Xelocoin Reviewed: Real Deal or Total Ripoff? Read This First

Recently, Xelocoin.com service popped up, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather credible evidence that unmistakably reveals it is, in fact, a deceptive site.

Despite the promises of the most user-friendly, dependable, and client-friendly service, Xelocoin.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a shiny wrap around a dirty scam, which takes your money and data and never returns them. Any tales about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Xelocoin Scam Overview

Originally, Xelocoin poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this site 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, rascals employ deepfake videos with those celebs promote the scam 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 a transparent scam.

Xelocoin Scam

Initially, Xelocoin copies the design of multiple equivalent online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Bitonexer, Bitdawgs or Bitgres. 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 the same. Most likely, all these fraudulent online platforms are led by a single team of scammers.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Xelocoin Scam Works?

Xelocoin is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use several 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 advanced 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 start the deceptive scheme, criminals set up and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They mainly focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign starts. Using bots and paid promotions (when feasible), scam actors increase the presence of their deceptive activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not shy away using deepfake 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 registers the service immediately.

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

Users obtain an encouragement to register, attracted by the promise of getting cryptocurrency rewards valued at thousands of dollars, all without cost. To increase the attractiveness of the offer, false suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the promotions, victims end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Xelocoin”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Xelocoin, “Start earning with Xelocoin – they look rather authoritative. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that obtaining the promoted bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, uninformed users happily move on – especially since the gift 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 info, crooks 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, 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. Exclusively by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

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

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any cryptocurrency purchases require having capital on your account. With Xelocoin, users are also forced to top up to claim the bonuses. And this is what creates most of the money flow to this scam 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 credited capital and withdraw them.

This is where the victim notices the issues. When keeping an eye on the actual crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can observe 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 fraudsters are naught on intentions to give your money back. But to make it look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what KYC regulations say, but in this case they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

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

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Xelocoin 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.

• Immediate Reporting. Your initial step should involve promptly notifying local authorities specializing in financial fraud. Extend your reach by reaching out to wallet providers and engaging with social networks’ technical support teams. These actions serve to raise the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Share among Friends. Amplify your efforts by informing your close friends about the scam. Similar to informing authorities, this dissemination of information restricts the scammers’ potential victim pool.
• Preserve Crucial Information. Compile a comprehensive evidence archive by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. Collect the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These records could provide vital clues for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Exploring Refund Options. While most banks’ refund policies may exclude cryptocurrency payments, it’s advisable to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain hope until you obtain confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Knowledge. Turn your financial setback into an opportunity for growth. View your loss as an investment in understanding the strategies employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their telltale characteristics, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant promises they make. Equipped with this insight, you’ll be well-prepared to spot and evade future traps without suffering additional 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 timeline of the fraud, scoundrels may get in touch with you with specific files. Alternatively, they may propose you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto savings. As we previously figured out, these scammers have no intention of giving back your money. So, what can these messages and browser extensions represent? You guessed it right – this is another component of the fraudulent scheme designed to entice you into deliberately installing malicious programs onto your device.

Both add-ons and attachments included to emails can act as a carrier for different malicious software. In this situation, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among all kinds of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always greater than zero. As noted, their ethics is of negligible importance, and their reputation is already neck deep in mud. They have no principles to lose and strive to boost gains.

Frequently asked questions