Crypto enthusiasts and investors may see 0.31 BTC Promo Code GRANTX Scam, promoted by Elon Musk, Bill Gates or another celebrity. Under the guise of legit investments, con actors get their hands on wallets of the users who eat the bait and follow the fraud. Although for some people this fraud may be quite obvious, in this post I will detail why this is the case and where to look to avoid falling victim to this scam.
0.31 BTC Promo Code GRANTX Overview
If you’ve ever dreamed of getting free Bitcoin just by entering a promo code, congratulations! You’re exactly the kind of person scammers are hoping to find. The latest scheme circulating on social media, Xistrade.com, promises users a generous 0.31 BTC for simply registering and using the promo code GRANTX. Sounds too good to be true? That’s because it is.
The website makes up the story about the funds being instantly credited to your account. The thing is – the moment one tries to withdraw the “prize”, they get hit with a classic bait-and-switch tactic: you need to “activate” your account by depositing real Bitcoins first. And once you do, forget about ever owning these money. The scammers vanish, leaving you with an empty wallet and a newfound distrust of online crypto giveaways.
This scam is aggressively promoted across all the major social media, and even messaging apps like Telegram and WhatsApp. However, unlike other scams I’ve written about, 0.31 BTC Promo Code GRANTX scam is most often promoted through TikTok rather than X/Twitter.
Criminals use short videos, typically featuring deepfakes or misleading edits of famous figures like Elon Musk, to make the scheme seem legitimate. The goal is simple – trick users into thinking they’re getting something for free, only to steal their funds through fabricated activation fees.
How Does It Work?
As many others, at its core, 0.31 BTC Promo Code GRANTX, along with its website, Xistrade.com, operate as a social engineering scam exploiting human greed and trust in online promotions. Another key indicator of fraud is the use of fake celebrity endorsements. One of the signature moves is the use of fake celebrity endorsements, cobbled together with generative AI.
Scammers leverage deepfake technology or recycle old footage of tech moguls like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Bill Gates. They slap on some AI-generated audio or misleading captions, making it seem like these billionaires have personally decided to hand out crypto to random internet strangers.
These videos are then spread across social media, targeting users who are more likely to believe in the legitimacy of a promotion when it appears to have the backing of a tech billionaire. The website is designed to mimic a real cryptocurrency exchange, complete with a professional-looking interface, fake account balances, and a seemingly functional deposit and withdrawal system. However, everything beyond the deposit function is an illusion.
Withdrawal Restrictions & Top-Up Demand
The moment users attempt to withdraw their so-called free Bitcoin, they encounter a fabricated restriction. To proceed, they are required to deposit a small amount first – typically around 0.0025 to 0.005 BTC. This is a psychological trick known as the sunk cost fallacy. Victims, having already invested time into the process, feel compelled to send the deposit in hopes of unlocking their funds. However, it won’t.
The site’s backend is programmed to generate dynamic wallet addresses for each victim. This ensures that transactions cannot be easily traced back to a single source. These addresses are controlled by the scammers, who can immediately transfer funds elsewhere once a deposit is made. Unlike legitimate exchanges that implement multi-signature wallets and withdrawal verification processes, Xistrade.com has no such security measures because its sole purpose is to steal money.
The domain’s WHOIS data is deliberately obfuscated, a common tactic used by many site owners, both legit and fraudulent. Additionally, its association with over a thousand other fraudulent domains suggests the use of automated tools to generate and deploy scam websites en masse. These sites often share identical templates but differ in branding and promotional codes.
All this allows crooks to quickly replace one domain with another once authorities catch on. Our URL scanner identified over 1k structurally similar websites linked to Xistrade.com, indicating a widespread scam network designed to repeatedly target victims under different names.
Personal Data Sharing
Beyond the financial loss, falling for such scams can have additional consequences. Users who register on these sites typically hand over their email addresses and phone numbers, which are then harvested and sold on the dark web. This can lead to further phishing attempts, identity theft, and even targeted ransomware attacks.
Some victims reported that after engaging with scam offers like 0.31 BTC Promo Code GRANTX, they began receiving calls from fake “crypto recovery services.” These fraudsters promised to retrieve stolen funds – for yet another fee, of course.
Thus, Xistrade.com and similar scams thrive on the desperation of individuals looking for quick financial gains. The promise of free Bitcoin is nothing more than a lure to extract real cryptocurrency from unsuspecting users. No legitimate exchange gives away free money without a verifiable and transparent process.
What can I do After Getting Scammed?
Your first step is to report the 0.31 BTC Promo Code GRANTX scam to authorities. Contact your crypto exchange if you made the deposit from a legitimate platform—they might be able to flag the transaction, though refunds are unlikely. You should also report Xistrade.com to authorities like the FTC, your country’s cybercrime unit, and cryptocurrency fraud reporting platforms. The more reports they receive, the faster they can take down the scam (before it inevitably reappears under a slightly different name).
Next, secure your accounts. If you used the same email and password on Xistrade.com as you do elsewhere, change your credentials immediately. Scammers often sell stolen login details on the dark web, meaning your email could soon be flooded with phishing attempts—or worse, your accounts could be hijacked. Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) wherever possible to add an extra layer of security.
If you provided personal details, be on high alert for follow-up scams. Fraudsters love to double-dip, and as I said above, they are often pretending to be “crypto recovery experts” or even law enforcement officials offering to help for a fee. Ignore these attempts and never send more money.
