We Looked at the Evidence: Is Xanade Legit or Scam?

Recently, Xanade.com site popped up, promoting itself as a platform where you can safely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable evidence that clearly indicates it is, actually, a scam platform.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, reliable, and customer-centric service, Xanade.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a clear scam, which steals your money and data and never returns them. Any tales about gifts, sponsorship from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

Xanade Scam Overview

Originally, Xanade poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another bright marketing point for this service is partnerships with celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look more realistic, con actors use deepfake videos with those celebs advertise the fake crypto service 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 blatant wrap around an obvious scam.

Xanade Scam

To begin with, Xanade copies the design of multiple equivalent websites. There are quite a few examples, like Fetorex, Coinwhack or Neroway. They are entirely indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the website header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Presumably, all these fraudulent sites are managed by a single gang of swindrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Xanade Scam Works?

Xanade is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use numerous website designs, which still share the similar overall layout. Another shared 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 start the scam, criminals set up and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign commences. Employing bots and sponsored promotions (when possible), fraud actors increase the visibility of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not shy away using generative AI for creating videos with the mentioned celebrities that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who enrolls the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the ads, targets end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Xanade”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Xanade, “Start earning with Xanade – they look rather authoritative. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that unlocking the promised bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware users happily keep on – especially since the reward 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 register using your personal data, 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 mentioned, deceivers bait folks into registration for bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Exclusively 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, the claimed bonus is not available to use 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 crypto operations require having capital on your account. In the case of Xanade, users are also compelled to top up to use the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates the majority of the cash 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 trading on this website hoping to use all the transferred capital and withdraw them.

This is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When keeping an eye on the real cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site says, you can notice that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out the money 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 send you money. But to make it look more legitimate, they’ve made up a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client requirements say, but for the Xanade.com they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for 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 should go through before getting your funds back. And each of these checks will uncover 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 Xanade.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Xanade 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 scam, rascals may get in touch with you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may offer you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto funds. As we previously determined, these scammers have no intent of returning your capital. So, what can these emails and browser extensions represent? Correct – this is another component of the fraudulent scheme designed to entice you into willingly running harmful software onto your system.

Both plugins and files attached to emails can function as a shell for various malicious software. In this situation, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among all forms of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always above zero. As stated, their conscience is of no concern, and their dignity is already neck deep in mud. They have nothing to give up and intend to boost revenues.

Frequently asked questions