Risks of the Exodus Exchange function ("CoinSwitch Scam")

[1miau]

Just leaving this here because I heard many Newbies are using Exodus and its included exchange function because it’s easy to use (but expensive).
Recently, some negative experiences happened and were reported on Reddit. I don’t know if that just happened to a few users and if it’s not much of an issue, but in general Newbies should be aware of this when they are using the exchange function of Exodus.

Users should know that Exodus is not an Exchange itself, but only a desktop wallet with an integrated Exchange function. The exchange of cryptocurrencies is therefore carried out by an independent third-party provider used by Exodus. Exodus is forwarding the cryptocurrencies to be exchanged by these external services. Until the end of 2018 Exodus had a partnership with ShapeShift, which operates from Switzerland and Denver. But when they were forced by the SEC to introduced KYC, Exodus was in need to look for another business partner.
This function is now performed by 5 different providers, including Changelly and CoinSwitch etc.. However, reports have appeared recently that users are losing their coins when they are using the Exchange feature.


During the last few months, some users have complained, especially on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ExodusWallet/comments/e6rydc/beware_exodus_exchange_scam_ripped_75_via/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/ei0h8m/coinswitch_exodus_scammed_6500_euro_coinswitch/
https://www.reddit.com/r/ExodusWallet/comments/egphm2/exodus_coinswitch_are_a_huge_scam/


And here is a short summary how they got scammed:

Some users had used the Exchange function in Exodus and the coins were sent, but the exchanged coins didn’t come back as promised. After contacting Exodus support, the users were told to contact the third-party provider "CoinSwitch" which was used to exchange the coins.

The affected users did that but CoinSwitch not only refused to swap coins, but also refused to send the funds back (unexchanged) including a compensation for transaction costs. CoinSwitch insisted on the exchange and demanded a full KYC, otherwise all funds would remain blocked:


Source

Another user had frozen 6500$ and sent the requested documents for KYC.
After CoinSwitch had received every requested document, the user still didn’t get his coins back, but was asked to send an identity video. He did that too, but it was still not enough and CoinSwitch demanded that he prove the origin of the funds.
But even after he did that, they didn't send the coins back, only when the user put pressure on CoinSwitch and made a post on Reddit while also Exodus sided with the scammed user, the coins were returned….

=> It looks like CoinSwitch deliberately misleads users and intends to steal their coins via KYC scam.


Finally, it remains to be said that these cases are not the majority and may only be random exceptions. However, not only large amounts were affected, but even low amounts.
I’m not blaming Exodus, CoinSwitch is responsible, a third-party instant exchange provider, which acts dubiously by freezing coins. But after all, users lost their coins completely.

My question here: did you use Exodus for exchanging coins after 2018 and it was fine?




Translations:

Language	translated by	Title
___________________________	_____________________	_______________________________________________________________________
Nigeria (Naija)	Egii Nna	D RISKS WEY DEY EXODUS EXCHANGE FUNCTIONS ( HOW COINSWITCH SCAM PEOPLE )
Arabic	Nalain420	مخاطر وظيفة Exodus Exchange ("عملية احتيال CoinSwitch")
Pakistan	snowpega	ایکسوڈس ایکسچینج فنکشن کے خطرات ("کوائن سو

Reserving new translations is currently not available.

[1714655888]

1714655888

[1714655888]

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[jademaxsuy]

Well, you have postdes this thread for good intentions and let newbies know about this situation where when using exodus those newbies may lose their coins if the third party who handle the coins is coinswitch. Not that I completely blame exodus but they are partly at fault since they use a third party. Even the link you privide blame the exodus for it.

[D-Day_68]

While the situation outlined in your post is terrible and definitely not the experience that Exodus users deserve, it is a rare occurrence. Thousands of people use the Exodus exchange feature everyday without issue - you've presented two. It is extremely rare that exchanges are ever held and only happens when an exchange is flagged if it is suspected of being connected to a blacklisted address.

While we were extremely unhappy with how this situation all went down, it did teach us quite a few things about how to go forward. While we can never repay someone for the troubles they've endured, this customer was fully repaid by Exodus plus extra for their trouble. We even named the new internal company policy after this customer as a reminder to us.

Just a final word of warning about reposting things like this...
While it may be getting reposted with good intentions, the full circumstances behind an incident may not be fully explained in the original post, the story is usually only told from one person's perspective or it may not be true at all.

Thanks for allowing me to comment on this rare but ugly incident.

[JeromeTash]

My question here: did you use Exodus for exchanging coins after 2018 and it was fine?

I have never used any wallet to exchange my coins. I regularly use exodus but only for keeping my coins and sending them out. I don't understand why someone would exchange coins through the wallet instead of sending them to an exchange like binance, kucoin or instant exchange like coinplaza.it or Exolix.com where the rates are so friendly compared to the wallet exchange services.

[Velkro]

=> It looks like CoinSwitch deliberately misleads users and intends to steal their coins via KYC scam.

Sounds like a scam and keep in mind that mentioned user did so much to get his BTC back.
But... you cant know that if it was like 3-4 extreme problematic cases in legitimate business that serves tens of thousands users?
Then jumping to conclusions based on 0.01% of users makes false accusations in the end.

[hd49728]

I have never used any wallet to exchange my coins. I regularly use exodus but only for keeping my coins and sending them out. I don't understand why someone would exchange coins through the wallet instead of sending them to an exchange like binance, kucoin or instant exchange like coinplaza.it or Exolix.com where the rates are so friendly compared to the wallet exchange services.

Storing coins on exchanges is always the worst method. Making deposits and finish trades before withdrawing your capital as soon as possible. Big exchanges are secured, and safe but they surely can be hacked. If you store your capital on one exchange during the period it is hacked, that's terrible. No one knows how severity the hack is and how it affects that exchange. Unfortunately, in worst case, you will lose your money. Don't put your capital on hands of the others even they are big exchanges.

I have never used Exodus but thanks 1miau for point this out. It reminds me about the risks of capital storage on exchanges.

[JHORN]

I don't think that coinswitch is scam because it's integrated into coinomi wallet as well and 2 days ago I used coinswitch to swap 3000$ worth of Ethereum to Bitcoin, received my coins completely with no problem

[1miau]

While we were extremely unhappy with how this situation all went down, it did teach us quite a few things about how to go forward. While we can never repay someone for the troubles they've endured, this customer was fully repaid by Exodus plus extra for their trouble. We even named the new internal company policy after this customer as a reminder to us.

I'm not blaming Exodus here but their third party service. Maybe it could be an idea for Exodus to arrange a fund to pay for such mistakes (like "SAFU" from Binance) and if they have more incidents they should sort out such flawed third party providers. Obviously only CoinSwitch is causing problems.

=> It looks like CoinSwitch deliberately misleads users and intends to steal their coins via KYC scam.

Sounds like a scam and keep in mind that mentioned user did so much to get his BTC back.
But... you cant know that if it was like 3-4 extreme problematic cases in legitimate business that serves tens of thousands users?
Then jumping to conclusions based on 0.01% of users makes false accusations in the end.

I've never said that people shouldn't use Exodus exchange function, my intention was to point out that there have been *a few* users experiencing issues and explaining how that happened. Having these obviously rare cases everyone can decide on his own if it's worth using it.
I've also used it and never had any problems but who knows how many people had problems and didn't report it.

My question here: did you use Exodus for exchanging coins after 2018 and it was fine?

I have never used any wallet to exchange my coins. I regularly use exodus but only for keeping my coins and sending them out. I don't understand why someone would exchange coins through the wallet instead of sending them to an exchange like binance, kucoin or instant exchange like coinplaza.it or Exolix.com where the rates are so friendly compared to the wallet exchange services.

Most likely because it's very easy to use. Exchanging on Exodus requires only a few clicks while in opposite sending coins to an exchange account might be more work including creating the exchange account (even if exchanges like Binance are much cheaper).

[Egii Nna]

~~snip~~

Hello, @1miau, if you don’t mind I will like to translate this topic to my local board (Naija local board) pidgin, thanks.

[1miau]

~~snip~~

Hello, @1miau, if you don’t mind I will like to translate this topic to my local board (Naija local board) pidgin, thanks.

Hello  

Sorry for the delay, due to abuse, we had to review new applications.
If you still want to do a translation, you can proceed now and reply here again, when you are ready.



Translations:

Language	translated by	Title
___________________________	_________________________	_______________________________________________________________________
Nigeria (Naija)	Egii Nna	reserved

Please make sure to provide a quality translation, of course.


Please not that reserving NEW translations is not available currently.


Topic is still very valid as new cases from Exodus swaps have shown, like here:
Someone tried to swap 4,500 USD and his funds are now getting held hostage: https://www.reddit.com/r/ExodusWallet/comments/13858qc/asking_me_for_kyc_on_a_swap/

[KingsDen]

~~snip~~

Hello, @1miau, if you don’t mind I will like to translate this topic to my local board (Naija local board) pidgin, thanks.

Hello  

Sorry for the delay, due to abuse, we had to review new applications.

I am surprised to understand that there's abuse of translation. How does this happen? More than one user translates a thread?

Please make sure to provide a quality translation, of course.

Quality is the key. The translated version of a quality post should remain quality. Besides, it's same post, the only difference is the language.

[1miau]

Sorry for the delay, due to abuse, we had to review new applications.

I am surprised to understand that there's abuse of translation. How does this happen? More than one user translates a thread?

Most common abuses are low quality translations due to Google translate abuse, where people "translating" it, are just copy-pasting the entire text into Google translate and post it 1:1 without any changes as a "translated article" for their local board.
And unfortunately, such abuses are very difficult to spot for me or anyone, who isn't a native speaker of that language.
To spot such abuse, we have to rely on local board members to report it.
Here are some complaints, for example: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5471131.msg63111902#msg63111902

For decent people like you or other quality posters, a legitimate translation is very common but still, some people are just
- lazy
- greedy to obtain a fraudulent Merit
- lacking any language skills / are illiterates
(there are probably more reasons)
...
 

[KingsDen]

Sorry for the delay, due to abuse, we had to review new applications.

I am surprised to understand that there's abuse of translation. How does this happen? More than one user translates a thread?

Most common abuses are low quality translations due to Google translate abuse, where people "translating" it, are just copy-pasting the entire text into Google translate and post it 1:1 without any changes as a "translated article" for their local board.

Anyone who uses google translator or any other available translator to translate a thread verbatim ought to be banned according to the forum rules. The act of using a translator to re-write a quality thread that consumed knowledge and time to produce is fraudulent. If it is done with the intention of obtaining a fraudulent merit, I think the user deserves a tag from you (it could be a neutral tag). That is the best way to prevent abuse and maintain quality. If using a translator is what is needed, it wouldn't be a problem for you to use the translator to write your thread in different languages without the involvement of anyone.

- lazy
- greedy to obtain a fraudulent Merit
- lacking any language skills / are illiterates
(there are probably more reasons)
...
 

There are probably more reasons, but laziness and greed summarize it well. Once a user has the mindset of cheating, they automatically become mentally lazy to do things the right way.

[Egii Nna]

~~snip~~

Hello, @1miau, if you don’t mind I will like to translate this topic to my local board (Naija local board) pidgin, thanks.

Hello  

Sorry for the delay, due to abuse, we had to review new applications.
If you still want to do a translation, you can proceed now and reply here again, when you are ready.



Translations:

Language	translated by	Title
___________________________	_________________________	_______________________________________________________________________
Nigeria (Naija)	Egii Nna	reserved

Please make sure to provide a quality translation, of course.


Please not that reserving NEW translations is not available currently.


Topic is still very valid as new cases from Exodus swaps have shown, like here:
Someone tried to swap 4,500 USD and his funds are now getting held hostage: https://www.reddit.com/r/ExodusWallet/comments/13858qc/asking_me_for_kyc_on_a_swap/

I will you this medium to appreciate you for giving me the mandate to translate your topic to my local board and also inform you that the transition is now ready at my local board:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5478110.0

[Egii Nna]

Hello. @1miau, my translation is ready here is the link
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5478110.msg63333480#msg63333480

[Samlucky O]

Hello. @1miau, my translation is ready here is the link
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5478110.msg63333480#msg63333480

I think you should have make your link look something like this==> : D RISKS WEY DEY EXODUS EXCHANGE FUNCTIONS ( HOW COINSWITCH SCAM PEOPLE ) at least it would look more matured and more presentable.
If you don't know how to do it, perhaps you can visit this thread please help by @pi-network314159 to learn it.

[1miau]

Hello. @1miau, my translation is ready here is the link
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5478110.msg63333480#msg63333480

Hey Egii Nna   
Many thanks for your translation. After your translation got approved it, I'm adding it to my list:

Language	translated by	Title
___________________________	_____________________	_______________________________________________________________________
Nigeria (Naija)	Egii Nna	D RISKS WEY DEY EXODUS EXCHANGE FUNCTIONS ( HOW COINSWITCH SCAM PEOPLE )

Well done and your effort is much appreciated.
Especially considering what's described in OP is still happening, like here:

Someone tried to swap 4,500 USD and his funds are now getting held hostage: https://www.reddit.com/r/ExodusWallet/comments/13858qc/asking_me_for_kyc_on_a_swap/

Hello. @1miau, my translation is ready here is the link
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5478110.msg63333480#msg63333480

I think you should have make your link look something like this==> : D RISKS WEY DEY EXODUS EXCHANGE FUNCTIONS ( HOW COINSWITCH SCAM PEOPLE ) at least it would look more matured and more presentable.
If you don't know how to do it, perhaps you can visit this thread please help by @pi-network314159 to learn it.

I've already added his link in my list, already also containing the headline properly. 

[Benedictare]

   Exodus wallet is a non-custodian wallet which approve a great collection of different cryptocurencies, it's most important purpose is to store Bitcoin .

   Exodus wallet is  a multicurrency cryptocurency wallet pressed together with large structures like an  act of choosing that allows users to point assets directly within the wallet to get relating income and users can have a smooth exchange  cryptocurencies within the wallet . It also support various assets and their immediate exchange integration structure users swapping over 100 supported digital currencies, that is the coins will not leave the saftey and security of the user's non-wallet.

     Note ÷if your device that is holding a cryptocurency wallet is compromised or having a malware or virus ,that wallet is at risk and not secured   .

   *  In avoiding the risk you have to make sure that your device is free from viruses ,e.t.c by using most efficiently t op antivirus programs on your devices before using them and remain safe online.
   *  Do not download files, links and unknown that are not trusted  .
   In other to protect  your wallet from unauthorized access you have to create a strong password ,also Exodus provides private keys for all their users as a backup which will be keep safe in case of damage  or misplaced can be recovered.

[snowpega]

Hi there!

Hope you doing well today

@1miau Sir i don't mean to disturb you. I would like to translate your this topic in Pakistan local board but after some days if you allow me to do because i am busy these days in my university exams.

As you can see I'm close to my next rank can you please distribut me with some merits i really appreciate it. I want to see it before new year. Edited-----> (you can visit my profile and my topics)

Do lemme know sir if I'm allow to translate your topic. Thanks

[AirtelBuzz]

As you can see I'm close to my next rank can you please distribut me with some merits i really appreciate it. I want to see it before new year.

Hi, snowpega

In this way asking someone for merit begging directly is out of forum rules. You post as much as you deserve and you get merit.
But if you translate @1miau post if it is correct then you can get merit. Keep posting good posts regularly hope you get merit.

Good luck for your next rank.