We Looked Into Silunex: Scam or Trustworthy? The Verdict

Recently, Silunex.com service popped up, promoting itself as a place to keep cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather credible proof that clearly indicates it is, in truth, a fraudulent site.

Despite the promises of the most user-friendly, dependable, and client-friendly service, Silunex.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a dirty scam, which steals your money and never returns them. Any tales about gifts, backing from celebrities etc are absent as well.

Silunex Scam Overview

Originally, Silunex poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another bright marketing point for this site is partnerships with celebrities that are known as crypto activists. 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, rascals use AI-generated videos where those celebrities advertise the scam 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 vivid wrap around a transparent scam.

Silunex Scam

Initially, Silunex shares the appearance of many similar online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Gludabs, Guxbit or Edekn. They are totally undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the webpage header. Other details, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Most likely, all these fraudulent websites are managed by a single group of scammers.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Silunex Scam Works?

Silunex is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use several website designs, which still share the same 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 legitimacy of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the fraud, criminals create and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They generally target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign starts. Utilizing bots and sponsored promotions (when feasible), fraud actors boost the visibility of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not disdain using deepfake for creating videos with the mentioned celebs that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

Promotions of cryptoscams like Silunex 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 Silunex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Silunex, “Start earning with Silunex – they look rather credible. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that unlocking the pledged bonus requires registration. And as nothing concerning happens at this point, uninformed users happily proceed – especially as the bonus 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 info, 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 said, scammers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the promised bonus right away. To make it at least usable for cryptocurrency 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 operations require you to have money on your account. With Silunex, users are also compelled to top up to claim the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates the majority of the cash 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 engaging on this site hoping to use all the transferred funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the problems start to surface. When keeping an eye on the real cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site says, you can observe 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 swindlers are naught on intentions to give your money back. But to make it look more realistic, they’ve crafted a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what KYC regulations say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

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

• Unsubstantiated Credibility. Silunex employs fraudulent celebrity endorsements, often featuring names like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. These false claims extend to fictitious partnerships with reputable entities like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask, despite the absence of genuine connections.
• Implausible Earnings Claims. Promising remarkable returns of 50-100-200%, Silunex exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Silunex as a scam.
• Dubious Corporate Information. Silunex arouses suspicion by providing inadequate documentation about ownership, location, and registration. Furthermore, the lack of legitimate contact information and the recent registration of domain and social media profiles deepen skepticism.
• Exclusive Cryptocurrency Payments. Silunex.com solely accepts payments in cryptocurrencies, refraining from traditional bank transfers and other payment methods. This approach not only shrouds the company’s identity but also prevents the possibility of requesting refunds.
• Potential Pyramid Scheme. The scam relies on a Ponzi-like referral structure disseminated through social media. Nevertheless, only initial participants profit, often at the expense of funds brought in by subsequent members.
• Groundless Hype Tactics. Silunex utilizes fabricated claims about non-existent events, such as securing contracts with Coinbase or receiving endorsements from Elon Musk. This manipulative strategy aims to foster belief in money returns and encourages individuals to top up their accounts again.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Silunex 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 course of the scam, its masters may reach out to you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we already determined, these rascals have no intention of returning your capital. So, what do these email messages and browser extensions represent? You guessed it right – that is another element of the scam designed to throw you into deliberately installing destructive software onto your computer.

Both add-ons and files attached to email messages can act as a shell for different malware. In this situation, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all forms of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always above zero. As stated, their conscience is of little concern, and their dignity is already severely tarnished. They have nothing to give up and strive to boost profits.

Frequently asked questions