We Investigated Durendex: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Durendex.com website surfaced, promoting itself as a platform where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that clearly reveals it is, in truth, a fraudulent site.

Despite the promises of the most easy, reliable, and customer-centric service, Durendex.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a dirty scam, which takes your funds and never returns them. Any stories about gifts, endorsement from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Durendex Scam Overview

Originally, Durendex poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with exceptionally low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this site is backing from celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Vitalii Buterin (Ethereum creator), Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look more realistic, con actors employ AI-generated videos where those celebrities promote the fraud as the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a glaring wrap around an obvious scam.

Durendex Scam

To begin with, Durendex copies the design of multiple equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Truckxcoin, Bitgemnex or Bitoxyn. They are completely undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the site header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Presumably, all these fraudulent sites are managed by a single gang of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Durendex Scam Works?

Durendex is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use various 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 advanced 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 initiate the deceptive scheme, criminals set up and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign starts. Employing bots and paid promotions (when achievable), fraud actors intensify the presence of their deceptive activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not shy away using generative AI for creating videos with the mentioned celebrities that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who enrolls the service immediately.

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

Users obtain an encouragement to register, enticed by the promise of getting crypto benefits valued at hundreds of dollars, all free of charge. To enhance the attractiveness of the offer, fake claims of sponsorship by a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the ads, users end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Durendex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Durendex, “Start earning with Durendex – they look rather reliable. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that claiming the promised bonus requires registration. And since nothing questionable happens at this point, unaware users happily proceed – especially as 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 information, crooks 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, deceivers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, swindlers can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the claimed bonus right away. To make at least crypto purchases on the platform with it, you need to top up the account with the equivalent sum. At this point, the final stage of the scam kicks in.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any cryptocurrency operations require having funds on your account. In the case of Durendex, users are also coerced to top up to get the bonuses. And this is what creates most of the money flow to this fraudulent website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the committed gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start trading on this website hoping to use all the credited money and withdraw them.

This is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When keeping an eye on the actual crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can observe that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out the funds from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that fraudsters have 0 intentions to give your money back. But to make the denial look more realistic, they’ve elaborated a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client guidelines say, but for the Durendex.com they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By asking for your personal data, scammers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are numerous other checks you should go through before getting your grand back. And every check will share more and more information, which – you guessed it right – will be then traded 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 Durendex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Unsubstantiated Credibility. Durendex 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%, Durendex exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Durendex as a scam.
• Dubious Corporate Information. Durendex 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. Durendex.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. Durendex 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 Durendex 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.

• Immediate Reporting. Your initial step should involve promptly notifying local authorities specializing in financial fraud. Extend your reach by reaching out to wallet providers and engaging with social networks’ technical support teams. These actions serve to raise the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Share among Friends. Amplify your efforts by informing your close friends about the scam. Similar to informing authorities, this dissemination of information restricts the scammers’ potential victim pool.
• Preserve Crucial Information. Compile a comprehensive evidence archive by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. Collect the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These records could provide vital clues for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Exploring Refund Options. While most banks’ refund policies may exclude cryptocurrency payments, it’s advisable to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain hope until you obtain confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Knowledge. Turn your financial setback into an opportunity for growth. View your loss as an investment in understanding the strategies employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their telltale characteristics, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant promises they make. Equipped with this insight, you’ll be well-prepared to spot and evade future traps without suffering additional financial setbacks.

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 fraud, its actors may contact you with particular files. Alternatively, they may offer you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your crypto funds. As we already determined, these scammers have no plan of returning your capital. So, what do these email messages and browser add-ons represent? Correct – this is another side of the scam designed to throw you into willingly installing malicious programs onto your system.

Both extensions and files added to emails can serve as a carrier for various malicious code. In this situation, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among other kinds of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always significant. As stated, their morality is of no concern, and their reputation is already severely tarnished. They have no principles to give up and aim to boost profits.

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