We Looked Into Relunor: Scam or Trustworthy? The Verdict

Recently, Relunor.com website popped up, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that clearly reveals it is, actually, a deceptive site.

Regardless of the promises of the most easy, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Relunor.com does not fulfill any of them. All this is just a shiny wrap around a dirty scam, which takes your money and data and never returns them. Any tales about bonuses, endorsement from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

Relunor Scam Overview

Originally, Relunor poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this platform 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 says about being supported by them. To make these claims look more realistic, frauds employ deepfake videos with those celebs promote the fraud as if it was 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 blatant wrap around an obvious scam.

Relunor Scam

First and foremost, Relunor shares the design of numerous similar online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Rehnext, Cenovax or Zenofax. They are totally indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with minor discrepancies in the webpage header. Other details, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Most likely, all these scam sites are managed by a single gang of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Relunor Scam Works?

Relunor is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use several 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 advanced psychological tricks that make the user believe in the legitimacy of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the deceptive scheme, criminals set up and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign starts. Utilizing bots and paid advertisements (when possible), scam actors boost the presence of their scam activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not disdain using deepfake for creating clips with the aforementioned celebrities that promote 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 Relunor in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users receive an incentive to register, attracted by the promise of receiving crypto rewards valued at hundreds of dollars, all for free. To enhance the attractiveness of the offer, fake claims of sponsorship by a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the promotions, victims end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Relunor”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Relunor, “Start earning with Relunor – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, crooks say that retrieving the pledged bonus requires registration. And as nothing concerning happens at this point, uninformed users happily proceed – especially as 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, frauds 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 mentioned, deceivers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, swindlers 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 it at least usable for cryptocurrency purchases, you need to top up the account with the sum of a bonus. At this point, the final stage of the scam kicks in.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any cryptocurrency purchases require having funds on your account. With Relunor, 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 site. 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 credited money and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the victim notices the issues. When keeping an eye on the real crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can spot that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to withdraw 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 fraudsters are naught on intentions to send you money. But to make the fraud look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole bunch of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client regulations say, but for the Relunor.com they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal info, 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 grand back. And each of these checks will share 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 Relunor.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• False Celebrity Sponsorship. Relunor often resorts to fake endorsements from celebrities such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. This fraudulent tactic extends to claiming partnerships with reputable companies like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask, despite lacking any genuine affiliations.
• Cryptocurrency-Only Payments. Relunor.com exclusively accepts payments in cryptocurrencies, rejecting traditional bank transfers and other methods. This approach not only masks the company’s identity but also eliminates the possibility of seeking refunds.
• Dubious Company Information. Relunor raises suspicion by withholding essential ownership, location, and registration details. Furthermore, the absence of legitimate contact information and the recent establishment of domain and social media pages intensify skepticism.
• Unsubstantiated Hype. Relunor.com employs groundless hype tactics, fabricating events like securing contracts with Coinbase or receiving endorsements from Elon Musk. These manipulative techniques aim to instill false confidence and encourage further investments.
• Potential Pyramid Scheme. The scam relies on a structure resembling a Ponzi scheme, leveraging a referral system spread through social media. However, only initial participants benefit, often at the expense of subsequent investors.
• Implausible Claims. Promising returns of 50-100-200%, Relunor preys on the desire for quick profits. Yet, the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market makes such gains highly unlikely, definitively labeling Relunor as a scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Relunor 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, rascals may get in touch with you with specific files. Alternatively, they may propose you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your cryptocurrency savings. As we earlier determined, these rascals have no intent of giving back your funds. So, what do these messages and browser extensions represent? You guessed – this is another side of the scam designed to entice you into deliberately installing harmful applications onto your system.

Both add-ons and attachments added to email messages can function as a carrier for various malicious code. In this scenario, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among other kinds of malware. 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 give up and intend to boost gains.

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