GOLORES Review: Legit or Scam? Read This First

Recently, Golores.com service appeared, promoting itself as a place where you can securely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable proof that unmistakably reveals it is, actually, a deceptive service.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, dependable, and customer-centric service, Golores.com does not fulfill any of them. All this is just a gilded wrap around a clear scam, which steals your funds and never gives them back. Any stories about bonuses, endorsement from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

GOLORES Scam Overview

Originally, GOLORES poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with remarkably low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this service is partnerships with celebrities that are known in the crypto world. 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, frauds employ AI-generated videos where those celebrities advertise the scam as if it was the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around a transparent scam.

GOLORES Scam

First and foremost, GOLORES shares the layout of multiple similar online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Gerapay, Easybitex or Doruvex. They are totally identical in terms of graphic elements, with minor discrepancies in the website header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Most likely, all these scam sites are operated by a single gang of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the GOLORES Scam Works?

GOLORES is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the similar 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 complex 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 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 marketing campaign commences. Using bots and paid advertisements (when possible), fraud actors boost the exposure of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using deepfake for creating videos with the aforementioned celebs that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the promos, targets end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with GOLORES”, “Your crypto savings are secured with GOLORES, “Start earning with GOLORES – they look rather reliable. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, scammers say that obtaining the pledged bonus requires registration. And as nothing questionable happens at this point, uninformed 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 sign up using your personal data, crooks will not be able to 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, scammers bait folks into registration for bonuses. And all the personal data 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. 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 cryptocurrency operations require you to have money on your account. In the case of GOLORES, users are also coerced to top up to use 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 promised gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this site hoping to use all the credited funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the victim notices the issues. When keeping an eye on the real cryptocurrency 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 swindlers have zero intentions to give your money back. Though to make the fraud look more realistic, they’ve made up a whole bunch of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client regulations say, but in this case they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for your personal information, frauds just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are multiple other checks you should go through before getting your grand back. And every check 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 Golores.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with GOLORES 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, its actors may contact you with specific files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we earlier figured out, these rascals have no plan of returning your capital. So, what do these messages and browser plugins represent? Correct – this is another side of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into deliberately running destructive programs onto your system.

Both add-ons and attachments added to emails can serve as a carrier for diverse malicious code. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other types of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always significant. As noted, their morality is of no concern, and their dignity is already seriously marred. They have no scruples to lose and aim to maximize profits.

Frequently asked questions