On April 6, 2023, a Denver, Colorado, USA person has filed a complaint with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) about a cryptocurrency scammer who has been using the email address Jack.frost5280@yahoo.com and the website Swapter.io.
They claim to have been scammed out of 0.2 BTC (approximately $5,000) by Swapter, an exchange platform. They sent the cryptocurrency to Swapter to exchange for Monero, but the exchange does not support Monero.
Swapter asked for the writer’s ID and the source of the funds after receiving the BTC, but the ID check failed. The writer claims that they have previously verified their ID with other services, and Swapter is using this as an excuse to keep the BTC.
The writer has tried to contact Swapter but has not received any response. They have also sent a web receipt from the Cash App used to purchase the BTC, but Swapter has not responded. The writer passed the verification procedure on 03/24/23 and has informed Swapter but has not received a response.
Here’s the full complaint:
They scammed me out of 0.2 BTC, which is about $5,000. On 02/19/23, I sent them 0.2 BTC, which comes out to $5,000 now. I bought BTC on Cash App and transferred it to my Ledger Nano. However, Ledger doesn’t support Monero, and I was trying to invest in Monero, so I sent my coin to Swapter to exchange it.
I first sent $50 to make sure the transaction went smoothly, and it did, going through with no problem. So then I sent the rest of my coin, which was 0.2 BTC, which at the time was about $4880, pretty much all of my savings. These scammers never once asked me for an ID or anything before taking all my coin.
Now that they have my coin, they’re asking me to validate my ID and where the funds came from. So, I sent them a picture of my Ledger Nano account with the transaction details so they could verify the coin was mine. When I tried to verify my ID, the check failed. I use my ID for everything. Cash App had to verify my ID to purchase the BTC. I’m a driver for Lyft, and Lyft verified my ID no problem to drive with them. So there’s no reason my ID should have failed, other than these scammers wanting to steal my money.
So now that they already took my money, I’m failing everything I apparently have to do to get it back, which seems like a really great excuse to steal my coin. If I needed to pass all these verifications, I should have done it before they stole $5,000 from me.
Now they’re not answering any emails or anything from me, and I can’t get in touch with them at all, and it’s been a week. If it gets reversed, I will update this review. Until then, I will just revise it, adding more details to validate it. The Transaction ID is: 1d2f5bf6ab54d82187b918a349355076d7bb4c2c3de81b5eb385c0752bf3efdd.
So because your system says my ID is not valid, you get to steal the BTC? I even sent support a copy of my web receipt from Cash App from when I purchased the BTC, and support isn’t even answering my emails anymore! Trust Pilot verified my identity for this review! It seems kind of fishy that Swapter fails my identity verification for a reason to steal my BTC. DO NOT USE SWAPTER!!!!!
UPDATE 03/21/23: I sent support.swapper.io a web receipt from the Cash App I used to purchase the BTC as proof I purchased it legally, and they stopped responding to my emails and everything. I haven’t received a reply from support.swapter.io since February 26th. Even after I sent the web receipt, there was no response. I asked for a new link to verify my ID, but there was no response. How can they say all emails were answered? That’s a flat-out lie!
I had to email the company that does their verifications to try and do it since they weren’t responding. They basically just stole $5,000 from me. I passed the verification procedure on 03/24/23. I emailed their support letting them know and have received no response.
So is Swapter.io a SCAM?
Swapter.io Review
The domain Swapter.io was registered on June 10, 2022 for one year through Key-Systems GmbH. It is protected by Cloudflare and by whoisproxy.com.
SimilarWeb.com ranks them at 20,249,840 globally and 1,019,313 in Brazil. In March 2023, they received less than 5,000 visits.
With a 0% Semrush Authority Score, they have just 22 backlinks from 5 referring domains – tawk.help, host.io, trocador.app, darknet2web.info, and onion.nz.
Get in touch with our affiliated Cryptocurrency Forensic Specialists at CNC Intelligence for free by filling out the form below.
Many of the links seem to target the referral program offered by Swapter.
According to swapter.io, Swapter is a service that focuses on the cryptocurrency industry and allows users to carry out operations related to digital finance without requiring registration. It offers various features such as exchange, sell/buy, bridge, DEX, fixed, and float.
Swapter works by allowing users to select an exchange pair, enter the wallet address they want to receive funds into, and send the deposit to the address generated by Swapter.
The exchange process is complete once the funds are received at the specified address.
Users can contact Swapter if they have any issues or questions.
Contact methods include:
Email –
- marketing@swapter.io
- partnership@swapter.io
- support@swapter.io – provided as a means to contact Swapter’s customer support team 24/7 for any problems or questions related to the exchange service
They also offer a contact form and live chat widget.
Who is behind Swapter?
According to their About us page, Swapter is a cryptocurrency exchange service that operates 24/7 with a focus on privacy, security, simplicity, and efficiency.
Users do not need to create an account or provide personal information to use the service.
The system is fully automated, allowing for quick exchanges with no limits on maximum amounts.
Swapter does not share user data with third parties, and all exchanges occur almost instantly, even for low-liquidity pairs.
The company’s team consists of experienced professionals in the cryptocurrency industry who are committed to continuous improvement.
No information is provided about the company’s name, registered address, and people behind it.
They provide links to
- Telegram (Swapter News; 3 subscribers)
- LinkedIn (broken)
- Twitter (@swapter_io; joined June 2022 with 2 followers and 0 tweets)
- Instagram (swapterclub; 1 follower and no posts yet)
- and Facebook (Swapter; a public group from June 12, 2022 created by Swapter Io)
Swapter Reviews
On TrustPilot, we find a similar complaint from the same person who we cited in the introduction of this article. Swapter actually responds to him, explaining that according to their terms and conditions, passing KYC verification is required when the system triggers risk coins.
The user did not pass the verification with a valid document, so their funds were not refunded. Swapter stated that they always try to help their customers and requested the user to send an email and go through KYC check to resolve the issue.
What about trocador.app and orangefren.com, Swapter “partners?”
Trocador.app
Trocador.app is a Tucows Domains Inc website registered on May 20, 2022 for 2 years by 1337 Services LLC from Charlestown, KN. It is hosted by IncogNET LLC.
According to SimilarWeb.com, Trocador.app is an exchange aggregator that allows users to swap coins anonymously and securely, including popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Monero.
It operates over Tor and without JavaScript to avoid fingerprinting. The website has a global rank of 5,289,008 and a country rank of 1,882,906 in the United States, with a total of fewer than 5K visits in March, 2023.
It has a 9% Semrush Authority Score with 2.9K backlinks from 275 referring domains.
Trocador is an exchange aggregator that enables users to trade cryptocurrencies anonymously, fast, safely, and easily.
The platform provides two swap modes, namely Standard and Payment.
Users can trade Bitcoin for Monero or other coins with no account creation and no personal information required.
Trocador finds the best rates and redirects orders to reliable instant exchanges.
The platform does not have access to users’ funds or interfere in their transactions.
Trocador does not require KYC and does not store users’ transaction details.
It is built for privacy and accessible through TOR.
Orangefren.com
Orangefren.com is a CloudFlare, Inc. website registered on January 8, 2022 for 2 years.
According to SimilarWeb.com, Orangefren is a website that checks instant, KYC-free exchanges and takes users to the one with the best offer for trading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, USDC, and USDT.
It also allows users to request price alerts for all currency pairs, sending the best offers to their inbox. The website has a global rank of 16,380,551 (82,631 in Latvia) and has received fewer than 5,000 visits in March, 2023.
It has a 3% Semrush Authority Score with 1.8K backlinks from 135 referring domains.
Orangefren.com appears to be a website that provides various guides and tools related to cryptocurrency trading.
The site allows users to exchange various cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, and others.
It also provides guides on how to buy and trade cryptocurrencies without going through Know Your Customer (KYC) verification.
Additionally, the site offers information on how to get Bitcoin when under 18 years old, as well as how to make Bitcoin transactions untraceable using Monero.
Overall, Orangefren.com seems to be a resource for those interested in cryptocurrency trading and looking for ways to maximize their profits.
Bottom Line
In summary, a person from Denver, Colorado has filed a complaint with the BBB about a cryptocurrency scam perpetrated by Swapter.io.
The writer sent 0.2 BTC, worth about $5,000, to Swapter for exchange to Monero. Swapter requested their ID and the source of the funds after receiving the BTC, but the ID check failed. The writer has not received any response from Swapter after several attempts to contact them, including sending a web receipt from the Cash App used to purchase the BTC.
The writer has accused Swapter of stealing their money.
The article also provides a review of Swapter.io, revealing that the site has few visitors and backlinks and seems to focus on its referral program.
The lack of verification requirements for using the platform may make it an attractive target for scammers.
The incident highlights the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrency and the importance of due diligence and caution when using online platforms.
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