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

Recently, Fextap.com website surfaced, promoting itself as a platform where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible supporting information that clearly reveals it is, in fact, a fraudulent site.

Despite the promises of the most user-friendly, dependable, and client-friendly service, Fextap.com does not offer any of them. All this is just a gilded wrap around a dirty scam, which steals your money and never gives them back. Any stories about bonuses, endorsement from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Fextap Scam Overview

Originally, Fextap poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another notable marketing point for this service is partnerships with celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look real, con actors 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 choise for that. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a glaring wrap around an obvious scam.

Fextap Scam

First and foremost, Fextap shares the design of numerous equivalent websites. There are quite a few examples, like Fazlor, Coinah or Cryptobitbao. They are totally identical in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the webpage header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Most likely, all these deceptive sites are managed by a single gang of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Fextap Scam Works?

Fextap is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the identical overall layout. Another mutual 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 complex 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 begin the scam, criminals set up and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They mainly aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign commences. Using bots and sponsored advertisements (when feasible), scam actors boost the visibility of their deceptive activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not shy away using deepfake for creating clips with the aforementioned celebs that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

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

Users receive an incentive to enroll, attracted by the assurance of obtaining crypto rewards valued at hundreds of dollars, all for free. To augment the attractiveness of the offer, false suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these assertions are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the promos, targets end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Fextap”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Fextap, “Start earning with Fextap – they look rather reliable. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, crooks say that claiming the promoted bonus requires registration. And since nothing concerning happens at this point, unaware users happily proceed – especially since the reward appears to be right behind the corner.

This is the last stage when it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal information, crooks will not earn even a nickel from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is where the main fraud action begins. As I just mentioned, frauds bait folks into signing up for bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, swindlers can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, 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 step of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any crypto purchases require having capital on your account. In the case of Fextap, users are also forced to top up to get the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the cash 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 trading on this site hoping to use all the transferred funds and withdraw them.

This is where the victim notices the issues. When keeping an eye on the real crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can observe that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to retrieve the capital from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

There’s no need to explain that scoundrels have zero intentions to send you money. But to make it look more legitimate, they’ve developed a whole pack of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Usually, they repeat what KYC requirements say, but for the Fextap.com they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for your personal data, frauds just stall hoping for you to understand that you’ve been scammed and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are multiple other checks you should go through before getting your funds back. And each of these checks will share more and more information, 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 Fextap.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Absent company details. Fextap 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 Fextap 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 Fextap, 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 Fextap is a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Fextap 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.

• Secure Your Actions. Begin by promptly reporting the scam to appropriate local authorities tasked with handling financial fraud. Notify wallet providers and engage with social networks’ technical support teams. By taking these measures, you contribute to making the scammers’ operations significantly more difficult.
• Expand Awareness. Extend your efforts by sharing the scam information with your close friends. This action has a parallel effect to reporting to the authorities, as disseminating details about fraudulent crypto services reduces the potential victims they can deceive.
• Gather Evidence. Preserve comprehensive evidence by capturing screenshots and saving all pertinent data linked to the deceptive website. Collect the URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These materials could prove invaluable for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Explore Refund Possibilities. While cryptocurrency payments generally fall outside the scope of refund policies within most banks, it’s worth investigating the potential for a refund in specific circumstances. Maintain optimism until you definitively confirm the loss.
• Convert Mistake into Wisdom. Transform your financial setback into a valuable learning experience. Treat your loss as an investment in understanding the tactics of crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their key characteristics, how they lure individuals, and the grandiose promises they make. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be well-equipped to recognize and avoid falling into future traps without incurring further losses.

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 duration of the scam, rascals may contact you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may offer you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we previously figured out, these rascals have no plan of giving back your funds. So, what can these email messages and browser add-ons represent? You guessed – this is another component of the scam designed to entice you into willingly installing harmful applications onto your system.

Both plugins and files added to emails can serve as a shell for diverse malicious code. In this situation, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of malware. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always greater than zero. As stated, their conscience is of no concern, and their dignity is already seriously marred. They have no scruples to lose and intend to maximize profits.

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