Starscope Scam

Introduction

On Monday, May 5th, 2025, my neighbour was watching a YouTube video titled Viral pistachio chocolate bar in Dubai 😍😍😍 when an advertisement appeared for a product called STScope 360. Excited, he told me about it because I am vision-impaired, and he knew I’d been searching for a good spotting scope. The product looked compelling.

He shared the link he was directed to:

1https://stscope360.co/Homepage/AU/s-65/?ci=22408500878&ai=178330778300&de=t&dm=&cr=743908804995&ts=ytv&kw=&ac=7685662713&gad_source=2&gclid=Cj0KCQjwoNzABhDbARIsALfY8VPfadw6GpGKVtbU_rtb_26EBwodMtxzqUASJjDJMA6pjEZgXL4MvkAaArw9EALw_wcB

I immediately noticed something wasn’t quite right — my AdGuard (which blocks ads and trackers) started dropping half the tracking URLs and ad resources typically used by bad actors. My neighbour, however, insisted this was the right site. Distracted at the time, I went ahead and purchased the item.

Then I realised my mistake — it was a SCAM.

Impact

To date, the scam resulted in:

• ~$225 AUD in lost funds
• Embarrassment and stress
• ~5 hours of investigative work

Why Is This a Scam?

The website itself is riddled with tracking scripts and shady ad resources known for privacy violations and malware distribution.

Pop-ups like this appear after a few seconds, pressuring users into unintended actions:

Additionally, the site relies heavily on Imgur to host product images — a red flag for a commercial storefront:

1https://i.imgur.com/2pK1MYk.png

The order confirmation email revealed further inconsistencies:

1Date: Mon, 05 May 2025 03:31:55 +0000
2Subject: STScope360 - Order Confirmation
3From: no_reply@shopstscope360.com
4To: prologic@shortcircuit.net.au

Within the email body:

1StarScope Monocular G3 - 3

This isn’t the same product that was advertised! The email links led to shopstarscope.com, not the stscope360.co site where the purchase was made.

A YouTube review by Krazy Ken exposes the same deceptive practices.

Who’s Behind It?

The scam involves multiple domains and likely operates through obscured hosting infrastructure.

Domains

• stscope360.co
• shopstarscope.com

WHOIS Results (Summarised)

Both domains hide ownership behind privacy services — a major red flag for an e-commerce business.

SSL Certificates

• stscope360.co → Let’s Encrypt R11 (Free)
• shopstarscope.com → Amazon RSA 2048 M02 (AWS Managed)

IP Networks

• stscope360.co → Hosted on AWS EC2 (Europe)
• shopstarscope.com → Hosted via Amazon CloudFront (Australia region)

Email routing differs too — one uses Google Workspace, the other a registrar forwarding service.

Additional Domains

Following “Contact Us” links revealed yet another site: techselectgadgets.com, hosted on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This further indicates the use of multiple cloud providers to compartmentalize and obscure operations.

Contact Attempts

Attempts to contact support yielded nothing useful. Their replies were canned responses, stating they couldn’t modify or cancel the order. Follow-up messages went unanswered, and no confirmation of receipt was provided.

Merchant Information

The transaction appeared as:

1GP* ZOOMSCOPEVIEW

A search for this merchant name leads nowhere — no official business, no registration, nothing legitimate.

Reporting and Consumer Protection

This case has been reported to the following authorities:

• ScamWatch – https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam
• Australian Federal Police – https://forms.afp.gov.au/online_forms/report-commonwealth-crime

Final Thoughts

In the end, this experience was a reminder that even a seasoned technologist can be caught off-guard when trust is manipulated through legitimate-looking ads. The StarScope operation hides behind layers of intermediaries — Google Ads, AWS, Namecheap, CloudFront, GCP — and uses privacy-shielded registrations to evade accountability. Every link, from the YouTube ad to the fake support page, is crafted to diffuse responsibility.

The loss of a few hundred dollars is minor compared to the broader concern: this infrastructure of deception thrives because trusted global platforms enable it, knowingly or otherwise. When major companies profit from hosting or advertising these scams, they indirectly legitimize them.

If you encounter similar operations, report them to ScamWatch, your bank, and law enforcement. Awareness is the first line of defence. Educate friends and family — especially those less tech-savvy — to treat every “too-good-to-be-true” gadget ad with suspicion.

For me, this incident reaffirmed the need to remain vigilant and to keep exposing these fraudulent ecosystems. The more we speak out, the harder it becomes for scams like StarScope to operate in the shadows.