We Investigated Xmuskex: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Xmuskex.com website appeared, promoting itself as a place where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible evidence that clearly confirms it is, actually, a fraudulent platform.

Despite the promises of the most convenient, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Xmuskex.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a clear scam, which takes your money and never returns them. Any stories about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

Xmuskex Scam Overview

Originally, Xmuskex poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another notable selling point for this platform is partnerships with celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. Vitalii Buterin (Ethereum creator), Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look more realistic, rascals employ AI-generated videos where those celebrities promote the fake crypto service as if it was the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a vivid wrap around an obvious scam.

Xmuskex Scam

First and foremost, Xmuskex repeats the design of numerous equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Xbaywex, Tibex or Gcatcoin. They are completely indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the site header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Most likely, all these fraudulent sites are managed by the same group of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Xmuskex Scam Works?

Xmuskex is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals 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 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 set up and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They mainly focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign begins. Employing bots and sponsored advertisements (when feasible), fraud actors intensify the exposure of their scam activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers do not disdain using deepfake for creating clips 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 enrolls the service immediately.

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

Users get a stimulus to enroll, drawn by the commitment of getting cryptocurrency benefits valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To enhance the appeal of the offer, fake claims of sponsorship by a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the promotions, users end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Xmuskex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Xmuskex, “Start earning with Xmuskex – they look rather reliable. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, crooks say that claiming the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing questionable happens at this point, unaware users happily proceed – especially as 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, frauds will not be able to earn even a nickel from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is where the main fraud action begins. As I just mentioned, scammers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – are 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, 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 equivalent sum. At this point, the final stage of the scam begins.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any cryptocurrency purchases require you to have funds on your account. With Xmuskex, users are also compelled to top up to claim the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the money 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 participating on this site hoping to use all the credited capital and withdraw them.

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

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that scoundrels are naught on intentions to send you money. But to make it look more legitimate, they’ve developed a whole bunch of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client guidelines say, but for the Xmuskex.com they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By asking for your personal info, frauds 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 funds back. And every check will reveal 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 Xmuskex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• False Celebrity Sponsorship. Xmuskex 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. Xmuskex.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. Xmuskex 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. Xmuskex.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%, Xmuskex preys on the desire for quick profits. Yet, the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market makes such gains highly unlikely, definitively labeling Xmuskex as a scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Xmuskex 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 contact you with specific files. Alternatively, they may offer you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your crypto assets. As we earlier figured out, these scammers have no plan of restoring your money. So, what do these messages and browser add-ons represent? You guessed it right – that is another component of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into deliberately installing harmful software onto your device.

Both plugins and files attached to emails can function as a shell for diverse malware. In this situation, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always existent. As noted, their morality is of no concern, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have no principles to lose and strive to boost revenues.

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