We Investigated Xelontrade: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Xelontrade.com site appeared, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather reliable evidence that unmistakably reveals it is, actually, a fraudulent service.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, dependable, and client-friendly service, Xelontrade.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a blatant scam, which takes your money and data and never returns them. Any stories about gifts, sponsorship from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Xelontrade Scam Overview

Originally, Xelontrade poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with outstandingly low commission fees. Another highlighted selling point for this service is partnerships with celebrities that are known as crypto activists. 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 AI-generated videos with those celebs advertise the fake crypto service as if it was the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a vivid wrap around a transparent scam.

Xelontrade Scam

To begin with, Xelontrade shares the design of many similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Walletxcoin, Verginox or Verexcoin. They are completely undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with slight discrepancies in the website header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Probably, all these fraudulent websites are operated by the same team of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Xelontrade Scam Works?

Xelontrade 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 similar 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 authenticity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the deceptive scheme, criminals create and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They mainly target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign begins. Employing bots and sponsored ads (when feasible), scam actors increase the presence of their deceptive activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not shy away using deepfake for creating videos with the mentioned celebs that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

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

Users obtain an incentive to sign up, drawn by the promise of obtaining crypto rewards valued at hundreds of dollars, all free of charge. To augment the attractiveness of the offer, false claims of sponsorship by a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these assertions are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the ads, users end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Xelontrade”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Xelontrade, “Start earning with Xelontrade – they look rather reliable. 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, unexperienced users happily keep on – especially as the gift appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal information, swindrels will not 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 – username, email, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, swindlers 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 at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the equivalent sum. At this point, the final stage of the scam begins.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any crypto purchases require having capital on your account. In the case of Xelontrade, users are also coerced 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 site hoping to use all the transferred capital and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the issues start to surface. When keeping an eye on the actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site 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 swindlers have no intentions to send you money. But to make the fraud look more legitimate, they’ve made up a whole bunch of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client requirements say, but in this case they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal info, 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 would desperately need to undergo before getting your funds back. And every check will uncover more and more information, 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 Xelontrade.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Xelontrade 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, scoundrels may get in touch with you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto savings. As we earlier determined, these scammers have no intention of restoring your capital. So, what do these emails and browser plugins represent? You guessed – that is another component of the fraudulent scheme designed to throw you into willingly running destructive software onto your system.

Both add-ons and files added to emails can act as a carrier for various malicious software. In this case, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of malware. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always greater than zero. As stated, their conscience is of no concern, and their dignity is already seriously marred. They have no scruples to lose and aim to boost gains.

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