Manfec Reviewed: Legit or Total Ripoff? Read This First

Recently, Manfec.com service surfaced, promoting itself as a platform to store cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that unmistakably reveals it is, actually, a scam service.

Despite the promises of the most convenient, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Manfec.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and never returns them. Any stories about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Manfec Scam Overview

Originally, Manfec poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another notable selling point for this site is backing from 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 deepfake videos where those celebrities promote 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 glaring wrap around a transparent scam.

Manfec Scam

Initially, Manfec repeats the layout of numerous similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Minepulse, Arsusdt or U. They are entirely indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the webpage header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Most likely, all these fraudulent sites are led by the same team of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Manfec Scam Works?

Manfec is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Scammers 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 sophisticated 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 begin the fraud, criminals establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They mainly target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign commences. Employing bots and paid ads (when feasible), fraud actors intensify the presence of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not shy away using deepfake for creating clips with the mentioned celebrities that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Users receive an incentive to sign up, attracted by the assurance of getting cryptocurrency benefits valued at thousands of dollars, all free of charge. To enhance the attractiveness of the offer, false suggestions of sponsorship by a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

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

At this point, it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you register 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, frauds bait folks into registration for bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only 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 promised bonus right away. To make it at least usable for crypto purchases, you need to top up the account with the equivalent sum. And this is what initiates the final step of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any crypto purchases require you to have funds on your account. In the case of Manfec, users are also forced to top up to use the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the money flow to this scam 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 deposited money and withdraw them.

This is where the first obvious issues start to surface. 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 retrieve the money from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

There’s no need to explain that scoundrels are naught on intentions to return your money. But to make the fraud look more legitimate, they’ve made up a whole pack of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Most of them repeat what KYC regulations say, but for the Manfec.com they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal information, scammers just stall hoping for you to understand that you’ve been scammed 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 reveal 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 Manfec.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Manfec 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 duration of the scam, scoundrels may get in touch with you with particular files. Alternatively, they may offer you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto funds. As we already figured out, these deceivers have no plan of restoring your money. So, what can these email messages and browser add-ons represent? You guessed it right – that is another component of the scam designed to throw you into willingly installing destructive applications onto your device.

Both extensions and attachments attached to emails can function as a carrier for diverse malware. In this case, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always greater than zero. As noted, their morality is of no concern, and their dignity is already severely tarnished. They have no scruples to lose and aim to maximize revenues.

Frequently asked questions