Don’t Fall For Solana-x.com Scam Solana Giveaway
The Solana-x.com Solana Giveaway showing up on YouTube is a scam. The Ads often claim ‘SOLANA Biggest Crypto Giveaway of $100,000,00‘ SOLANA Foundation’s 500,000 SOL Giveaway – and claim to be from the CEO of SOLANA Coin, but they are not true.
The ad uses videos and images of Anatoly Yakovenko to make it seem he’s involved in the giveaway, but he’s not connected to it at all. The video of Anatoly Yakovenko talking is actually a deepfake (created with AI).
This article provides a breakdown of the Solana-x.com scam, how to spot Deepfake videos, what to do if you’re a victim of this scam, and how to spot similar scam crypto investment sites.
Exposing The Solana-x.com Scam
The Solana-x.com is orchestrated by scammers who’ve deceptively put up Ads on YouTube, Facebook, and Tiktok, using a deepfake video as a bait to attract victims. The scam Ads is a video of Anatoly Yakovenko talking about the ‘Solana Foundation’s 500,000 SOL Giveaway.
Once people fall for the Ads and visit the website ‘Solana-x.com’ they’re made to deposit either SOL, BTC, Tether or ETH to a wallet to get the double amount. However, it’s all a sham. After sending the crypto to the address ‘FyefDB22vjmif3hSDZQsJfEYTmc7EX6hHYzXHQ6b6GL1’ the victims of this scam do not receive any crypto.
Solana-x.com Red Flags:
- Not the original Solana website which is Solana.com
- Recent domain age – solana-x.com was regsitered on 14th December 2023
- Negative reviews online from victims
- Uses Deepfake Videos that don’t look real
- No customer support
- Too Good to be true Promo
Scam Warnings From Solana-x.com Victims
Unfortunately, a handful of people have fallen for the SOLANA Giveaway scam. Here’s what a victim on Reddit has to say
I was watching a you tube Video and then an advertisement cam in with the ceo from solana talking about a give away.. the website Solana-x.com is a scam and should be taken down … I was skeptical at first but as it’s sometimes is I fall to the trap and sent my solana to this wallet address…. be careful guys.. i don’t know if someone could do anything about it to help me get back my solana 🙁 I hope that Noone will lose his money like me like this. This is the wallet: FyefDB22vjmif3hSDZQsJfEYTmc7EX6hHYzXHQ6b6GL1
How To Spot Deepfake Videos
Aside from the usual poor lip-syncing, robotic-sounding voices, strange word pronunciations, and digital background noise of Deepfake constructed videos, here are things to watch out for;
- Look out for Unnatural eye movement: a lack of eye movement, such as an absence of blinking — are red flags.
- Watch out for unnatural facial expressions and awkward facial-feature positioning: If someone’s face is pointing one way and their nose is pointing another, it clearly indicates something is off.
- Has zero emotion that doesn’t go along with what they’re supposedly saying. For example, a lack of enthusiam in the Solana Giveaway Deepfake Ad is one red flag we noticed.
- Don’t Ignore the Unnatural body movement, Unnatural Coloring, and hair that doesn’t look real.
- Teeth that don’t look real: an absence of outlines of individual teeth could be a clue that a particular video is created with deepfake technology
What To Do If You’re a Victim Of Solana-x.com Scam Solana Giveaway
Report The Scam to Authorities – The first step you should take is to report the scam to the appropriate authorities. This could include local law enforcement, the FBI, or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Reporting the scam helps to alert authorities to the problem and may also help them to identify and prosecute the scammer.
Contact Your Cryptocurrency Wallet Provider – You should contact the cryptocurrency exchange or wallet provider that you used. They may be able to freeze the scammer’s account or take other measures to recover your lost funds.
How To Spot Crypto Giveaway Scam – Red Flags To Watch Out For
Offers High Returns & Giveaway
One of the warning signs of a scam crypto trading site is high returns and crypto giveaway. It is just a tactic to pull people in and make them lower their guards. Everyone loves the idea of making huge rewards, so the scammers are exploiting this angle of human error.
Uses Deepfake Videos of Celebrities
Often times, scam crypto sites uses fake endorsement from celebrities like Elon Musk, Mr. Beast, etc. They do this by using AI deepfake parodies. Victims might think Elon Musk or Mr. Beast is the one in the video, but the video has been manipulated. Never trust giveaways, even if they appear to be endorsed by celebrities. Remember, videos can be manipulated.
Grammatical Errors & Spelling Mistakes
One thing common with scam crypto sites are grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and poorly constructed claims. This of course cannot be seen in professional crypto sites like Binance and the rest.
Fake About Us Claims
The scam sites often claim to have been operating for a long time, sometimes as long as 5 years. However, when you use who.is (a domain checker tool) to check how old the website is, it often shows that the website was registered few months or weeks ago.
No Means of Contacting Customer Support
Another indicator is the lack of a working telephone number, email address or even physical address on the website. In most scenario, you’d see a live chat support option, but this only leaves you to the mercy of the scammers. They can chose to reply you or not.
Conclusion:
Solana-x.com is a scam that uses AI to manipulate videos of the CEO of Solana in order to trick people into falling for the fake Solana giveaway.
According to a 2023 report, Crypto Giveaway Scams created with deepfake videos is one of the fastest rising scams of 2023. Unlike what you think, deepfakes are not videos that have been reworked by video editing software. No, they are generated by specific algorithms, using a blend of old and newly manufactured video.
The deepfake applications use machine learning to deconstruct the subtle features of someone’s face and learn how to manipulate them based on the individual conditions of the video. Those manipulations are then integrated into a second video, making an entirely new creation. This how the scammers behind Solana-x.com are able to trick victims.
See Similar Crypto Scam – Videxbit.com scam warning, Bitspacex scam, etc
