We Investigated Teslabyt: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Teslabyt.com website surfaced, promoting itself as a place to keep cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather reliable evidence that unmistakably confirms it is, actually, a scam platform.

Regardless of the promises of the most user-friendly, dependable, and customer-centric service, Teslabyt.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and never gives them back. Any stories about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Teslabyt Scam Overview

Originally, Teslabyt poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this platform is partnerships with celebrities that are known in 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, frauds use AI-generated videos where those celebrities promote the fraud as the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a vivid wrap around an obvious scam.

Teslabyt Scam

First and foremost, Teslabyt shares the appearance of numerous equivalent websites. There are quite a few examples, like Tenelax, Sxmwvp or Qzsuwo. They are totally undistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the website header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Presumably, all these scam sites are managed by the same gang of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Teslabyt Scam Works?

Teslabyt is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use several 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 complex 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 initiate the scam, criminals set up and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They primarily aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign begins. Employing bots and sponsored ads (when feasible), fraud actors increase the visibility of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not disdain using generative AI for creating videos with the mentioned celebrities that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Users obtain a stimulus to enroll, drawn by the assurance of obtaining cryptocurrency prizes valued at hundreds of dollars, all without cost. To enhance the attractiveness of the offer, false suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these assertions are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the promos, victims end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Teslabyt”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Teslabyt, “Start earning with Teslabyt – they look rather reliable. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, crooks say that obtaining the pledged bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware 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 sign up using your personal data, frauds will not be able to 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 mentioned, deceivers bait folks into signing up for bonuses. And all the personal data 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, swindlers can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the alleged bonus right away. To make it at least usable for cryptocurrency purchases, you need to top up the account with the equivalent sum. And this is what initiates the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any cryptocurrency purchases require you to have money on your account. In the case of Teslabyt, 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 pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this site hoping to use all the transferred money and withdraw them.

This is where the problems start to surface. When comparing the real crypto wallet vs what the site says, you can notice that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to retrieve the funds from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that scoundrels have 0 intentions to send you money. Though to make the denial look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what KYC guidelines say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By asking for your personal data, scammers 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 funds back. And every check will share 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 Teslabyt.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Teslabyt 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 fraud, its actors may contact you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may propose you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we previously figured out, these rascals have no plan of returning your funds. So, what can these email messages and browser plugins represent? You guessed it right – that is another component of the fraudulent scheme designed to throw you into willingly running destructive applications onto your device.

Both plugins and files attached to email messages can act as a carrier for various malicious software. In this case, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all forms of malicious programs. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always above zero. As stated, their morality is of little concern, and their dignity is already deeply compromised. They have no scruples to give up and intend to boost profits.

Frequently asked questions