The Truth About Swapex: Legit or Scam? Our Review

Recently, Swapex.exchange site appeared, promoting itself as a place where you can safely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable proof that clearly reveals it is, in fact, a deceptive service.

Despite the promises of the most convenient, trustworthy, and client-friendly service, Swapex.exchange does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a dirty scam, which takes your money and data and never gives them back. Any tales about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Swapex Scam Overview

Originally, Swapex poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another bright marketing point for this service is partnerships with celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Vitalii Buterin, Jeff Bezos – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look real, rascals use deepfake videos where those celebrities advertise the fake crypto service as the best thing in the world. For known 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.

Swapex Scam

First and foremost, Swapex repeats the design of many similar online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Staxdex, Prizmacoin or Nosweu. They are completely identical in terms of visual elements, with slight discrepancies in the webpage header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Probably, all these deceptive online platforms are led by a single group of swindrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Swapex Scam Works?

Swapex is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use several 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 advanced psychological tricks that make the user believe in the authenticity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the deceptive scheme, criminals create and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign commences. Using bots and paid promotions (when possible), fraud actors boost the visibility of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using deepfake for creating videos with the aforementioned celebs that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Users get a stimulus to register, drawn by the promise of obtaining crypto benefits valued at hundreds of dollars, all free of charge. To enhance the appeal of the offer, fake suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the promos, targets end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Swapex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Swapex, “Start earning with Swapex – they look rather reliable. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that getting the pledged bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, unexperienced users happily keep on – especially as the reward appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to get away from the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal info, frauds will not be able to 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 mentioned, frauds bait folks into signing up to get bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this information 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 to use right away. To make it at least usable for crypto purchases, 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

Obviously, any cryptocurrency operations require you to have funds on your account. In the case of Swapex, users are also forced to top up to get the bonuses. And this is what creates most of the cash 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 engaging on this site hoping to use all the transferred funds and withdraw them.

This is where the issues start to surface. 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 capital from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that swindlers are naught on intentions to give your money back. But to make it look more legitimate, they’ve elaborated a whole bunch of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client guidelines say, but for the Swapex.exchange they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal data, 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 funds back. And each of these checks will uncover 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 Swapex.exchange. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Cryptocurrency-Only Transactions. Swapex.exchange insists on cryptocurrency payments exclusively, excluding conventional methods like bank transfers. This strategy ensures anonymity for the scam and eliminates any possibility of seeking refunds.
• Dubious Company Credentials. Swapex arouses suspicion by failing to provide critical information about ownership, location, and legal registration. The lack of valid contact details and the recent creation of domain and social media profiles cast doubt on its legitimacy.
• Baseless Hype Generation. Swapex resorts to fabricating non-existent achievements, such as contracts with Coinbase or endorsements from Elon Musk, to manipulate emotions and enhance the perception of potential returns, enticing victims to invest more.
• Fictitious Celebrity Association. Swapex employs a deceptive tactic by falsely associating itself with well-known figures like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. Additionally, the scam falsely claims partnerships with established entities like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask to bolster its false credibility.
• Potential Ponzi-Like Model. The scam operates on a pyramid-style referral system disseminated through social media, benefiting only initial participants and relying on later investments to sustain the illusion.
• Unrealistic Profit Promises. Promising improbable returns of 50-100-200%, Swapex capitalizes on the desire for high profits. However, the tumultuous nature of the cryptocurrency market renders such gains implausible, solidifying Swapex.exchange as a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Swapex 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 timeline of the scam, rascals may contact you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your cryptocurrency assets. As we already determined, these scammers have no plan of giving back your funds. So, what can these email messages and browser add-ons represent? Correct – that is another element of the fraudulent scheme designed to entice you into willingly installing malicious applications onto your computer.

Both plugins and files included to email messages can act as a shell for diverse malware. In this scenario, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among all forms of malicious programs. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always greater than zero. As stated, their ethics is of negligible importance, and their reputation is already neck deep in mud. They have nothing to lose and intend to boost revenues.

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