Hidden Portals

[terrific]

I've continued investigating, and it looks like a scam. Initially, I was surprised because the information came from a close friend who confirmed that he was selling small amounts of Tether and receiving deposits in the bank.

Don't believe everything with your close friends. If it's related to money, many of them are going to be happily selling their souls to anybody just for them to have that quick buck.
If he's not convinced that it's a scam, he'll likely be one of the victims soon and don't listen to anything he say when you know the truth. Listen to him but never follow the advises he'll say.
And that is because you know the reality that he's talking BS and it's just hard to swallow the pill when someone goes against you and that's what he's experiencing right now.

[Stalker22]

The domain is the name of a somewhat known exchange/wallet plus some random characters and .com.

This alone is reason enough not to trust that site. There is no legitimate business that would do that.

I think it's reason enough not to disclose it. I'll continue to provide updates as things go on. If everything finish without major issues, I'll share the domain, but I want to ensure my mate is out of danger first.

I dont fully buy the reasons for keeping the site private.  It does nothing for your buddy but hides a potential threat from others.  Places that out scams exist so people can share what they know and help each other avoid shady situations and  seems better to put it out there.

[Potato Chips]

I dont fully buy the reasons for keeping the site private.  It does nothing for your buddy but hides a potential threat from others.  Places that out scams exist so people can share what they know and help each other avoid shady situations and  seems better to put it out there.

Same thought.

From what I understand, they got the money back so case is pretty much over.

Got some news, kinda good. Convinced my buddy it's definitely a scam. It was Difficult, because he dropped 3K$ and got back 3,300$, so he's still skeptical. Not sure if the scammers will be satisfied with 300 bucks in the victim's account. We'll see.

Unless... OP's bud is still planning on putting in some more money to scammer's fake exchange hence the: if the scammer searched for the domain name and found this thread, they might know the victim's onto them statement. I hope I'm wrong though since this is some extremely risky thing.