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Bitcoinmaniagame is a website that tries to position itself as a game of some sort that users can play to earn crypto coins. We observed that a lot of positive comments about Bitcoinmaniagame were being posted rapidly on ScamAdviser. Therefore, we decided to take a look at whether bitcoinmaniagame.com is legit or a scam.
The website can also be accessed via the URLs bitcoinmaniagame.net and bitcoinmaniagame.org
On the surface, Bitcoinmania appears to be a game and even the URL implies so. The website design utilises pixel art similar to retro games. However, when I signed up and tried playing the game, there does not seem to be any game at all. Bitcoinmania shows signs of being a fraudulent investment scheme operating under the guise of an innocent online game.
There are statistics given on the website that are in a similar format as seen in HYIP schemes. As per the statistics, the ‘game’ has been active since February 2021.
The domain name registration indicates that bitcoinmaniagame.com has been registered from Russia. This is concerning as Russia is a high-risk country for fraudulent investment schemes such as Ponzi and Pyramid schemes. Further, the registrant’s details such as name, location and contact information have been hidden using a paid service. Therefore, Bitcoinmania is a new website being operated from a high-risk country.
The first step to start playing the ‘game’ is to buy a ‘miner’. Each ‘miner’ is essentially an investment plan that gives a percentage daily return based on your deposit amount.
There is no real activity in the ‘game’. Users simply have to make deposits and visit the site daily to collect their returns. The ‘Tasks’ section only outlines different ways to earn bonus rewards, such as making a video to promote Bitcoinmania and joining the Telegram channel.
Besides each miner, an ‘income’ and ‘price’ are mentioned. The most expensive ‘miner’ costs BTC 0.17 (currently $3,569.76) and gives a daily ‘income’ of BTC 0.00275000 (currently $57.27). If a user collects this profit daily, they would earn BTC 1.00375 ($20,903.09) in 365 days which is an annual ROI of 490%. Such high returns are unsustainable and unrealistic, which further hints at Bitcoinmania being a Pyramid scheme.
One might argue that Bitcoinmania is not an illegal investment scheme because users can participate in the ‘game’ for free without having to make a deposit ie. purchase a miner.
While this is true, the only way to earn substantial returns is to either purchase a miner or to convince others to purchase a miner and earn commissions from their deposits. You see, much like fraudulent pyramid investment schemes, Bitcoinmania also has a tiered ‘affiliate program’ where users can earn 7% to 15% commissions.
It should worry players that on top of the insanely high returns being promised, Bitcoinmania guarantees payouts, which means that users are being promised a daily profit. According to their website, “The income is paid from the uncollected funds of other players and advertising posted on our resource.”
This is exactly how pyramid schemes operate as money deposited by new investors is used to pay returns to old investors. In the case of Bitcoinmania, the money deposited for purchasing ‘miners’ by new players is used for giving ‘income’ to old players. The payouts are bound to stop if new investors do not steadily keep joining.
As the scheme will collapse if the daily withdrawal amount exceeds the daily deposit amount, the makers of Bitcoinmania have imposed strict withdrawal thresholds. Users can only withdraw BTC 0.0005 per day which is roughly $11. Therefore, the system may show high profits being generated but users cannot withdraw all their funds at once.
The ‘advertising’ revenue mentioned by Bitcoinmania seems to be merely an eyewash to hide the true nature of the scheme. According to their website, Bitcoinmania charges BTC 0.014 ($295) to place a banner on their website for 30 days.
At the time I checked, there were 14 advertisements on the website, which would amount to a monthly revenue of $4,130 per month from advertising. This amount can only cover the payouts of roughly 375 players for one day. As Bitcoinmania claims to have more than 160,000 players, it seems clear that almost all the players are likely being paid out from the deposits of newer players.
Another worrying aspect of Bitcoinmania is that there is no information about the owners of this ‘game’. As mentioned previously, it seems to be operated from Russia and therefore does not immediately inspire confidence. Making things worse, the website has no company details or even contact information. The website owners can only be reached via a contact form.
Due to the reasons outlined in this article, there seems to be a high likelihood that Bitcoinmania may be a pyramid scheme. Such investment schemes are illegal and most investors end up losing their deposits. Even though Bitcoinmania promotes itself as a game, it does not seem to be anything more than a crypto HYIP scheme that promises high returns but has high chances of suddenly shutting shop and absconding with the funds.
Even though positive reviews for Bitcoinmania can be found on several platforms including ScamAdviser, they should be taken with a grain of salt. This is because investors are incentivized to promote Bitcoinmania on different channels to earn additional bonuses and referral commissions.
Even if Bitcoinmania does currently pay, the structure of the scheme seems to be such that a majority of the investors will end up losing money when the scheme ultimately collapses, whenever that may be.
