We Investigated Pantera-earn: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Pantera-earn.com website appeared, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather credible evidence that unmistakably confirms it is, actually, a fraudulent service.

Despite the promises of the most convenient, reliable, and client-friendly service, Pantera-earn.com does not fulfill any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a clear scam, which takes your funds and never returns them. Any tales about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Pantera-earn Scam Overview

Originally, Pantera-earn poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another notable marketing point for this site 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, con actors use deepfake videos where those celebrities promote the fraud as the best thing in the world. Obviously, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I mentioned above, all this is just a glaring wrap around an obvious scam.

Pantera-earn Scam

Initially, Pantera-earn repeats the layout of many similar online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Bargainzdeal, Safekex or Xbithi. They are entirely indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the website header. Other particulars, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Most likely, all these deceptive websites are operated by a single group of scammers.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Pantera-earn Scam Works?

Pantera-earn is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use numerous website designs, which still share the identical 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 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 scam, criminals create and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They mainly target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign begins. Utilizing bots and sponsored advertisements (when possible), scam actors increase the exposure of their scam activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers do not shy away using generative AI for creating clips with the mentioned celebrities that advertise 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 Pantera-earn in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the ads, victims end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Pantera-earn”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Pantera-earn, “Start earning with Pantera-earn – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, crooks say that obtaining the pledged bonus requires registration. And as nothing concerning 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 steer away from the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal information, crooks will not be able to earn even a nickel from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is the starting poing of the main fraud action. As I just mentioned, scammers bait folks into signing up to get bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Only 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, the promised bonus is not available for withdrawal right away. To make at least crypto purchases on the platform with it, you need to top up the account with the sum of a bonus. At this point, the final stage of the scam begins.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any crypto purchases require having money on your account. With Pantera-earn, users are also forced to top up to get the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the cash 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 website hoping to use all the transferred funds and withdraw them.

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

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

There’s no need to explain that swindlers have zero intentions to return your money. Though to make it look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole pack of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Most of them repeat what KYC requirements say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal data, scammers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are a dozen other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your money back. And each of these checks will uncover more and more info of yours, 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 Pantera-earn.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Cryptocurrency-Only Transactions. Pantera-earn.com insists on cryptocurrency payments exclusively, excluding conventional methods like bank transfers. This strategy ensures anonymity for the scam and eliminates any possibility of seeking refunds.
• Dubious Company Credentials. Pantera-earn arouses suspicion by failing to provide critical information about ownership, location, and legal registration. The lack of valid contact details and the recent creation of domain and social media profiles cast doubt on its legitimacy.
• Baseless Hype Generation. Pantera-earn resorts to fabricating non-existent achievements, such as contracts with Coinbase or endorsements from Elon Musk, to manipulate emotions and enhance the perception of potential returns, enticing victims to invest more.
• Fictitious Celebrity Association. Pantera-earn employs a deceptive tactic by falsely associating itself with well-known figures like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. Additionally, the scam falsely claims partnerships with established entities like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask to bolster its false credibility.
• Potential Ponzi-Like Model. The scam operates on a pyramid-style referral system disseminated through social media, benefiting only initial participants and relying on later investments to sustain the illusion.
• Unrealistic Profit Promises. Promising improbable returns of 50-100-200%, Pantera-earn capitalizes on the desire for high profits. However, the tumultuous nature of the cryptocurrency market renders such gains implausible, solidifying Pantera-earn.com as a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Pantera-earn 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 actors may reach out to you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may offer you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto assets. As we earlier figured out, these deceivers have no plan of giving back your money. So, what can these emails and browser add-ons represent? Correct – that is another side of the fraudulent scheme designed to entice you into deliberately running malicious applications onto your system.

Both extensions and attachments attached to email messages can serve as a shell for various malware. In this case, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among other types of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always above zero. As stated, their morality is of negligible importance, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have nothing to lose and strive to boost gains.

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