Network of Scam Faucet Sites?

Network of Crypto Faucet Scams Exposed

Updated on 5/8/2022 – Click Here to scroll down to the updated section detailing further developments of this ongoing scam.

Updated on 11/26/2022 – Donkeyloot was created and we cover it in detail on a new post.

The idea for writing about scam faucets has lingered in our head for a while now, so in preparation we went through our mental rolodex of sites we’ve come across that fit into the category of scams or extremely likely scams that we tend to avoid.  In our description of some of these sites, we hope you as a reader learn more about what to look for when using Crypto Faucets.  As we started compiling sites, we saw an interesting pattern emerge that existed on at least nine separate, seemingly unrelated sites.  Now there is no way to prove these sites are in fact related, but they all have similar characteristics that we will discuss below.  These sites are not inherently dangerous, they aren’t asking for deposits or investments typically, they also are not installing malware from what we can tell, their entire intention is to use your attention and page view/visits to earn ad revenue without the intention of paying out those users.

Questionable Faucet Sites

What do they have in common?

Appearance and layout

This is very subjective, but in our opinion they all have a similar set up/appearance despite the color schemes and logos.  The term “Sign in to your account” appearing exactly spelled and capitalized on each, no use of “into” or “log in” any other term that could be used on sign ins. The one notable difference is BTC Smash. Important to note that Piratecash.io was shutdown/transitioned to the new URL of Piratewins.io, but for all intents and purposes they are the same site.

Gameplay and Structure

All of these games have the same overall set up.  Each will consist of an activity/game/task you are doing, like spinning a wheel or guessing the price of Bitcoin in a minute from now.  They will also have some sort of “Energy” component. I.e., you can only play the game if you have/earn energy.  In Pirate Wins, you need to pay “Gold coins” to spin the wheel.  You start the game with a high number of coins to spend, but when you run out you need to use the sites internal faucet.  Usually, it will give you more coins to spin with each hour. 

Withdrawal Limits and Payouts

Each typically has an extremely high withdrawal balance vs what is typically seen on most legitimate faucets.  On these sites, the withdrawal limit is $50 USD, $100 USD, and above!  Way more than the $5 USD and below you normally see. You also typically only see payouts of exactly $100 USD or $90 USD after the fee, which is extraordinarily difficult when dealing with cryptocurrencies. This is also why most payment proofs you see for these sites are payouts to PayPal or Skrill. Crypto transactions are extremely difficult to spoof… you know because it’s a public ledger?  Some sites “give” you money to start, example Loot Bull we started with $3.00 USD before doing anything, Loot Bits we started with nearly $32 USD.  No site does that, anytime you see things like this you should think twice about proceeding. A common trait within each game, is that your earnings in the beginning will be very high.  This is a ploy to make users believe they will be able to earn $100 USD quickly, for example you will earn payouts like $0.50+ USD at a time.  These winnings taper off quickly after a certain amount.  For example, in Pirate Wins, I earned $50 USD within a few days of playing just a few minutes.  The next $0.59 USD took significantly longer.  The common trait is that the closer you get to the withdrawal limit, the amount you win decreases to the point that you are likely to never actually reach the threshold. Most of the time after a certain point, you won’t win anything.  Some sites may even adjust the withdrawal limits when you get close, i.e., the $100 USD threshold becomes $200 USD without explanation or warning.

Terms and Conditions/Terms of Service

Most sites have some sort of legal statement to protect them, so this isn’t that shocking but many users have noted language used on these sites that indicate they have no intention to pay users. This same language may appear on other sites as well as a standard disclaimer, but given the reviews and comments about these sites, it seems more like a crutch they rely on to avoid paying users than to really protect them as a business from user generated fraud. Many of the sites contain almost copy and paste of the same terms, though how standard these terms are in the industry is unknown.

Review Sites

All reviews of these sites that you find on most review forums are full of complaints.  Most calling the sites a scam and waiting months for payments that do not come.

TrustPilot

• Piratecash.io – 2.0 out of 5.0, 98 reviews, most reading like the examples below.
  • “This is a scam.They cheat us..after I earn 75$ they stop to gives chances until it fill 100$..Do not try it..I am highly dissapointed …” – Dhananjaya Samarasinghe
• Piratewins.io – 1.8 out of 5.0, 53 reviews, most reading like the examples below.
  • “Programmed to get you nothing, I suspect that it is a scam, I have observed that as you spin for 15 times you only get nothing and if you get a scratch you only get but a bomb. The spin is programmed to get you the least or nothing. I quit.” – waddy taft
• EZDoubler.io – 2.1 out of 5.0, 111 reviews, most reading like the examples below.
  • “scam When I reached $ 10 he said to withdraw $ 20 and when I reached $ 20 he said to withdraw the lowest $ 50 Lie site don’t waste your time” – hack apk
• Blocksmash.io – 1.9 out of 5.0, 33 reviews, most reading like the examples below.
  • “I read lots of stories here from people who have reached $90 or more and then they never earn any cents anymore. It happens me also. I have $93.39 now and I’m still smashing since 2 weeks every day several hours, but still didn’t earn any cent anymore. It stops now so you will never reach the $100.” – H.S.P
• Lootbull.com – 2.6 out of 5.0, 12 reviews, most reading like the examples below.
  • “100% Scam. After $50 no any amount will find from case. Nobody will get $100. New user do not join this site otherwise you waste your time.” – Nabi Rasul Ansari
• Lootbits.io – 2.6 out of 5.0, 56 reviews, most reading like the examples below.
  • “Will never pay for your efforts, just leave this site.” – Jhon Smith
• Popspins.com – 2.6 out of 5.0, 6 reviews, most reading like the examples below.
  • “This is a Big Scam. They are criminals.Don’t waste your time.” – anoopvkl
• Btcsmash.io – 1.8 out of 5.0, 16 reviews, most reading like the examples below.
  • “Appears to pay well. Until you try to withdraw. The threshold is 0.035, which is a huge red flag. I doubt they ever pay out.” – Fuzzy Viking

FoxyRating

• Piratecash.io – 1.9 out of 5.0, 7 opinions, most reading like the examples below.
  • “It?s a big scam because after getting $ 34 all the wheels come out empty! Please don’t waste your time using this website!!!!” – sada789
• Piratewins.io – Not on FoxyRating
• EZDoubler.io – Not on FoxyRating
• Blocksmash.io – Not on FoxyRating
• Lootbull.com – Not on FoxyRating
• Lootbits.io – 1.9 out of 5.0, 32 opinions, most reading like the examples below.
  • “Total SCAM – but on many Sites see Links to Lootbits” – Neo1109
• Popspins.com – Not on FoxyRating
• Btcsmash.io – 1.9 out of 5.0, 14 opinions, most reading like the examples below.
  • “I’ve been using the site for more than six months now, but unfortunately upon reaching the threshold I haven’t receive any payment. No customer support around to assist. Be ware of this site.” – sweetestharvest

BeerMoneyForum

• Piratecash.io – Thread
  • “Things have definitely slowed down in terms of winning any cash at all- currently on $55. Will give it a couple more weeks and then call it a day if no improvement” – triptix
• Piratewins.io – Thread
  • “scam site bro” – kuzgun34
• EZDoubler.io – Thread
  • “Its not true…. im have more than $20. they keep changing their withdrawal amount… from $10 to $20, now it is $50with same reason of the high transaction fees. Anyway… I enjoyed playing their scam game” – TampusMoney
• Blocksmash.io – Thread
  • “LOL lost so much time smashing the blocks” – Voltagetherealone
• Lootbull.com – Thread
  • “Lootbull is a scam site I made a withdrawal never received my pay out but the site looks very tempting” – Slender1704
• Lootbits.io – Thread
  • “its getting harder and harder the win rates bcomes 0.0001%” – zeromansour
• Popspins.com – No thread available
• Btcsmash.io – Thread
  • “I think this site been present for a number of years already but I have not seen a dependable payout only negative reviews. I have used it then but I did not continue…” – simplyfred

Withdrawal Proofs

Despite all the reviews pointing to this being a scam, there are plenty of payment proofs for these sites.  Be careful, these are very likely a ploy to convince people these sites are legitimate.  At TapCrypto, we provide legitimate payment proofs for faucet sites that we have no controlling interest in.  Our only interest is to provide evidence of legitimacy prior to our users signing up.  So when fake reviews and payment proofs are in circulation, it gets pretty frustrating to us.  When looking at these sites, we discovered a site called paymentproof.club.  It is somewhat dated, no updates since October of 2021, but in looking at it its goal seemed pretty similar to that of TapCrypto’s.  Host payment proofs of different sites you can earn money on.  The main difference is that all payment proofs on TapCrypto are created by us, whereas on paymentproof.club they allow 3^rd party proofs to be displayed or copy payment proofs from other sources and forums.  This method can obviously lead to false information as it cannot possibly be verified by the owner(s) if they didn’t do the withdrawals themselves.

A few things really stuck out when scrolling through paymentproof.club is that a lot of the payment proofs on the site are actually for these 8 other sites. That was a huge red flag to us.  Being a bit nerdy, we decided to look through all payment proofs on the site.

• The site has 8 total pages, each consisting of 10 “proofs”, for a total of 80.
• The “proofs” range in date from 5/25/2019 (around when the site was created) to the latest posted on 10/12/2021.
• The very first post ever was for Popspins.com, one of the sites in question.
• 51 out of 80 total “proofs” are for these sites in question.  63.75% of the total, which is a pretty high amount.
• Looking at a more recent window of time, the first 4 pages, 82.50% (33 out of 40) are for these sites. 
• So for the most part this site is primarily posting proofs for the faucets in question.

This is highly suspect.  To us, it seems like the primary purpose of paymentproof.club may just be to perpetuate the myth that these sites are legitimate and to suck in users with no intention to pay.  Searching for one of these sites with the term “Payment Proof” typically leads to this site at or near the top of the search results or other questionable material.  Its also pretty hard to find proofs on other websites that are not also on paymentproof.club, indicating that paymentproof.club may just be the source of misinformation.  Its obviously only a theory, but it seems possible that paymentproof.club is associated or related to the faucets in question and may be part of the overall scam.

Whois/Registrar/NameServers

Its pretty difficult to truly prove sites are related/associated given most sites information is redacted for privacy, but using shared characteristics just adds to the narrative outlined above. Using Whois look ups, while an inexact science is a good start.  All these sites have some commonalities.

Registrar: Basically, what company manages and sells reservations for the domain name.  There are some common ones (NameCheap, GoDaddy, etc), so it’s not that shocking, but all the sites’ registrars are NameCheap, Inc.

Name Servers: Basically, what server organizes and routes traffic around the internet.  Name Servers hold records about which websites are located where, essentially the middleman that maps you to the right place by converting a domain name into an IP Address.  All these sites use the same Name Servers.

NameCheap uses a Privacy Service named Withheld for Privacy, which is based out of Iceland.  Therefore, you see the state/country listed as Capital Region, IS.  That isn’t the surprising thing, but they all use the same Cloudflare server. Cloudflare is a common service that many sites on the internet use, but again more commonalities between the sites.  Other sites we have talked about or use at TapCrypto also use NameCheap but are routed to different name servers. Such as the legitimate faucet, AdBTC.top, which uses both Cloudflare and NameCheap, but still is using a different name server.

The fact all these sites use the same Registrar (NameCheap) and use all the same Name Servers (Janet.ns and jobs.ns via Cloudflare) by themselves proves nothing.  This is more just another example of things in common they all share, it would cause a little more question of their relationship if they were in fact different, but they are all the same for these 9 sites.

Scam Update!

This article was originally published on 1/26/2022, and then re-published on Publish0x on 2/1/2022. These dates are not merely for reference, but add an interesting twist to this ongoing scam. Helidrops.io was registered on 2/7/2022, 6 days after our original post. If you haven’t familiarized yourself with the original post, please give it a quick read as many of the indicators of this scam will be discussed in brief.

PaymentProof.club

In our original post back in February 2022, we mentioned an odd occurrence with a site called PaymentProof.club and how it appears to be related to many of the scam faucet sites listed above. A quick and dirty analysis showed that of the “Proofs” they had posted, about 80%+ had been for these scam faucet sites. Additionally, it shared many of the same traits as the faucets themselves, such as Name Servers and domain providers, anecdotal but given the rest of the evidence, pretty damning. The interesting thing is that once we posted our article on Publish0x on February 1st, 2022 almost immediately a proof appeared on this site after being dormant for 4+ months. It would appear we may have a fellow reader 🙂

Helidrops.io

Flash forward, on May 5th, 2022 PaymentProof.club posted an image of a payment from a new site.

This new site, Helidrops.io has all the markings of the numerous scam sites discussed above. We will cover them quickly below.

Appearance

Quickly scroll up to see the original post regarding these site layouts. This new site is remarkably similar

Gameplay

Scroll up to see the original description of these sites game play and activities, you will see they are remarkably similar. On Helidrops you have coins, which serve as your energy component and you have crates/boxes that are dropped from a helicopter (hence “Helidrops”) that you open as its reward component. Each box costs you one coin to open, your activity component. You start the game with 50 coins and there is an hourly faucet that you can claim more coins from. In Helidrops they allow you to spend coins to modify your helicopter so that you can get bigger drops, however many require you to invite other users in order to unlock these “Mods”. This is all a ruse to get more users on the scam faucet. It rewards users rather quickly, I think I “earned” ~$2 using around 50 coins. This is a ploy however as you approach the withdraw limits the amount the site will pay will drop drastically. Its not uncommon to go many boxes opened without earning a cent, making it nearly impossible to ever reach the limit. It’s the carrot on a stick method.

Payouts

Scroll up to see the other sites payment details. Typically, these sites have extraordinarily high payout limits. This is because the sites “reward” users so much money at the start they want to make users believe they will be able to withdraw a decent amount. Which they very likely wont ever be able to. On Helidrops they appear to have listened to our post where we mentioned a tell tale sign of these scam faucets all being set up with withdraw limits of $100 USD. Now it’s as low as $5 USD, but those cryptocurrencies are out of stock. I will be checking to see if they ever get filled, all other options are $20, $50, or $100 USD.

Site Terms and Conditions

Scroll up to see the related sites TOS. Very similar terms, these may be industry standard, but these sites seem to use them as justification for non-payment more than others.

Reviews

Click here to see other related sites review warnings and red flags. Helidrops is pretty new, so the amount of reviews available are minimal.

TrustPilot

Only has 3 reviews right now, as its a relatively new/unknown site. Monitor this closely to see if complaints tickle in over time. I am willing to wager as this scam sucks in more users, there will be future negative reviews. TrustPilot

FoxyRatings

No FoxyRatings reviews just yet, monitor it over time to see what users have to say.

BeerMoneyForums

No BeerMoneyForums reviews just yet, check it out every once in a while and see if people have discussed it.

Payment Proofs

Currently seaching google for “Helidrops.io Payment Proof” returns essentially one, PaymentProof.Club. It also returns a bunch of random sites and youtube videos. This is a red flag for us given all we have discussed/covered about the previous sites and PaymentProof.Club’s relation, involvement, or complicity in the scam.

Domain Registration

Helidrop shares all the same characteristics with the other 9 sites. This is anecdotal of course, but just another piece of the story with this operator that can’t be ignored.

In brief, Helidrop appears to be just another in a long line of potential scam faucet sites from the same operator. Registered 6 days after our original post, and the related PaymentProof.club posted an update one day later, after being dormant for 4+ months. To us (and hopefully you) this should raise some alarm bells. It has all the hallmarks, similar site appearance, gameplay, payouts, proofs, and domain registration. Be wary of signing up, and keep diligent about future sites like this.

Other Sites

We highlighted 10 total sites here, but we have a feeling there could be more out there or the owners intend to spin up more just like it in the future.  We would love to find out if any of our readers/users know of other sites like this.  Please leave a comment or tweet us @tapcrypto1. We hope to continue add or identify more sites to this list/review should we identify more possible related scams.

Our goal from day one at TapCrypto has always been to provide our users with legitimate sites they can use to earn cryptocurrency online with no monetary investment.  We do that by providing write ups/reviews created by us and us only, we do not copy from other forums or sites.  Using our own personal experience on sites to communicate tips and tricks to you.  We provide payment proofs and update them regularly as possible. We are quick to provide updates via twitter @tapcrypto1, and are willing to admit when we are wrong.  A perfect example is when we received a payout from Ourbitco.in. We posted a review of Ourbitco.in and a proof only for that site to quickly turn into a scam that wouldn’t pay users.  We immediately updated our reviews and proofs to provide the Scam disclaimer and admit our mistakes, leaving them online so to protect other users potentially looking to sign up.  Taking responsibility is not something we shy away from. Integrity is our number one core value.  Our goal is expanding, not only to provide you legitimate faucet sites, but now to also inform you as a user of sites to steer clear of.  After all, everyone wants to earn cryptocurrency and avoid scams!