Fraud prevention

FAQ

Online fraud is globally on the rise and some criminals use cryptocurrency platforms like Safello to move their funds to pseudonymity. Safello works tirelessly to prevent fraudsters from succeeding and is assisting authorities to catch these criminals. Once completed, orders are non-refundable as per the nature of cryptocurrency transactions. As such, we believe that every fraud that succeeds is one too many.

Can I trust Safello?

Yes. Safello is a Financial Institution registered with the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. We closely collaborate with local and international law enforcement authorities to prevent crimes from taking place and assist in their investigations. In no way Safello has any affiliation with the perpetrators of fraud and we strongly condemn their actions. To learn more about Safello and our history visit our about page.

What is Safello doing to prevent fraud?

Most of our preventive measures happen behind the scenes. We do not disclose these measures as that would help fraudsters bypass our systems and we are also bound by regulations that prohibit their disclosure. What we can disclose is that Safello, as a regulated Financial Institution, follows the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing Directive and that we do identity checks before purchases can be completed. Additionally, we send SMS and in-app warnings to alert users ahead of finalising their transaction. When in doubt, do not proceed with your transaction and send us email .

A salesperson (representing company X) told me they have a partnership with Safello / are working for Safello. Can I believe them?

There are companies that claim to be collaborating with Safello or communicate that they are Safello’s business partners. In some cases, even private individuals claim to be Safello’s co-workers acting in this capacity. Always contact us here to verify personal data of an individual who claims any of the above mentioned before approving any transaction.

Is Safello working with the authorities?

Yes. Safello is a regulated Financial Institution. As such we both file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) to the police and we receive and respond to law enforcement requests (LERs). We are principally against fraudulent behavior and tend to go above and beyond to stop criminals from succeeding.

If Safello did not exist I would not have been defrauded?

Unfortunately, this is not true. Fraudsters have many venues to execute their cryptocurrency trades. In fact, if fraudsters use Safello, there is a much higher chance that we notice and may be able to prevent the attempted fraud from happening in the first place. Safello has sophisticated analytics tools to track funds. In some cases Safello is able to tie these funds to the identity of the fraudsters and help law enforcement authorities in their investigations.

I just got scammed, what should I do?

1. First and foremost, reach out to us immediately to see if we can still stop the transaction. Be sure to mention the details of the transaction and any information you can provide us with. If we have not sent out the cryptocurrency yet we can return the funds to you.
2. Make sure to file a police report. Simply call the police in your country, file an online police report or visit your local police station. It is important that you always report the fraudster and the fraud case to the police. Even if your funds are lost, it will help the police to prevent future fraud from taking place. Unreported fraud also skews the statistics, which means that law enforcement may receive fewer funds to help prevent fraud.
3. If you contact the Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket i Sverige) to inform them about your fraud case, please note the following wording on the possibility of a refund according to Chapter 3 Section 7 of the Act (2005: 59) on distance contracts and agreements outside business premises the Agency states on their website: “If the price or value of the financial service or financial instrument is due to fluctuations in the financial market which the company cannot influence, no right of withdrawal applies.” We therefore recommend you to file a police report. You may find more information here.

Do you have any tips to spot a fraud?

There are a couple of tips to keep in mind that may help you in the future:

1. Always carefully read who you are sending money to. If it’s a company, make sure the person is truly associated with the company by contacting the entity directly.
2. Be skeptical. Does it seem too good to be true? It probably is. Furthermore, Safello does not offer payment services and only you can be the recipient of the cryptocurrency.
3. Do not trust a transaction that sends you to a third party website or service.
4. To check if you can detect a phishing attempt you can take this test designed by Google.

Known fraud cases

To prevent known fraud methods from occurring again, we list them here. We aim to keep this list current. If you have been the victim of a fraud that is not listed here, please contact us by email so we can add it to the list.

You are being offered support in trading, recovering money or investment support by a third-party company or an individual

First reported

2018-06-14

Fraud description

This fraud involves someone (an individual stating to be a representative of a company or an individual claiming to be an investment consultant or advisor) that is offering you support in trading and/or placing an order using Safello’s platform as a part of the investment opportunity. This person might offer you help to set up a wallet and might control your computer to show how a wallet is created and how a transaction at Safello will be processed. The person might offer you support in recovering money that you might have lost before (if you were scammed in the past). Then he/she might claim that in order to proceed you should pay the service fee in advance which might be paid in cryptocurrency as your first cryptocurrency purchase order.

The fraudster might ask you not to reveal this information to Safello as we do not allow any third-party support in trading. By approving our Terms of Service (point 2) you confirm that you as customer warrant that you are the beneficial owner of funds, customer account and cryptocurrency wallet address.This means that you can only sell and purchase cryptocurrency using your own personal funds, customer account/cryptocurrency wallet address and you warrant to not conduct any transactions on behalf of someone else.

In the next steps of this fraud, after placing buy orders at Safello, the fraudster is controlling your funds and usually stops responding to you. That happens if the Wallet address registered on your account is not controlled by you but by the third-party.

At Safello we do not allow any third-parties to support customers in placing/initiating orders and we do not allow any support with trading. However, in the case of social engineering, we notice cases of fraud attempts. Each case is reviewed and we follow internal compliance procedures and take appropriate security measures to educate the customer and to stop similar fraud attempts.

How to prevent this kind of fraud from happening

In order to place an order at Safello you do not need any third-party support. All the basic information about how to place a buy Bitcoin order is available on our site https://safello.com/bitcoin/buy/. If you have any additional questions you may always contact our Support.

Never allow any third-party companies (individuals) to take control of your computer or take control of your funds. Always report any suspicious activities to law enforcement authorities.

You are offered an apartment to rent

First reported

2018-12-18

Fraud description

This fraud involves an advertisement on Facebook offering you an apartment to rent. The fraudster will ask you questions to find out which bank you use and to approve a credit check with mobile bank ID. This approval provides access to your bank account as a fraudster probably has already prefilled your personal number in the online banking page.

How to prevent this kind of fraud from happening:

1. Never approve a transaction with your Mobile Bank ID by request from a person who posted the apartment ad.
2. You have the possibility of downloading your own credit check if you use the service of the Swedish company UC-koncernen. For more information click here.
3. Always contact the company to verify personal data of an individual who claims to be the owner/employee of before approving any transaction.

You are buying a product on Instagram

First reported

2019-01-14

Fraud description

This fraud involves someone offering a product on different Instagram pages. Typically, the products offered are too good to be true as far as the price is concerned. Sometimes you may hear them outright state that they are selling stolen products. Never buy those as even in these cases it is just a way for scammers to get your money and never deliver anything.

Safello always generates a warning text message to the phone number registered with Swish.

How to prevent this kind of fraud from happening: Never buy products in which the seller only receives cryptocurrency as a payment method and promises to deliver products after the payment process is completed.

You are buying/selling a product on Facebook Marketplace & via Messenger

First reported

2019-05-24

Fraud description

This fraud involves someone interested in purchasing your item on Facebook Marketplace. After deciding on a price, the fraudster claims that he/she is having problems with making a swish payment to you and asks you to increase your swish limit. The mobile bank ID request is sent by the fraudster as he/she has already assumed which bank you use and is trying to log in to your bank account.

In the next steps the fraudster might do some transactions using his/her access to your online banking or asks you for refunds to his/her company or a refund using Safello’s services as he/she might claim to work at the company.

Safello always generates a warning text message to the phone number registered with Swish.

How to prevent this kind of fraud from happening You do not need to increase your Swish limit in order to receive payments Always contact the company to verify personal data of an individual who claims to be the owner/employee of before approving any transaction

You are buying/selling a product on Blocket

First reported

2019-06-09

Fraud description

This fraud involves someone interested in purchasing your item on Blocket. After deciding on a price, the fraudster claims that he is having problems with making a swish payment to you and asks you to increase your swish limit. The mobile bank ID request is sent by the fraudster as he already made an assumption which bank you use and is trying to log in to your bank account. In the next steps the fraudster might do some transactions using his/her access to your online banking or asks you for refunds to his/her company or a refund using Safello’s services as he/she might claim to work at the company.

Safello always generates a warning text message to the phone number registered with Swish.

How to prevent this kind of fraud from happening

You do not need to increase your Swish limit in order to receive payments Always contact the company to verify personal data of an individual who claims to be the owner/employee of before approving any transaction

Still have questions?