Investigating Fonlinex: Legit or Scam? The Truth Revealed

Recently, Fonlinex.com website appeared, promoting itself as a place where you can securely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible supporting information that clearly indicates it is, in truth, a fraudulent site.

Despite the promises of the most convenient, reliable, and customer-centric service, Fonlinex.com does not follow any of them. All this is just a shiny wrap around a clear scam, which steals your money and data and never gives them back. Any stories about gifts, backing from celebrities etc are absent as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Fonlinex Scam Overview

Originally, Fonlinex 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 in the crypto world. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look more realistic, frauds employ deepfake videos with those celebs advertise the fraud as if it was the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a glaring wrap around a transparent scam.

Fonlinex Scam

First and foremost, Fonlinex copies the appearance of many similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Metalono, Zankash or Xilenix. They are totally identical in terms of visual elements, with small discrepancies in the site header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Probably, all these scam sites are managed by the same gang of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Fonlinex Scam Works?

Fonlinex is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the same 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 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 begin the scam, criminals establish and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They generally target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign starts. Utilizing bots and sponsored advertisements (when possible), fraud actors boost the exposure of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not disdain using deepfake for creating videos with the mentioned celebs that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who enrolls the service immediately.

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

Users obtain an encouragement to sign up, enticed by the assurance of getting crypto prizes valued at hundreds of dollars, all for free. To increase the appeal of the offer, fake claims of cooperation with a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these assertions are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the promotions, victims end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Fonlinex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Fonlinex, “Start earning with Fonlinex – they look rather reliable. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that obtaining the pledged bonus requires registration. And since nothing questionable happens at this point, unaware users happily move on – especially as the reward appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to get away from the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal info, crooks will not earn even a nickel from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is where the main fraud action begins. As I just said, scammers bait folks into signing up for bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this info 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 at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the equivalent sum. And this is what initiates the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any crypto operations require you to have money on your account. In the case of Fonlinex, users are also coerced to top up to get the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates the majority of the money 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 engaging on this site hoping to use all the credited money and withdraw them.

This is where the issues start to surface. When keeping an eye on the actual crypto wallet vs what the site 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

Needless to say that fraudsters have 0 intentions to send you money. Though to make the denial look more realistic, they’ve developed a whole pack of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Most of them repeat what KYC regulations say, but in this case they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal information, 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 would desperately need to undergo before getting your grand back. And every check will uncover 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 Fonlinex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

• Secure Your Actions. Begin by promptly reporting the scam to appropriate local authorities tasked with handling financial fraud. Notify wallet providers and engage with social networks’ technical support teams. By taking these measures, you contribute to making the scammers’ operations significantly more difficult.
• Expand Awareness. Extend your efforts by sharing the scam information with your close friends. This action has a parallel effect to reporting to the authorities, as disseminating details about fraudulent crypto services reduces the potential victims they can deceive.
• Gather Evidence. Preserve comprehensive evidence by capturing screenshots and saving all pertinent data linked to the deceptive website. Collect the URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These materials could prove invaluable for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Explore Refund Possibilities. While cryptocurrency payments generally fall outside the scope of refund policies within most banks, it’s worth investigating the potential for a refund in specific circumstances. Maintain optimism until you definitively confirm the loss.
• Convert Mistake into Wisdom. Transform your financial setback into a valuable learning experience. Treat your loss as an investment in understanding the tactics of crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their key characteristics, how they lure individuals, and the grandiose promises they make. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be well-equipped to recognize and avoid falling into future traps without incurring further losses.

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 course of the scam, its masters may contact you with particular files. Alternatively, they may offer you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your cryptocurrency assets. As we already figured out, these rascals have no intent of giving back your funds. So, what do these email messages and browser add-ons represent? You guessed it right – this is another element of the deceptive plan designed to throw you into willingly installing destructive software onto your device.

Both plugins and files included to email messages can act as a shell for diverse malicious code. In this case, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always significant. As previously mentioned, their ethics is of little concern, and their dignity is already severely tarnished. They have nothing to give up and intend to maximize profits.

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