Recently, Trilogy.icu service popped up, promoting itself as a platform to keep cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that unmistakably confirms it is, actually, a deceptive site.
Regardless of the promises of the most user-friendly, dependable, and customer-centric service, Trilogy.icu does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a clear scam, which takes your money and never gives them back. Any stories about gifts, endorsement from celebrities etc are absent as well.
Trilogy Scam Overview
Originally, Trilogy poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this platform 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 says about being supported by them. To make these claims look real, con actors employ AI-generated videos where those celebrities advertise the fraud as if it was the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a glaring wrap around a transparent scam.
Trilogy Scam
To begin with, Trilogy copies the layout of multiple equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Swapx, Surf or Mytonly. They are entirely indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the website header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Most likely, all these fraudulent websites are operated by the same gang of swindrels.
Cryptocurrency Scam Summary
| Website | Trilogy.icu |
| Hosting | AS13335 Cloudflare, Inc. United States, San Francisco |
| IP Address | 104.21.51.174 |
| Threat Type | Scam/Fraud |
| Scam Type | Fraudulent offers of cryptocurrency services |
How the Trilogy Scam Works?
Trilogy is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the identical overall layout. Another mutual 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 sophisticated 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 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 sponsored ads (when achievable), fraud actors increase the presence of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not disdain using deepfake for creating videos with the aforementioned celebs that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.
Promotions of cryptoscams like Trilogy in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes
Step 2: Gaining Traffic
After clicking the promos, victims end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Trilogy”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Trilogy, “Start earning with Trilogy – they look rather credible. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that unlocking the promised bonus requires registration. And since nothing concerning happens at this point, unexperienced users happily proceed – especially since the bonus 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, swindrels will not be able to 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, deceivers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters 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 at least crypto purchases on the platform with it, you need to 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 crypto purchases require having funds on your account. With Trilogy, users are also forced to top up to claim the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the money flow to this scam site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the committed gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start engaging on this website hoping to use all the transferred money and withdraw them.
This is where the first obvious 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 pull out the funds from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.
Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal
Needless to say that fraudsters have no intentions to send you money. Though to make it look more realistic, they’ve made up a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client guidelines say, but for the Trilogy.icu they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.
By requesting your personal information, 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 money back. And every check will uncover 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 Trilogy.icu. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.
- Cryptocurrency-Only Transactions. Trilogy.icu 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. Trilogy 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. Trilogy 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. Trilogy 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%, Trilogy capitalizes on the desire for high profits. However, the tumultuous nature of the cryptocurrency market renders such gains implausible, solidifying Trilogy.icu as a definite scam.
What Should I do as a Victim?
If you had to deal with Trilogy 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 duration of the fraud, fraudsters may reach out to you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may propose you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your cryptocurrency savings. As we previously figured out, these deceivers have no intention of giving back your capital. So, what do these emails and browser add-ons represent? Correct – that is another element of the scam designed to entice you into willingly running malicious applications onto your computer.
Both plugins and attachments attached to emails can serve as a shell for various malware. In this scenario, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always above zero. As noted, their conscience is of little concern, and their dignity is already neck deep in mud. They have no scruples to lose and aim to boost profits.
