We Investigated Zdndc: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Zdndc.com service surfaced, promoting itself as a platform where you can safely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible supporting information that unmistakably confirms it is, in truth, a deceptive site.

Regardless of the promises of the most easy, reliable, and customer-centric service, Zdndc.com does not offer any of them. All this is just a gilded wrap around a dirty scam, which takes your funds and never returns them. Any stories about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Zdndc Scam Overview

Originally, Zdndc poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted selling point for this platform 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 claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look more realistic, frauds employ AI-generated videos where those celebrities advertise the scam as the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around an obvious scam.

Zdndc Scam

Initially, Zdndc shares the design of multiple equivalent online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Dexodin, Eiczp or Trackebit. They are entirely undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with small discrepancies in the website header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Probably, all these scam websites are led by the same group of scammers.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Zdndc Scam Works?

Zdndc is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the identical 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 legitimacy of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To start the scam, criminals establish and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign commences. Employing bots and paid promotions (when achievable), scam actors intensify the visibility of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using generative AI for creating clips with the aforementioned celebrities that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

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

Users get a stimulus to register, drawn by the assurance of receiving crypto benefits valued at thousands of dollars, all without cost. To augment the attractiveness of the offer, false suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the promos, victims end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Zdndc”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Zdndc, “Start earning with Zdndc – they look rather authoritative. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that retrieving the pledged bonus requires registration. And as nothing questionable happens at this point, unaware users happily move on – especially as 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 info, crooks will not be able to 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, scammers bait folks into registration to get bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the claimed bonus is not available for withdrawal right away. To make at least crypto purchases on the platform with it, you need to top up the account with the equivalent sum. And this is what starts the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any cryptocurrency operations require having money on your account. In the case of Zdndc, users are also compelled to top up to claim 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 committed gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start engaging on this site hoping to use all the credited capital and withdraw them.

This is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When comparing the actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the website says, you can spot that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out the capital 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 are naught on intentions to send you money. Though to make it look more legitimate, they’ve elaborated a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client guidelines say, but for the Zdndc.com they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal info, 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 would desperately need to undergo 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 Zdndc.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Zdndc 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 fraud, scoundrels may get in touch with you with specific files. Alternatively, they may propose you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we previously determined, these rascals have no intention of giving back your money. So, what can these messages and browser extensions represent? You guessed – that is another element of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into deliberately running malicious programs onto your device.

Both extensions and files attached to email messages can function as a carrier for different malicious software. In this scenario, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among other types of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always above zero. As previously mentioned, their morality is of no concern, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have nothing to give up and aim to boost profits.

Frequently asked questions