Investigating Trade-fy: Legit or Scam? The Truth Exposed

Recently, Trade-fy.com site surfaced, promoting itself as a platform where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible evidence that unmistakably reveals it is, actually, a deceptive site.

Despite the promises of the most easy, reliable, and client-friendly service, Trade-fy.com does not fulfill any of them. In fact, all this is just a shiny wrap around a clear scam, which takes your money and never gives them back. Any stories about gifts, sponsorship from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Trade-fy Scam Overview

Originally, Trade-fy poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this site is backing from 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 real, frauds use AI-generated videos with those celebs promote the fraud as if it was 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.

Trade-fy Scam

Initially, Trade-fy shares the design of multiple similar online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Sunfloweryx, Stolbit or Amondex. They are totally undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with slight discrepancies in the webpage header. Other particulars, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Most likely, all these deceptive sites are led by the same group of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Trade-fy Scam Works?

Trade-fy is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use numerous 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 complex 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 establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They mainly target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign starts. Utilizing bots and sponsored advertisements (when feasible), fraud actors intensify the presence of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, crooks 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, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

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

Users obtain an incentive to register, attracted by the assurance of receiving crypto rewards valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To increase the attractiveness of the offer, false suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these assertions are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the ads, victims end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Trade-fy”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Trade-fy, “Start earning with Trade-fy – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that retrieving the pledged bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware 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 information, frauds will not be able to earn even a penny from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is where the main fraud action begins. As I just said, scammers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Only 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 alleged bonus right away. To make it at least usable for crypto purchases, the user should top up the account with the sum of a bonus. At this point, the final stage of the scam begins.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any cryptocurrency purchases require having funds on your account. In the case of Trade-fy, users are also forced to top up to use the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates the majority of the cash flow to this fraudulent website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the committed gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start engaging on this site hoping to use all the credited capital and withdraw them.

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

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

There’s no need to explain that swindlers are naught on intentions to give your money back. But to make the fraud look more realistic, they’ve made up a whole pack of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Usually, they repeat what KYC requirements say, but for the Trade-fy.com they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal data, deceivers just stall hoping for you to understand that you’ve been scammed and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are a dozen other checks you should go through before getting your funds back. And every check will uncover more and more info of yours, 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 Trade-fy.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Unsubstantiated Credibility. Trade-fy 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%, Trade-fy exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Trade-fy as a scam.
• Dubious Corporate Information. Trade-fy 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. Trade-fy.com 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. Trade-fy 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 Trade-fy 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 fraud, scoundrels may get in touch with you with specific files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto savings. As we earlier determined, these rascals have no intent of restoring your money. So, what can these email messages and browser add-ons represent? Correct – this is another component of the scam designed to entice you into deliberately running malicious programs onto your device.

Both plugins and files included to emails can act as a carrier for diverse malicious code. In this case, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of malicious programs. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always above zero. As noted, their morality is of little concern, and their dignity is already seriously marred. They have no principles to give up and strive to boost revenues.

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