The Benlenex Scam – Don’t Become the Next Victim

Recently, Benlenex.com service appeared, promoting itself as a platform where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that unmistakably reveals it is, actually, a deceptive site.

Despite the promises of the most user-friendly, trustworthy, and client-friendly service, Benlenex.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a dirty scam, which takes your funds and never gives them back. Any tales about gifts, endorsement from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

Benlenex Scam Overview

Originally, Benlenex poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this platform is backing from celebrities that are known in the crypto world. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look real, rascals employ deepfake videos where those celebrities advertise the fake crypto service as the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a glaring wrap around a transparent scam.

Benlenex Scam

Initially, Benlenex repeats the design of numerous similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Baozem, Tradinghobital or Nonfig. They are entirely identical in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the website header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Presumably, all these scam websites are managed by the same group of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Benlenex Scam Works?

Benlenex is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the identical overall layout. Another common element are the ways the scams like NAME are promoted, and the manner all this ends up to the victim of the scam. To reach peak efficiency, frauds apply sophisticated psychological tricks that make the user believe in the authenticity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the scam, criminals create and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They primarily focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign begins. Using bots and sponsored promotions (when possible), fraud actors increase the presence of their deceptive activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not shy away using generative AI for creating clips with the mentioned celebs that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

Promotions of cryptoscams like Benlenex in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the promos, users end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Benlenex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Benlenex, “Start earning with Benlenex – they look rather authoritative. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that getting the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing questionable happens at this point, uninformed users happily proceed – especially since the bonus appears to be right behind the corner.

This is the last stage when it is possible to steer away from the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal data, rascals will not earn even a penny from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is where the main fraud action begins. As I just mentioned, scammers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the alleged bonus right away. To make it at least usable for crypto purchases, the user should top up the account with the sum of a bonus. And this is what starts the final step of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any cryptocurrency purchases require having money on your account. With Benlenex, users are also coerced to top up to use the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the cash flow to this fraudulent site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this site hoping to use all the credited money and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the issues start to surface. When keeping an eye on the real cryptocurrency wallet vs what the website says, you can notice that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to withdraw the money from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

There’s no need to explain that scoundrels are naught on intentions to send you money. Though to make it look more realistic, they’ve made up a whole bunch of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client regulations say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal info, deceivers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are multiple other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your funds back. And every check will uncover more and more information, which – you guessed it right – will be then marketed on the Darknet. Never reveal your real info to strangers!

Signs of Scam

I gathered several facts that point at the scammy nature of the Benlenex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Absent company details. Benlenex does not provide any documentation about its ownership, location or registration. No legitimate contact details are given either. Moreover, it appears that the domain and all social network pages were registered quite recently.
• Fake sponsorship from a celebrity. Scams like Benlenex like to pick a celebrity as a sponsor of this entire campaign. For obvious reasons, fraudsters generally choose Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, Mark Zuckerberg, and similar celebrities. They do not disdain claiming partnership with a company as well. Even though Coinbase, Binance or MetaMask never heard of Benlenex, they do not care – this creates a halo of credibility.
• Potential Ponzi Scheme. The scam relies on a Ponzi-like referral system to spread reach through social media. In fact, only the first members will receive the payoff, at the cost of the money brought by other members.
• Hype without facts. Frauds can cheer up their victims from time to time, using claims about non-existent events. “We got contracts with Coinbase”, “Elon Musk mentioned us as the most prolific crypto project” – you could likely hear something like that. This is made to make people believe in their money return. This can be the sauce to make people top-up their accounts once again.
• Crypto-only incoming payments. Whether the user tries to top-up the account, hackers will only accept payments in crypto – no bank transfers or other payment methods. Such an approach completely hides the identity of the company and deprives you of the ability to ask for a refund.
• Claims are too good to be true. Let’s be sane and sober: even in crypto space, there are not many places where you can earn 50-100-200%. Being able to participate in all of them is nearly impossible, as well as it is impossible to insure or hedge all the risks. Even by that reason alone I can tell that the Benlenex is a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Benlenex site and fell victim to that scam, there are still some steps to take. They will make further scam attempts harder, and also boost the knowledge about that scam among folks.

• Report the scam to authorities. Search for local authorities responsible for financial frauds, and also notify wallet providers and social networks via their tech support. It is essential to make the further operations of these scammers much harder.
• Tell your close friends. That step is similar to reporting to the authorities, and has similar effects. By posting info about scam crypto service, you decrease the pool of people they can fool.
• Get evidence. Screenshot or save all the information related to the website. URL, screenshot of a main page, login window, EULA, account top-up menu, wallet addresses – all these things may be useful for authorities to find the scammers.
• Check whether you can ask for a refund. As I’ve said above, crypto payments do not fall under refund policies in most banks. Nonetheless, in some circumstances, it is still possible. Never lose hope until you actually confirm it is gone.
• Make your mistake your lesson. Financial losses are always a reason for frustration, but let’s imagine it was a pay for scam revealing courses. Remember the key features of these crypto scam sites, the way they attract people and what they promise. In the future, you will easily recognize a trap of spending no money.

Scan your system for possible malware infections

Beware of cross scams! Scam actors can use your trust to make you download some stuff or interact with certain documents. It may be a trap that installs malware to your system. There are no moral barriers or limits for these scoundrels.

Throughout the duration of the fraud, scoundrels may contact you with particular files. Alternatively, they may propose you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your crypto assets. As we earlier figured out, these scammers have no intent of restoring your funds. So, what do these emails and browser extensions represent? You guessed – that is another side of the scam designed to entice you into deliberately installing harmful software onto your device.

Both add-ons and files attached to email messages can serve as a carrier for different malicious software. In this situation, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among all kinds of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always existent. As stated, their ethics is of no concern, and their reputation is already neck deep in mud. They have nothing to give up and strive to maximize gains.

Frequently asked questions