We Looked at the Evidence: Is Bapool Legit or Scam?

Recently, Bapool.top site appeared, promoting itself as a place where you can safely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable evidence that clearly confirms it is, actually, a fraudulent platform.

Despite the promises of the most convenient, trustworthy, and client-friendly service, Bapool.top does not offer any of them. All this is just a golden wrap around a dirty scam, which steals your money and never returns them. Any stories about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are absent as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Bapool Scam Overview

Originally, Bapool poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with outstandingly low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this platform is partnerships with celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Vitalii Buterin, Jeff Bezos – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look real, frauds use AI-generated videos with those celebs advertise the fake crypto service as if it was the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around an obvious scam.

Bapool Scam

To begin with, Bapool copies the appearance of multiple equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Gtrsvt, Etchrg or Bapusdt. They are entirely undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the webpage header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Probably, all these scam websites are operated by a single group of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Bapool Scam Works?

Bapool is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the identical overall layout. Another common element are the ways the scams like NAME are promoted, and the manner all this ends up to the victim of the scam. To reach peak efficiency, frauds apply advanced psychological tricks that make the user believe in the authenticity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To initiate the scam, criminals establish and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign begins. Using bots and sponsored advertisements (when feasible), scam actors increase the visibility of their scam activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers do not disdain using generative AI for creating videos with the mentioned celebrities that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

Promotions of cryptoscams like Bapool in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users receive a stimulus to enroll, drawn by the commitment of obtaining crypto benefits valued at thousands of dollars, all free of charge. To augment the appeal of the offer, false suggestions of sponsorship by a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the promotions, users end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Bapool”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Bapool, “Start earning with Bapool – they look rather credible. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that unlocking the pledged bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, uninformed users happily move on – especially as the reward appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal information, frauds will not be able to earn even a penny from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is where the main fraud action begins. As I just said, deceivers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the alleged bonus right away. To make at least crypto purchases on the platform with it, you need to top up the account with the sum of a bonus. And this is what initiates the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any crypto purchases require you to have funds on your account. With Bapool, users are also forced to top up to use the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the money flow to this fraudulent website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the committed gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this website hoping to use all the credited funds and withdraw them.

This is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When comparing the actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the website says, you can notice that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out the money from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that swindlers have zero intentions to give your money back. Though to make the denial look more realistic, they’ve developed a whole bunch of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Usually, they repeat what KYC regulations say, but for the Bapool.top they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal information, deceivers just stall hoping for you to understand that you’ve been scammed and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are numerous other checks you should go through before getting your funds back. And each of these checks will reveal more and more info of yours, which – you guessed it right – will be then sold on the Darknet. Never reveal your real info to strangers!

Signs of Scam

I gathered several facts that point at the scammy nature of the Bapool.top. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Absent company details. Bapool does not provide any documentation about its ownership, location or registration. No legitimate contact details are given either. Moreover, it appears that the domain and all social network pages were registered quite recently.
• Fake sponsorship from a celebrity. Scams like Bapool like to pick a celebrity as a sponsor of this entire campaign. For obvious reasons, fraudsters generally choose Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, Mark Zuckerberg, and similar celebrities. They do not disdain claiming partnership with a company as well. Even though Coinbase, Binance or MetaMask never heard of Bapool, they do not care – this creates a halo of credibility.
• Potential Ponzi Scheme. The scam relies on a Ponzi-like referral system to spread reach through social media. In fact, only the first members will receive the payoff, at the cost of the money brought by other members.
• Hype without facts. Frauds can cheer up their victims from time to time, using claims about non-existent events. “We got contracts with Coinbase”, “Elon Musk mentioned us as the most prolific crypto project” – you could likely hear something like that. This is made to make people believe in their money return. This can be the sauce to make people top-up their accounts once again.
• Crypto-only incoming payments. Whether the user tries to top-up the account, hackers will only accept payments in crypto – no bank transfers or other payment methods. Such an approach completely hides the identity of the company and deprives you of the ability to ask for a refund.
• Claims are too good to be true. Let’s be sane and sober: even in crypto space, there are not many places where you can earn 50-100-200%. Being able to participate in all of them is nearly impossible, as well as it is impossible to insure or hedge all the risks. Even by that reason alone I can tell that the Bapool is a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Bapool site and fell victim to that scam, there are still some steps to take. They will make further scam attempts harder, and also boost the knowledge about that scam among folks.

• Immediate Reporting. Your initial step should involve promptly notifying local authorities specializing in financial fraud. Extend your reach by reaching out to wallet providers and engaging with social networks’ technical support teams. These actions serve to raise the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Share among Friends. Amplify your efforts by informing your close friends about the scam. Similar to informing authorities, this dissemination of information restricts the scammers’ potential victim pool.
• Preserve Crucial Information. Compile a comprehensive evidence archive by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. Collect the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These records could provide vital clues for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Exploring Refund Options. While most banks’ refund policies may exclude cryptocurrency payments, it’s advisable to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain hope until you obtain confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Knowledge. Turn your financial setback into an opportunity for growth. View your loss as an investment in understanding the strategies employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their telltale characteristics, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant promises they make. Equipped with this insight, you’ll be well-prepared to spot and evade future traps without suffering additional financial setbacks.

Scan your system for possible malware infections

Beware of cross scams! Scam actors can use your trust to make you download some stuff or interact with certain documents. It may be a trap that installs malware to your system. There are no moral barriers or limits for these scoundrels.

Throughout the timeline of the fraud, fraudsters may contact you with specific files. Alternatively, they may offer you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we earlier figured out, these deceivers have no intent of restoring your funds. So, what do these emails and browser plugins represent? Correct – this is another element of the fraudulent scheme designed to entice you into willingly installing destructive programs onto your system.

Both add-ons and attachments attached to emails can act as a carrier for different malicious software. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other kinds of malicious programs. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always significant. As stated, their morality is of little concern, and their dignity is already seriously marred. They have no scruples to lose and aim to boost revenues.

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