they’ve made up a whole bunch of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Usually, they repeat what KYC requirements say, but for the Xbestwave.pro they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By asking for your personal information, scammers 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 money back. And every check 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 Xbestwave.pro. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Unsubstantiated Credibility. Xbestwave 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%, Xbestwave exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Xbestwave as a scam.
• Dubious Corporate Information. Xbestwave 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. Xbestwave.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. Xbestwave 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 Xbestwave 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, fraudsters may contact you with particular files. Alternatively, they may offer you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your crypto funds. As we earlier figured out, these deceivers have no intent of giving back your capital. So, what do these email messages and browser add-ons represent? Correct – this is another side of the deceptive plan designed to throw you into willingly installing malicious programs onto your system.

Both plugins and files included to email messages can act as a shell for diverse malicious code. In this situation, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other kinds of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always significant. As previously mentioned, their morality is of negligible importance, and their dignity is already severely tarnished. They have no scruples to give up and intend to boost revenues.

Frequently asked questions