We Looked Into Crytonet: Scam or Trustworthy? The Verdict

Recently, Crytonet.com website surfaced, promoting itself as a place where you can safely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible evidence that clearly reveals it is, actually, a deceptive platform.

Despite the promises of the most easy, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Crytonet.com does not follow any of them. All this is just a golden wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and never gives them back. Any tales about gifts, sponsorship from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

Crytonet Scam Overview

Originally, Crytonet poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with exceptionally low commission fees. Another bright marketing point for this site is backing from celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Vitalii Buterin, Jeff Bezos – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look real, frauds employ deepfake videos with those celebs advertise the fraud 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 vivid wrap around an obvious scam.

Crytonet Scam

Initially, Crytonet repeats the layout of many equivalent online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Racpel, Vepdex or Xelenax. They are totally identical in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the site header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Presumably, all these scam websites are led by a single team of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Crytonet Scam Works?

Crytonet is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the identical overall layout. Another shared 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 complex psychological tricks that make the user believe in the validity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To start the deceptive scheme, criminals set up and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They primarily focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign commences. Employing bots and paid ads (when possible), fraud actors intensify the presence of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not disdain using generative AI for creating clips with the aforementioned celebs that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the ads, victims end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Crytonet”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Crytonet, “Start earning with Crytonet – they look rather authoritative. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, scammers say that claiming the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing concerning happens at this point, unexperienced users happily move on – especially as the reward 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 register using your personal info, crooks will not earn even a penny from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is the starting poing of the main fraud action. As I just said, deceivers bait folks into registration for bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the alleged bonus right away. To make at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the sum of a bonus. At this point, the final stage of the scam begins.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any crypto operations require you to have money on your account. With Crytonet, users are also forced to top up to use the bonuses. And this is what creates most of the cash flow to this fraudulent website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the promised gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this website hoping to use all the credited capital and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the problems start to surface. When keeping an eye on the real crypto wallet vs what the site says, you can spot 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

Needless to say that scoundrels are naught on intentions to return your money. Though to make it look more legitimate, they’ve made up a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what KYC guidelines say, but for the Crytonet.com they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal information, deceivers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are a dozen other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your grand back. And each of these checks will reveal more and more info of yours, 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 Crytonet.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Unsubstantiated Credibility. Crytonet employs fraudulent celebrity endorsements, often featuring names like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. These false claims extend to fictitious partnerships with reputable entities like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask, despite the absence of genuine connections.
• Implausible Earnings Claims. Promising remarkable returns of 50-100-200%, Crytonet exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Crytonet as a scam.
• Dubious Corporate Information. Crytonet arouses suspicion by providing inadequate documentation about ownership, location, and registration. Furthermore, the lack of legitimate contact information and the recent registration of domain and social media profiles deepen skepticism.
• Exclusive Cryptocurrency Payments. Crytonet.com solely accepts payments in cryptocurrencies, refraining from traditional bank transfers and other payment methods. This approach not only shrouds the company’s identity but also prevents the possibility of requesting refunds.
• Potential Pyramid Scheme. The scam relies on a Ponzi-like referral structure disseminated through social media. Nevertheless, only initial participants profit, often at the expense of funds brought in by subsequent members.
• Groundless Hype Tactics. Crytonet utilizes fabricated claims about non-existent events, such as securing contracts with Coinbase or receiving endorsements from Elon Musk. This manipulative strategy aims to foster belief in money returns and encourages individuals to top up their accounts again.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Crytonet 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 timeline of the scam, its actors may reach out to you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your cryptocurrency savings. As we previously figured out, these deceivers have no intent of restoring your capital. So, what do these emails and browser plugins represent? You guessed it right – this is another element of the scam designed to throw you into deliberately running malicious programs onto your system.

Both extensions and files attached to emails can act as a shell for diverse malicious code. In this situation, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all forms of malware. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always above zero. As stated, their ethics is of no concern, and their reputation is already neck deep in mud. They have no scruples to give up and aim to maximize profits.

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