Many times while researching Investment Scam sites, especially crypto scams, I have come across several scam sites being promoted using fake crypto news sites. Awareness about crypto is increasing among the general public but knowledge about isn’t necessarily being spread. Many retail investors are buying into crypto due to the fear of missing out on the jaw-dropping returns being promised by crypto schemes. Scammers know this and use deceptive tactics to lure people into investing in fraudulent crypto schemes.
A reader recently shared with me their findings regarding fake crypto news sites. Online investment scams have become an industry with scammers helping other scammers promote scams. This is done so blatantly that there is even a ‘fakecryptonews’ Telegram channel with more than 500 members.
The channel seems to be operated from Russia, which is where a lot of crypto investment scams originate too. Translating the text into English, it can be seen there is no attempt to hide the fact that this is a service to help scammers. For $400 a month, investment scammers can promote their fraudulent schemes via numerous fake crypto news sites.
The reader also shared with me a list of fake crypto news sites that are impersonating legitimate news publications. Below is a list of the fake crypto news sites alongside the real publications that they are copying.
| Fake Publication | Real Publication |
| cointelegraph.ws | cointelegraph.com |
| cryptonews.cx | cryptonews.com |
| independent.eu.com | independent.co.uk |
| investing.com.co | investing.com |
| medium-trade.com | medium.com |
| ndtv.cc | ndtv.com |
Quite some effort has gone into mimicking genuine news publications. Someone who is not alert may be caught unaware and end up believing that they are looking at a real news article. Take a look at the screenshots below which show the lengths to which the scammers have gone to make the fake crypto news sites look real. By checking the domain name information, it becomes quite obvious that the fake sie
cointelegraph.ws (Copycat of cointelegraph.com
cryptonews.cx (Copycat of cryptonews.com)
independent.eu.com (Copycat of independent.eu.com)
investing.com.co (Copycat of investing.com)
medium-trade.com (Copycat of medium.com)
ndtv.cc (Copycat of ndtv.com/business)
There are no depths to which scammers won’t fall and seemingly no length to which they will go to steal people’s hard-earned money. Always do your due diligence before investing in any crypto investment scheme. With each passing day, scammers are coming up with new tricks to make their scams look more convincing. Don’t let your greed turn you into a victim. As a general rule, never send crypto to strangers as it cannot be recovered.
How to Get Your Money Back from a Scam
Remember: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
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If you have been a victim of an investment scam, you can take the following steps:
- File a complaint with the payment portal. However, investment scammers mostly use methods such as Bitcoin, Western Union, MoneyGram and other untraceable methods which make refunds impossible.
- File a formal police complaint with the Cybercrime department.
- Leave a negative review on review portals such as Scamadviser and TrustPilot.
- Report the website to Google using the Suspicious Site Reporter extension for Chrome
- Give a low rating to the website on Web of Trust. You can also install their extension for the same.
- If the company has a listing on Google My Business or Google Maps, file a complaint using the Business Redressal Complaint Form. Also, leave a negative review explaining what kind of experience you had.
- Report the scam site to web filtering companies.
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