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Recently our Intel team came across a website mercatox.com making the rounds. Mercatox claims to be a top cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform. They also offer an affiliate program where you can up top 15% on every transaction done by those invited via your referral link. The first thing that caught our eye was that there was no location stated on the website. Also, the about page gives no information about the owners or those running the platform. These are huge red flags.
A quick check on trust pilot showed the majority of the reviews were bad.
Most of the reviewers claimed once you put money in, it is impossible to get it back out.
This seems to have been going on for some time, up to four years according to another reviewer.
A look at their Facebook page shows no address or phone number but reveals that those behind mercatox reside in Slovakia and Ukraine.
A review of the historical data of the domain supports this, we see that the first hosting was from a company based in Ukraine.
Fake exchanges are one of the most common cryptocurrency scams, you can read about how to prevent them here. Apart from checking reviews, a good method is to select an exchange is to aggregate views on reputable tech and financial websites. The exchange you choose should have positive reviews on multiple aspects such as security and support across reputable tech and financial websites. Doing this should keep your funds safe, but as in all things, there is no 100% guarantee.
This article was published on July 14, 2021 by Cybersafe Foundation.
