Fake Bitrefill Gift Card Sites Steal Crypto Through Search Results

Scammers are using search results to direct people looking for Bitrefill or its gift cards to counterfeit websites that imitate the legitimate company’s branding and checkout. Malwarebytes said it found a cluster of lookalike domains, while Bitrefill has publicly acknowledged similar sites and said its security team is working with takedown specialists. The fake checkouts ask users for an email address, offer Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC, USDT, Solana and Litecoin payments, and can also appear to support cards.

Customers then receive a QR code, a cryptocurrency address and a countdown of just under an hour. Payments go directly to addresses controlled by the scammers, who provide no gift card or other service; recovery is extremely unlikely because cryptocurrency transactions generally cannot be reversed or charged back.

The sites use misspellings, added words such as “pay” or “gift”, and internationalised domains whose displayed characters can closely resemble “Bitrefill”. Malwarebytes said the pages also contain commercial analytics software and appear to tag visitors arriving from search engines, suggesting the operation is being measured and optimised rather than assembled as a one-off scam. Some checkouts accept payments of up to $1,990.

Users should reach Bitrefill through a saved bookmark or by entering `bitrefill.com` directly, and confirm that exact domain before approving any payment or wallet request. Anyone who has already sent funds should promptly report the destination address to their exchange or wallet provider, notify Bitrefill and contact their national fraud-reporting service, while avoiding recovery services demanding an upfront fee.