Investigating Lafme: Legit or Scam? The Truth Revealed

Recently, Lafme.com site surfaced, promoting itself as a place where you can securely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable proof that clearly indicates it is, actually, a fraudulent site.

Regardless of the promises of the most user-friendly, reliable, and client-friendly service, Lafme.com does not fulfill any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and never gives them back. Any stories about bonuses, endorsement from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Lafme Scam Overview

Originally, Lafme poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another notable selling point for this site is partnerships with celebrities that are known in the crypto world. Vitalii Buterin (Ethereum creator), Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look real, frauds employ AI-generated videos with those celebs advertise the fake crypto service as if it was the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a glaring wrap around an obvious scam.

Lafme Scam

First and foremost, Lafme shares the appearance of multiple equivalent websites. There are quite a few examples, like Trustvex, Luxerybit or Venasy. They are entirely undistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the website header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Presumably, all these scam websites are led by a single team of swindrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Lafme Scam Works?

Lafme is a part of a large 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 shared 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 sophisticated psychological tricks that make the user believe in the legitimacy of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the scam, criminals establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They generally focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign starts. Employing bots and paid ads (when achievable), fraud actors boost the visibility of their deceptive activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers do not disdain using deepfake for creating videos with the aforementioned celebrities that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

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

Users get a stimulus to register, enticed by the assurance of obtaining crypto rewards valued at thousands of dollars, all without cost. To enhance the appeal of the offer, fake claims of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the promotions, targets end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Lafme”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Lafme, “Start earning with Lafme – they look rather reliable. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, scammers say that obtaining the pledged bonus requires registration. And since nothing questionable happens at this point, unaware users happily proceed – especially since the bonus appears to be right behind the corner.

This is the last stage when it is possible to steer away from the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal data, crooks will not be able to earn even a penny from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is the starting poing of the main fraud action. As I just said, deceivers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks 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. At this point, the final stage of the scam kicks in.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any cryptocurrency operations require having money on your account. With Lafme, users are also coerced to top up to get the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates the majority of the cash flow to this fraudulent site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the committed gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start engaging on this site hoping to use all the transferred capital and withdraw them.

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

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

There’s no need to explain that swindlers are naught on intentions to give your money back. But to make the denial look more legitimate, they’ve elaborated a whole bunch of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Usually, they repeat what KYC requirements say, but in this case they are here only 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 numerous other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your money back. And each of these checks will reveal 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 Lafme.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Unsubstantiated Credibility. Lafme employs fraudulent celebrity endorsements, often featuring names like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. These false claims extend to fictitious partnerships with reputable entities like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask, despite the absence of genuine connections.
• Implausible Earnings Claims. Promising remarkable returns of 50-100-200%, Lafme exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Lafme as a scam.
• Dubious Corporate Information. Lafme arouses suspicion by providing inadequate documentation about ownership, location, and registration. Furthermore, the lack of legitimate contact information and the recent registration of domain and social media profiles deepen skepticism.
• Exclusive Cryptocurrency Payments. Lafme.com solely accepts payments in cryptocurrencies, refraining from traditional bank transfers and other payment methods. This approach not only shrouds the company’s identity but also prevents the possibility of requesting refunds.
• Potential Pyramid Scheme. The scam relies on a Ponzi-like referral structure disseminated through social media. Nevertheless, only initial participants profit, often at the expense of funds brought in by subsequent members.
• Groundless Hype Tactics. Lafme utilizes fabricated claims about non-existent events, such as securing contracts with Coinbase or receiving endorsements from Elon Musk. This manipulative strategy aims to foster belief in money returns and encourages individuals to top up their accounts again.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Lafme 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.

• Report the scam to authorities. Search for local authorities responsible for financial frauds, and also notify wallet providers and social networks via their tech support. It is essential to make the further operations of these scammers much harder.
• Tell your close friends. That step is similar to reporting to the authorities, and has similar effects. By posting info about scam crypto service, you decrease the pool of people they can fool.
• Get evidence. Screenshot or save all the information related to the website. URL, screenshot of a main page, login window, EULA, account top-up menu, wallet addresses – all these things may be useful for authorities to find the scammers.
• Check whether you can ask for a refund. As I’ve said above, crypto payments do not fall under refund policies in most banks. Nonetheless, in some circumstances, it is still possible. Never lose hope until you actually confirm it is gone.
• Make your mistake your lesson. Financial losses are always a reason for frustration, but let’s imagine it was a pay for scam revealing courses. Remember the key features of these crypto scam sites, the way they attract people and what they promise. In the future, you will easily recognize a trap of spending no money.

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 propose you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your crypto funds. As we earlier figured out, these scoundrels have no plan of returning your funds. So, what can these email messages and browser add-ons represent? Correct – this is another component of the scam designed to throw you into deliberately running destructive applications onto your computer.

Both plugins and attachments added to emails can function as a shell for different malware. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always above zero. As previously mentioned, their ethics is of no concern, and their dignity is already neck deep in mud. They have nothing to give up and aim to maximize gains.

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