Verified Scam Report Against Elcapo.io - Updated

[Trêvoid]

I received a message from a user on SimpleX claiming that Elcapo scammed him. I contacted Elcapo about this and they replied. I will add it here.

Its not real.
Please feel free to post.

I’m posting this and creating this thread as a warning to other users, as scams seem to be becoming increasingly common. I’ve noticed that many newly created swap services have appeared this month. Additionally, I was holding Elcapo’s security deposit. They requested a refund, and it was refunded approximately one week ago.


Allegedly scammed user message to me on SimpleX:

"Order not found" scam network active again: elcapo.io. KYC.rip is going public with the case as we speak. 0.57 BTC loss: https://kyc.rip/swap?id=16B53402BD0BA087C06855ED9CD3293E
Please put a warning on their listing

BTC deposit address bc1qw0zr6z996td5pg39wa20a5vryhavhq4fcgr79n 0.57 BTC

Before marking elcapo as a scam, I would like to ask other users for more proof and details. Has anyone else experienced the same issue, or does anyone have any information?

I created this thread to gather more comments. It could be a sophisticated FUD campaign or a legitimate scam report. I asked the user who claimed to have been scammed by Elcapo to come here and post the details of their case, but he refused, which raised to me suspicions.

https://bitmixlist.org/neverkyc-exchanges/el-capo.html
https://monerica.com/site/el-capo
https://xmrlist.com/site/el-capo

I need more information from the directory owners who marked them as a scam.

Source: https://kycnone.com/threads/alleged-scam-investigation-ongoing-regarding-elcapo-io.63/

Best regards,
— Trêvoid



I’m marking Elcapo as a scam and urging everyone not to use or interact with this service. They still haven’t provided any comment or response, and they appear to be looking for more victims.

https://x.com/xmr_club/status/2098055625737638055

[Trêvoid]

Update: I received a reply from the Elcapo team.

Sharing our respond to kyc.rip team:

Hi,

We've investigated thoroughly. This order was never created by us, and the deposit address is not ours.

We searched our records on four independent identifiers. None of them exist on our side:

1. Order ID 16B53402BD0BA087C06855ED9CD3293E not found
2. Deposit address bc1qw0zr6z996td5pg39wa20a5vryhavhq4fcgr79n not found on any order we have ever issued
Recipient 3. 87BQyWXKvC7LL3uCkLUxL5XnFsit… not found
3. Amount 0.57395628 BTC no order with this amount exists

We also found no POST /api/partner/orders request in our access logs.

We can state this definitively: every deposit address we issue is tied to an order in our records, and bc1qw0zr6z9… appears on none of them.


The Bitcoin transactions are real. The address received 0.57395329 BTC and the funds have since been spent. So a customer did pay, and someone did sweep it. It simply wasn't us on either end.


Your service is multi-provider, so the most likely explanation is an attribution issue — a response from one provider recorded against another. Specifically:

Which upstream actually served that request? If your router selected a different provider and the result was logged under our name, that explains everything.
What hostname did the request reach? Please confirm the exact URL, scheme and host your integration called. A stale config or DNS entry pointing elsewhere would produce exactly this.
Which API key was used? We can trace any key we issued and tell you what it did and when.
Does that response actually match ours? Compare it field by field against a known-good order from us — the differences should be immediately visible.
The raw request and response with a UTC timestamp, headers included.
Where we stand

We're not brushing this off. If a customer is out 0.57 BTC, that matters, and we'll help trace it however we can — give us an API key or a timestamp and we'll check it against our logs.

But we can only account for what reached us, and this did not. Please confirm which provider actually handled the request, because whoever controls that address is the one who can answer for the funds.

[Zwei]

so Elcapo is blaming it on kyc.rip? hmm...

xmr.club claims there was another victim whos out 60 ETH, but they couldn't verify it: https://x.com/xmr_club/status/2097525580002693415

i think you should go ahead and mark them as a scam. the risk is too high to wait for other victims to show up.
if the scam is proven to be false, the flag could be reverted, unlike scammed coins.

I asked the user who claimed to have been scammed by Elcapo to come here and post the details of their case, but he refused, which raised to me suspicions.

i don't understand why he would claim to be scammed and would share things privately, but won't do it publicly. very odd.
but Elcapo withdrawing their security deposit also looks suspicious. do you know if they withdrew other security deposits it from other escrows?

this would have been simple to figure out if there was a letter of guarantee.

[Trêvoid]

so Elcapo is blaming it on kyc.rip? hmm...

xmr.club claims there was another victim whos out 60 ETH, but they couldn't verify it: https://x.com/xmr_club/status/2097525580002693415

i think you should go ahead and mark them as a scam. the risk is too high to wait for other victims to show up.
if the scam is proven to be false, the flag could be reverted, unlike scammed coins.

I asked the user who claimed to have been scammed by Elcapo to come here and post the details of their case, but he refused, which raised to me suspicions.

i don't understand why he would claim to be scammed and would share things privately, but won't do it publicly. very odd.
but Elcapo withdrawing their security deposit also looks suspicious. do you know if they withdrew other security deposits it from other escrows?

this would have been simple to figure out if there was a letter of guarantee.

Thanks for the reply, Zwei.

Elcapo reply about 0.57 BTC order.

We had no such order in our db.

i don't understand why he would claim to be scammed and would share things privately, but won't do it publicly. very odd.

Yes, this user is only messaging services through private chats and does not share anything publicly. I’m also not sure whether Elcapo has any other security deposits. At the beginning, I asked the allegedly scammed user about a letter of guarantee, but he said he didn’t have one.

[Trêvoid]

Update: I did my best to tell the El Capo team to come here and post comments, but they just replied randomly and still not coming here. I am becoming suspicious.

Feel free to share your opinion on this situation.
We have no such order and never has.
The only assumption that kyc.rip does it on their side.
There’s no clear evidence or anything what can possibly prove our guilt on it.

do you know if they withdrew other security deposits it from other escrows?

I also asked about this, and they said no. It was only me.

[Trêvoid]

Update: I’m marking Elcapo as a scam and urging everyone not to use or interact with this service. They still haven’t provided any comment or response, and they appear to be looking for more victims.