Binomo.Exchange
Tis’ the season for SCAMS!
Before we get started I want to make this clear, this is about Binomo.Exchange (also once under Bitteryx.com and NOT Binomo.com. It’s sad when scams rip off legit projects.)
I started investing and trading in the crypto space in 2018; I’ve heard of horror stories of people losing their coins on fake websites posing as exchanges.
As a Telegram user involved with different projects and exchanges, I will get a few weird messages.
Yesterday, I got a message “Alison Binomo.Exchange Giveaway” the “Binomo.Exchange” team has randomly selected people to give away 1BTC to sign up for their exchange.
I took a look at the exchange; I immediately thought there was no “2022” header, there were no social channels (as we know, projects depend on shilling and promoting on social), but there was no social. I looked them up on social anyways, but it looked like either a bot account or an employee who never followed through.
I was still skeptical but decided to humour them by signing up; I wouldn’t disclose my personal information.
Again, there was no content landing page (again, another red flag), so I signed up, but I couldn’t find the promo code box. Their support chat box was flaky; they had a member chat too.
I thought the member chat was full of those people behind the scam; there was no mention of a scam in the discussion; there was a room full of salty individuals.
I found the promo box in the settings area, put it in the code, and it worked. I saw the 1BTC in my wallet on the exchange, to my surprise. If I was a newbie, I thought this would’ve made my year. Earn 1BTC for not doing anything?! How cool would that be?
But that “newbie fantasy” will be quickly popped, I decided to see if this is the starting point where the scam starts, and sure enough, it was!
I thought I would send myself $50 worth of BTC from my “new BTC fortune,” but I couldn’t because I needed to become “verified.”
This is where the scammers will get you; you will reach out to their customer service team.
The team will advise you; you need 200 dollars worth of BTC to send to this account to access the 47k.
This scam is one of the oldest scams in the book; it was trendy in New York City around the 1980s and early 90s.
A stranger would approach you (typically very shabby and dim-witted), he will show these “rare coins” he found, but he’s scared because he doesn’t want to get in trouble and has “no money” to call the individual (conveniently there is a phone number written on the coin holder and back in the day, we didn’t have cell phones, we had to use payphones LOL)
So you figure you will be helpful and call; the individual is “too nervous,” so you do all the talking. The owner of the coins, who happens to be a doctor, showers you with gratitude and gives you an address to collect “your” reward, BUT FIRST, the owner asks if you can pay the individual about 450 dollars for his troubles. But YOU will get 10,000 because of the value of coins.
So you figure, you give away 450 of your own money, you will make 9550 dollars, it’s a win-win.
You give the stranger the 450, and you head to the owner’s address, which appears to be an office building.
The only thing is, the doctor doesn’t exist, there is no 9550, and the coins you have? They are worth just 5 cents.
So the similarities between this scam, the scammers of the exchange want me to hand over 200 dollars worth a BTC, which may not seem like a lot, but depending on how many people fall for it — it will all add up.
So while there are legit projects that do air-drops and run competitions, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t let greed get the best of you; research the projects and look for these red flags.
- No social media presence, but not even accounts you would expect from start-ups
- Vague details in the about us
- CEOs with no official bios or internet foot-print.
- No SEO presence
- No splash pages for this ’16 BTC COMPETITION” remember, the shilling is very important in the community
- Mimicking another exchange in terms of logo and name.
- Links on their email marketing are broken
- You NEED to send SEND money to GET money
Please always do your research; if you use telegram or discord, treat every direct message as a scam. Most project admins will never message you first.
And it makes me mad thinking about how many people, particularly newbies, have fallen for this — what a horrible way of starting your crypto journey.
I feel it’s my responsibility as a community member and a vet in this field to debunk these scams. I’m sure others feel the same way.
Happy New Year to you all!
