The Upfaber Scam – What You Need To Know

Recently, Upfaber.com site appeared, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather reliable evidence that clearly indicates it is, actually, a scam service.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, dependable, and client-friendly service, Upfaber.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a clear scam, which takes your money and never returns them. Any tales about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

Upfaber Scam Overview

Originally, Upfaber poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with exceptionally low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this site is partnerships with celebrities that have relation to 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 deepfake videos with those celebs promote the fraud as the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a glaring wrap around a transparent scam.

Upfaber Scam

Initially, Upfaber copies the layout of multiple equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Muskzex, Tosdex or Nesoxy. They are entirely identical in terms of visual elements, with slight discrepancies in the webpage header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Most likely, all these fraudulent websites are operated by a single team of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Upfaber Scam Works?

Upfaber is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use several 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 legitimacy of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the scam, criminals create and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They generally focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign begins. Using bots and paid promotions (when achievable), fraud actors increase the visibility of their deceptive activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not disdain using generative AI for creating clips with the mentioned celebrities 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 Upfaber in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the ads, victims end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Upfaber”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Upfaber, “Start earning with Upfaber – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, crooks say that unlocking the pledged bonus requires registration. And as nothing concerning happens at this point, uninformed users happily keep on – especially as the gift appears to be right behind the corner.

This is the last stage when it is possible to get away from the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal information, 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 for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the promised bonus right away. To make it at least usable for cryptocurrency purchases, you need to 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 operations require you to have capital on your account. In the case of Upfaber, 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 site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the promised gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this website hoping to use all the transferred money and withdraw them.

This is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When comparing the real crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can spot 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

There’s no need to explain that scoundrels have no intentions to return your money. Though to make the denial look more realistic, they’ve developed a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what KYC guidelines say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By asking for your personal info, deceivers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are a dozen other checks you should go through before getting your grand back. And every check will share more and more info of yours, which – you guessed it right – will be then sold 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 Upfaber.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Cryptocurrency-Only Transactions. Upfaber.com 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. Upfaber 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. Upfaber 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. Upfaber 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%, Upfaber capitalizes on the desire for high profits. However, the tumultuous nature of the cryptocurrency market renders such gains implausible, solidifying Upfaber.com as a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Upfaber 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 scam, its masters may reach out to you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto assets. As we earlier determined, these scammers have no intent of returning your funds. So, what can these emails and browser plugins represent? Correct – that is another element of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into willingly installing harmful software onto your device.

Both add-ons and attachments attached to emails can serve as a shell for diverse malicious software. In this scenario, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among all forms of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always existent. As stated, their conscience is of little concern, and their reputation is already neck deep in mud. They have no principles to give up and strive to boost revenues.

Frequently asked questions