Investigating Stellarswap: Legit or Scam? The Truth Exposed

Recently, Stellarswap.online service appeared, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather reliable evidence that clearly confirms it is, actually, a fraudulent platform.

Despite the promises of the most easy, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Stellarswap.online does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a shiny wrap around a clear scam, which steals your money and never gives them back. Any stories about gifts, endorsement from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Stellarswap Scam Overview

Originally, Stellarswap poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another notable marketing point for this service is partnerships with celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Vitalii Buterin, Jeff Bezos – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look more realistic, frauds employ deepfake videos where those celebrities promote the fraud 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 vivid wrap around a transparent scam.

Stellarswap Scam

To begin with, Stellarswap shares the design of many similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Xonade, Aurayawallet or Acrochainex. They are totally undistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the site header. Other details, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Probably, all these scam online platforms are managed by the same group of swindrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Stellarswap Scam Works?

Stellarswap is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the similar 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 initiate the deceptive scheme, criminals set up and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign starts. Employing bots and paid advertisements (when possible), scam actors increase the presence of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not shy away using deepfake for creating videos 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 enrolls the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the promotions, targets end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Stellarswap”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Stellarswap, “Start earning with Stellarswap – they look rather authoritative. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that getting the promised bonus requires registration. And as nothing questionable happens at this point, uninformed users happily proceed – 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 sign up using your personal info, frauds will not 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 mentioned, frauds bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the promised bonus is not available for withdrawal right away. To make at least crypto purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the equivalent sum. And this is what initiates the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

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

This, however, is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When keeping an eye on the real 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 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 fraudsters have zero intentions to return your money. But to make it look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole pack of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Most of them repeat what KYC regulations say, but for the Stellarswap.online they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal data, frauds just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are numerous other checks you should go through before getting your money back. And each of these checks will share more and more info of yours, 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 Stellarswap.online. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Unsubstantiated Credibility. Stellarswap 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%, Stellarswap exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Stellarswap as a scam.
• Dubious Corporate Information. Stellarswap 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. Stellarswap.online 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. Stellarswap 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 Stellarswap 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 timeline of the fraud, its masters may contact you with particular files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto funds. As we earlier determined, these rascals have no plan of returning your money. So, what can these emails and browser add-ons represent? You guessed – that is another side of the fraudulent scheme designed to entice you into deliberately running malicious software onto your computer.

Both plugins and files included to emails can act as a carrier for diverse malware. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all forms of malware. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always greater than zero. As noted, their conscience is of no concern, and their dignity is already deeply compromised. They have nothing to lose and intend to maximize gains.

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