We Investigated Sopecex: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Sopecex.com service popped up, promoting itself as a place to keep cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather reliable proof that clearly confirms it is, in fact, a deceptive site.

Despite the promises of the most user-friendly, trustworthy, and client-friendly service, Sopecex.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a blatant scam, which takes your money and data and never returns them. Any tales about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Sopecex Scam Overview

Originally, Sopecex poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this site is partnerships with celebrities that have relation to 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 more realistic, rascals employ deepfake videos where those celebrities promote the fake crypto service as if it was the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around an obvious scam.

Sopecex Scam

To begin with, Sopecex shares the design of numerous equivalent online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Seydog, Sponbix or Spacexpace. They are completely undistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the site header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Presumably, all these deceptive sites are managed by a single gang of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Sopecex Scam Works?

Sopecex is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals 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 validity 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 well-liked social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign begins. Employing bots and sponsored advertisements (when possible), fraud actors intensify the exposure of their deceptive activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using deepfake 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 registers the service immediately.

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

Users get a stimulus to enroll, enticed by the promise of obtaining cryptocurrency rewards valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To augment the appeal of the offer, false claims of sponsorship by a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the ads, targets end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Sopecex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Sopecex, “Start earning with Sopecex – they look rather credible. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, scammers say that obtaining the promised bonus requires registration. And since nothing concerning happens at this point, unexperienced users happily keep on – especially since the bonus appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to steer away from the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal info, frauds 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 said, frauds bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Exclusively 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 promised bonus right away. To make at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the equivalent sum. At this point, the final stage of the scam kicks in.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any cryptocurrency operations require you to have capital on your account. With Sopecex, users are also coerced to top up to claim the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the money flow to this scam 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 capital and withdraw them.

This is where the victim notices the issues. When keeping an eye on the actual crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can spot that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to retrieve the money 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 send you money. Though to make it look more realistic, they’ve elaborated a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what KYC regulations say, but for the Sopecex.com they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal info, scammers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss 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 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 Sopecex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• False Celebrity Sponsorship. Sopecex often resorts to fake endorsements from celebrities such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. This fraudulent tactic extends to claiming partnerships with reputable companies like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask, despite lacking any genuine affiliations.
• Cryptocurrency-Only Payments. Sopecex.com exclusively accepts payments in cryptocurrencies, rejecting traditional bank transfers and other methods. This approach not only masks the company’s identity but also eliminates the possibility of seeking refunds.
• Dubious Company Information. Sopecex raises suspicion by withholding essential ownership, location, and registration details. Furthermore, the absence of legitimate contact information and the recent establishment of domain and social media pages intensify skepticism.
• Unsubstantiated Hype. Sopecex.com employs groundless hype tactics, fabricating events like securing contracts with Coinbase or receiving endorsements from Elon Musk. These manipulative techniques aim to instill false confidence and encourage further investments.
• Potential Pyramid Scheme. The scam relies on a structure resembling a Ponzi scheme, leveraging a referral system spread through social media. However, only initial participants benefit, often at the expense of subsequent investors.
• Implausible Claims. Promising returns of 50-100-200%, Sopecex preys on the desire for quick profits. Yet, the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market makes such gains highly unlikely, definitively labeling Sopecex as a scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Sopecex 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 course of the scam, rascals may contact you with particular files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your crypto savings. As we earlier determined, these scammers have no intention of returning your money. So, what can these email messages and browser extensions represent? You guessed it right – that is another component of the scam designed to entice you into willingly installing malicious applications onto your computer.

Both add-ons and attachments attached to emails can serve as a carrier for various malicious code. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always significant. As previously mentioned, their morality is of little concern, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have nothing to lose and intend to boost gains.

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