We have received a complaint regarding fraudulent activity associated with the website elfezone.shop.

Kim Soo Yeon approached the victim through an online platform. They engaged in romantic conversations, leading to a sense of trust. Kim Soo Yeon then introduced the idea of an investment opportunity through the website elfezone.shop. The scammer instructed the victim to transfer $3,600 USD in Ethereum to an ERC20 address, promising significant returns on the investment.

After the transfer, attempts to withdraw the funds were blocked by fabricated reasons, such as “pending orders,” mimicking typical investment platforms but with no intention of returning the money. Despite multiple attempts to contact the scammer and resolve the issue, the victim could not recover the funds.

If you have been scammed by the same individual or through the same website, please share your story in the comments.

Domain Analysis

Elfezone.shop, a domain registered on May 6, 2024, under GNAME.COM PTE. LTD. has been identified as a potentially fraudulent website. The domain’s registration details reveal it is managed from Shaanxi, China, with name servers hosted by a.share-dns.com and b.share-dns.net. Despite appearing legitimate, the domain status of clientTransferProhibited and its brief existence signal potential red flags for unsuspecting users.

The website is hosted by Amazon Technologies Inc. in Singapore, using IP address 13.251.130.242. This information highlights the global reach and sophisticated infrastructure often employed by fraudulent websites to obscure their true locations and evade law enforcement. The domain’s recent registration and minimal digital footprint—evidenced by the lack of significant organic search traffic, keywords, and backlinks—suggest it was specifically created for short-term activities.

The WHOIS database details and hosting information further corroborate the suspicious nature of Elfezone.shop. The registrar, GNAME.COM PTE. LTD. has been linked to several other suspicious domains, indicating a pattern of misuse. The domain’s DNS configuration and its use of Amazon’s EC2 service demonstrate how scammers exploit reputable hosting providers to lend credibility to their operations.

Additionally, the lack of comprehensive SEO and organic search data, as SEMrush reported, underscores these websites’ deceptive strategy. They rely on direct engagement through social engineering tactics rather than traditional search engine visibility. This approach minimizes their digital footprint, making it harder for potential victims to find negative information about the domain through casual searches.

Elfezone.shop Review

Elfezone.shop is a recently established e-commerce platform claiming to offer various products, including men’s and women’s clothing, food and beverage items, digital products, home appliances, and more. The website promotes a mobile app download, emphasizing its applicability to Android systems, with a QR code for easy installation. The site presents itself as a comprehensive online shopping mall with a global reach, boasting partnerships with major entities such as Alibaba and maintaining smart warehouses in Toronto, Los Angeles, and Chiba.

The platform claims to be headquartered in Madrid, Spain, and highlights its integration with various cryptocurrency payment methods, including USDT, ETH, and BTC, promoting instant, low-cost transactions. The website features multiple product categories and showcases popular items with competitive prices, such as men’s digital watches, sports gear, cosmetics, and consumer electronics.

Red Flags

1. Recent Domain Registration: Elfezone.shop was registered on May 6, 2024, making it a very new domain. Scammers often use recently registered domains to conduct short-term fraudulent activities before disappearing.
2. Suspicious Hosting and Registration Details: The website is hosted by Amazon Technologies Inc. in Singapore, but the registrar is GNAME.COM PTE. LTD., and the domain’s registration state of Shaanxi, China, indicate a pattern often seen in scam operations. Additionally, the registrar has been linked to other suspicious domains.
3. Cryptocurrency Payments: Emphasizing cryptocurrency transactions (USDT, ETH, BTC) is a common tactic among scammers due to the difficulty in tracing and reversing such payments, making it easier for them to abscond with funds.
4. Lack of Contact Information: Despite the claims of global operations and multiple warehouse locations, no verifiable contact information, such as a direct email, phone number, or physical address, is provided for customer support or company headquarters.
5. Inconsistent and Vague Company Information: The site claims to be associated with Alibaba and to have a global presence, yet there is no verifiable information to back these claims. The vague references to large-scale operations without concrete details are typical of fraudulent sites.
6. QR Code for App Download: Encouraging users to download an app via a QR code is a red flag, as it could lead to malware installation or further phishing attempts. Legitimate e-commerce platforms typically direct users to official app stores for downloads.
7. No Social Media Presence: There are no links to social media accounts or customer reviews, which are critical for establishing trust and transparency. Reputable businesses usually have a visible social media presence to interact with customers and provide updates.

The Bottom Line Regarding Elfezone.shop

Given the combination of these red flags, Elfezone.shop exhibits several characteristics commonly associated with scam websites.

Sharing experiences and reporting suspicious activities to relevant authorities can help prevent others from falling victim to such schemes.