We Investigated Rsbond: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Rsbond.org site surfaced, promoting itself as a place where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that unmistakably reveals it is, actually, a deceptive site.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, trustworthy, and client-friendly service, Rsbond.org does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a shiny wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and data and never returns them. Any tales about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Rsbond Scam Overview

Originally, Rsbond poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted selling 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, frauds use AI-generated videos with those celebs advertise the scam as if it was the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a glaring wrap around a transparent scam.

First and foremost, Rsbond repeats the layout of numerous equivalent online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Pulsesbit, Premiertradeoptions or Hive88. They are entirely indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the website header. Other details, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Most likely, all these deceptive websites are led by the same gang of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Rsbond Scam Works?

Rsbond is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Swindlers 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 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 fraud, criminals establish and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign starts. Employing bots and paid promotions (when achievable), scam actors increase the exposure of their deceptive activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers do not disdain using generative AI for creating clips with the aforementioned celebrities that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the promotions, victims end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Rsbond”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Rsbond, “Start earning with Rsbond – they look rather authoritative. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that claiming the pledged bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware users happily move on – especially as 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 register using your personal data, frauds 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 into signing up to get bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Exclusively 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, you cannot use the claimed bonus right away. To make it at least usable for cryptocurrency purchases, you need to top up the account with the equivalent sum. At this point, the final stage of the scam kicks in.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any cryptocurrency operations require you to have capital on your account. With Rsbond, users are also compelled to top up to use the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the cash flow to this scam website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start trading on this site hoping to use all the deposited funds and withdraw them.

This is where the issues start to surface. When keeping an eye on the actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the website says, you can spot that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to withdraw the money from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

There’s no need to explain that fraudsters have 0 intentions to send you money. But to make it look more legitimate, they’ve elaborated a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what KYC requirements say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal information, deceivers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are multiple other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your grand back. And every check will reveal more and more information, which – you guessed it right – will be then marketed 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 Rsbond.org. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Rsbond 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 to Authorities. Your initial action should involve reporting the scam to local authorities responsible for addressing financial fraud. Additionally, reach out to wallet providers and engage with the technical support teams of social networks. This collective effort raises the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Inform Your Inner Circle. Extend your impact by sharing information about the scam with your close friends. Similar to notifying authorities, this dissemination of details curbs the scammers’ potential to deceive.
• Document the Trail. Assemble a comprehensive record by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. This encompasses the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These materials offer invaluable leads for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Explore Refund Possibilities. While cryptocurrency payments may not typically align with traditional bank refund policies, it’s worthwhile to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain a positive outlook until you secure confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Insight. Shift your focus from the financial loss to gaining wisdom. Consider your loss as an investment in comprehending the tactics employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their distinctive traits, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant pledges they make. This knowledge equips you to recognize and avoid future traps, minimizing the risk of enduring further 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 course of the scam, its actors may contact you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto savings. As we previously determined, these rascals have no intention of restoring your funds. So, what can these emails and browser plugins represent? You guessed it right – that is another side of the scam designed to throw you into deliberately installing destructive software onto your computer.

Both plugins and files added to emails can serve as a carrier for diverse malware. In this situation, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among all kinds of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always significant. As noted, their morality is of no concern, and their reputation is already severely tarnished. They have no scruples to give up and intend to boost gains.

Frequently asked questions