Beware: Eclipse Earn, the Cryptocurrency Investment Scam

Cryptocurrency scams are nothing new, but the “Eclipse Earn” is by far the most convincing I’ve encountered. I discovered it on October 26, 2024, though I can’t remember exactly how I came across it. Unfortunately, the website linked to the scam is no longer active. However, I captured screenshots of everything connected to the scam, some of which I’ll share later in this article. This scam stands out because of its deceptive and professional presentation, which gives the impression of being a legitimate investment opportunity. It’s easy to see how amateur investors could be fooled by it. I’ve encountered many scams over the years, but none as elaborate and convincing as this one. In the following sections, I’ll walk you through the approach used by the scammers to lure unsuspecting victims, which makes it unlike any other cryptocurrency investment scam I’ve seen before.

Fake News Paper Article about “Eclipse Earn”

Scammers use various kinds of bait to attract potential victims and draw them into their schemes. In this case, they even localized the bait by disguising it as an article in the Daily Mirror, an English newspaper in Sri Lanka [screenshot below]. I am unsure if the scam is connected to the Chinese nationals recently arrested by the Sri Lanka Police on cybercrime charges [Full Story]. The fake article is titled “The Central Bank of Sri Lanka Sues Nadishani Perera Over Statements Made on Live Television.” It claims that Ms. Nadishani Perera, the former executive director of Transparency International Sri Lanka, accidentally mentioned “Eclipse Earn,” an AI-powered cryptocurrency platform, during a live broadcast, namely the NewsFirst Programme by Sirasa TV. The article further alleges that the broadcast was abruptly cut off after the Central Bank of Sri Lanka called in, demanding that it be stopped.

The fake article claims that “The Daily Mirror editorial convinced the Director of ‘News First Sri Lanka’ to provide them with a recording of the program.” It also warns readers that the article might soon be deleted, just like the broadcast, and urges them to visit the Eclipse Earn platform using a link allegedly shared by Nadishani Perera herself. Naturally, the link leads to another fake website. [Below: the full-length article]

What stands out to me is that the fake article appears to be published on the Daily Mirror Online website but it’s a replica. It includes what it claims to be a report from the Daily Mirror editorial, highly praising Eclipse Earn, along with a forged bank statement from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. It even features fake user comments endorsing the platform. This level of attention to detail makes the scam, unlike any other cryptocurrency investment scam I’ve encountered.

Fake References to NewsFirst TV Programme

The fake article claims that Nadishani Perera accidentally mentioned the Eclipse Earn platform during an interview on the NewsFirst TV program, hosted by Naveksha Gunasekara on Sirasa TV. It also features screenshots, supposedly taken from the broadcast. However, after performing a reverse image search, I found that the screenshots were actually from a different program called The People’s Platform. [Below: Screenshots and the actual video]

I watched the full video on YouTube and didn’t find any reference to cryptocurrency by Nadishani Perera, let alone a specific trading platform. However, most people won’t investigate this deeply. They’ll be convinced by the fake newspaper article and misleading screenshots from the TV program, rushing into the scam headfirst and potentially losing a fortune.

Endorsements Attributed to Public Figures

As I mentioned earlier, the fake article included a link to a website where interested individuals could register. This website showcased supposedly endorsements from public figures and celebrities. In addition to Nadishani Perera, there was, Sandamini Perera (Co-Founder & Co-Chairperson of Prime Group), Mohan Palliyaguru (Corporate Trainer, Motivational Speaker), Narada Bakmeewewa (Founder/Owner of BAX Multimedia), and Shehan Karunatilaka (Writer). Refer to the screenshots below.

What more? While investigating this scam, I checked the LinkedIn profile of Sandamini Perera and noticed that her company had warned the general public about false information being circulated on social media using a fabricated image of a reputed news outlet just 3 days before I published this article. Do you want to know the name of the media outlet used by the scammers and the headline used? The Daily Mirror Online, of course, and the heading says, “The Central Bank of Sri Lanka sues Sandamini Perera over statements she made on live television.” Refer to the screenshot below. [Original Post]

I am in the process of notifying other public figures and celebrities that scammers are using fake endorsements attributed to them to create fake endorsements and lure unsuspecting victims into the scam. I have also reported the websites involved to their hosting providers and informed Cloudflare, a legitimate DNS service provider, whose services the scammers appear to be misusing. I will provide more details about these actions at the end of this article. These deceitful individuals, along with cybercrime and computer fraud networks, must be stopped.

Wrap Up

As part of my investigation, I signed up through the provided link and received a call, supposedly from Switzerland (+41-795-956-398), on October 28, 2024. The caller introduced himself as Jerry Newman from Switzerland. The calls didn’t reveal anything useful, but at 3:23 you’ll notice he dodges my question when I ask, “Why is the website offline now?” (Voice clips below.) He later follows up with an email containing two links. (Even The website registered under the domain name ECLIPSEEARN.COM, which appears in Google search results, is flagged as unsafe.)

During his third call, I confronted him, and once he realized he’d been caught, he immediately hung up. As mentioned earlier, I filed an abuse report with NameSilo, the hosting provider for the CoinTrendMarkets.COM website, and with Cloudflare, the DNS service provider for the domain. To NameSilo’s credit, they suspended the domain name just a few hours after I filed the abuse report.

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