mercatox.org Giveaway scam

[Saisher]

Classic pay us to get lots of money scam.

Got this messages on discord
 
MEE6 ᵇᵒᵗToday at 5:31 PM
:tada::tada: Congratulations! :tada::tada:
You won 0.25 BTC in the Giveaway by Mercatox.org
Detailed Info and Conditions about Giveaway:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5171212

Your Promo Code: XXXXXXXX

How to use the promo code and get your winnings?
1) Register on the site: https://mercatox.org/
2) Go to the Account section and activate your Promo Code.
3) Exchange your BTC for any currency or withdraw to your BTC address.

:bangbang: Attention! :bangbang:
- Don't give this Promo Code to anyone. If someone uses it for you, we will not be able to return your winnings to you.
- Promo Code is valid 7 days from the date of issue.


So I signed up to Mercatox and loaded the promo code.

When i tried to withdraw it shows this.

Withdraw
Unfortunately, Mr. BBBBB.BBBBB your funds: 0.25 - BTC. are frozen until you make activated deposit. You will have to fund your account with some crypto to perform any transactions on the external decentralized network. You should to deposit at least 0.02 BTC to activate your account.

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If you're an active trader on Mercatox, you'll know that they are using a cloud flare and they do not direct to .org domain. awareness is very important if you are not sure about the site coming from the link it's better to use Google, the legit domain will always show up in the first page.

[carlfebz2]

EDIT: I just double-checked the account that sent me the pm on Discord, and it turns out it's not even a real bot, just a regular user account pretending to be a bot (again, this scammer is just trying to add more credibility to his fake offer by pretending to be a bot that "randomly" sends you a prize). Stay away from this scammer if you use Discord: Giveaway Bot#3099

Its good that you do able to scoop it out.Sometimes our self awareness and investigative mind do save us from scams.

If you're an active trader on Mercatox, you'll know that they are using a cloud flare and they do not direct to .org domain. awareness is very important if you are not sure about the site coming from the link it's better to use Google, the legit domain will always show up in the first page.

Not all the times because phishing links or sites can possibly on the top search.So you should still be wary.

[Mike Mayor]

I doubt that is their official email. It sounds so weird. They would have to be extremely desperate for that. I love how you have to put a certain amount in to "activate" your account. It wouldn't matter how much you put in it would "active" with even cents since a transaction is the same as any other except for the amount.

I used their exchange and they didn't add my funds when I deposited. They also only emailed me once to help and I never heard of them again.