We Investigated Racpel: Legit or Scam? The Facts

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

Despite the promises of the most user-friendly, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Racpel.com does not offer any of them. All this is just a golden wrap around a blatant scam, which takes your money and data and never gives them back. Any stories about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Racpel Scam Overview

Originally, Racpel poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another bright marketing point for this site is backing from celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look real, con actors employ deepfake videos where those celebrities promote the fraud 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.

Racpel Scam

To begin with, Racpel copies the design of multiple similar online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Vepdex, Xelenax or Tradestar. They are entirely indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with slight discrepancies in the website header. Other particulars, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Most likely, all these fraudulent online platforms are operated by the same team of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Racpel Scam Works?

Racpel is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the same 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 sophisticated psychological tricks that make the user believe in the validity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the scam, criminals establish and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign starts. Utilizing bots and paid ads (when feasible), fraud actors increase the visibility of their deceptive activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not shy away using deepfake for creating clips with the mentioned celebs that advertise 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 Racpel in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users get an encouragement to enroll, drawn by the assurance of getting cryptocurrency benefits valued at hundreds of dollars, all free of charge. To augment the appeal of the offer, false suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the ads, users end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Racpel”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Racpel, “Start earning with Racpel – they look rather credible. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that getting the promised bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, unexperienced users happily move on – especially as 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 register using your personal information, crooks will not earn even a nickel from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is the starting poing of the main fraud action. As I just said, frauds bait folks into signing up for bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the promised bonus is not available for withdrawal right away. To make it at least usable for crypto purchases, you need to top up the account with the sum of a bonus. At this point, the final stage of the scam begins.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any cryptocurrency operations require having capital on your account. With Racpel, users are also forced to top up to get the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates the majority of the cash flow to this fraudulent website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the promised gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start trading on this site hoping to use all the transferred funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the victim notices the issues. When comparing the real crypto wallet vs what the site says, you can spot that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out the funds from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that fraudsters are naught on intentions to give your money back. But to make the denial look more legitimate, they’ve developed a whole bunch of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client regulations say, but for the Racpel.com they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for your personal info, 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 should go through before getting your grand back. And each of these checks will share more and more info of yours, which – you guessed it right – will be then traded 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 Racpel.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Racpel 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, its masters may get in touch with you with specific files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we earlier figured out, these deceivers have no intent of giving back your money. So, what do these emails and browser extensions represent? You guessed it right – this is another element of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into deliberately running destructive software onto your device.

Both add-ons and attachments included to email messages can serve as a shell for diverse malicious software. In this case, I foresee 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 existent. As stated, their ethics is of no concern, and their reputation is already severely tarnished. They have no scruples to lose and intend to maximize gains.

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