We Investigated Fonterex: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Fonterex.com website surfaced, promoting itself as a place to keep cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather reliable evidence that unmistakably reveals it is, actually, a deceptive service.

Despite the promises of the most user-friendly, dependable, and customer-centric service, Fonterex.com does not follow any of them. All this is just a gilded wrap around a clear scam, which steals your funds and never returns them. Any tales about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Fonterex Scam Overview

Originally, Fonterex poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with outstandingly low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this service is backing from celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. Vitalii Buterin (Ethereum creator), Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look real, rascals employ AI-generated videos where those celebrities promote the fake crypto service as the best thing in the world. For known reasons, 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.

Fonterex Scam

Initially, Fonterex repeats the layout of numerous equivalent websites. There are quite a few examples, like Fordeex, Ggbitex or Jetbycoin. They are completely identical in terms of visual elements, with small discrepancies in the webpage header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Probably, all these scam sites are led by a single team of swindrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Fonterex Scam Works?

Fonterex is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the similar 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 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 start the scam, criminals set up and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They primarily aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign commences. Employing bots and sponsored advertisements (when achievable), fraud actors intensify the presence of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not disdain using deepfake for creating clips with the aforementioned celebrities 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 Fonterex in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

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

This is the last stage when it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal information, 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 mentioned, deceivers bait folks into signing up for bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this info 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 crypto purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the equivalent sum. And this is what starts the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any crypto purchases require you to have money on your account. In the case of Fonterex, users are also forced to top up to claim the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the money 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 engaging on this website hoping to use all the credited funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the issues start to surface. When comparing 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 pull out the capital from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that swindlers have zero intentions to give your money back. Though to make it look more realistic, they’ve crafted a whole bunch of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what KYC regulations say, but for the Fonterex.com they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for your personal data, deceivers just stall hoping for you to understand that you’ve been scammed and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are multiple other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your money back. And each of these checks will uncover more and more information, which – you guessed it right – will be then sold 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 Fonterex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Absent company details. Fonterex 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 Fonterex 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 Fonterex, 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 Fonterex is a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Fonterex 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 to Authorities. Your initial action should involve reporting the scam to local authorities responsible for addressing financial fraud. Additionally, reach out to wallet providers and engage with the technical support teams of social networks. This collective effort raises the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Inform Your Inner Circle. Extend your impact by sharing information about the scam with your close friends. Similar to notifying authorities, this dissemination of details curbs the scammers’ potential to deceive.
• Document the Trail. Assemble a comprehensive record by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. This encompasses the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These materials offer invaluable leads for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Explore Refund Possibilities. While cryptocurrency payments may not typically align with traditional bank refund policies, it’s worthwhile to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain a positive outlook until you secure confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Insight. Shift your focus from the financial loss to gaining wisdom. Consider your loss as an investment in comprehending the tactics employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their distinctive traits, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant pledges they make. This knowledge equips you to recognize and avoid future traps, minimizing the risk of enduring further 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 duration of the fraud, fraudsters may contact you with particular files. Alternatively, they may offer you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto savings. As we previously determined, these deceivers have no plan of restoring your funds. So, what can these messages and browser extensions represent? You guessed it right – this is another element of the scam designed to throw you into deliberately installing harmful programs onto your computer.

Both extensions and files included to emails can act as a shell for diverse malicious software. In this scenario, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always above zero. As previously mentioned, their morality is of negligible importance, and their reputation is already neck deep in mud. They have no scruples to lose and strive to maximize gains.

Frequently asked questions