We Investigated Sonelate: Legit or Scam? The Facts

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

Despite what Sonelate site states, they won’t pay off your capital. Even though the figures displayed in the “member area”, there is absolutely no ability to take out even a single cent. All promises regarding crypto bonuses are empty as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

When we talk about the intrusion of unfamiliar programs into your computer’s work, the proverb “Forewarned is forearmed” describes the situation as accurately as possible. Gridinsoft Anti-Malware is exactly the tool that is always useful to have in your armory: fast, efficient, up-to-date. It is appropriate to use it as an emergency help at the slightest suspicion of infection.

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Sonelate Scam Overview

The primary service that Sonelate aims to provide is a protected and convenient crypto wallet service. The site promises exchange services, tools for controlling wallets, transfers, dashboards, and similar stuff. In reality, they try to emulate the functionality of a crypto marketplace, akin to Binance or Coinbase. However, it in actuality exclusively serves as a cover intended to lull the vigilance.

Sonelate Scam

Initially, Sonelate mimics the appearance of many equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Bitworex, Nawelex or Tradebst. They are completely identical in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the site header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Presumably, all these scam sites are led by a single group of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Sonelate Scam Works?

Sonelate is yet another website within a vast network of linked crypto scam sites. The managers utilize diverse brand titles and websites, like Sonelate.com, to trap victims. Nonetheless, these fraudulent sites have in common matching designs, terms of service, and About content. This exposes their sources as parts of the identical scam network, which endorses the similar form of scam under diverse disguises. The fraudsters simply duplicate the same scam site under different names to fool users into assuming they are enrolling a new venture. However, in reality, it’s the equal system of fraudsters orchestrating the fraudulent pledges and undertakings to take deposited funds. The administrators shrewdly employ psychological strategies and appealing invitations to carry out their dishonest plots.

Step 1: Spreading

To start the scam, criminals establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They primarily focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign begins. Utilizing bots and paid promotions (when feasible), fraud actors boost the exposure of their scam activities to possible victims. This approach enables them to cast a broad net and interact with their aimed audience. The latter typically comprises of cryptocurrency fans searching for prospects to make profits.

Users get an encouragement to register, attracted by the assurance of obtaining crypto rewards valued at hundreds of dollars, all free of charge. To increase the attractiveness of the offer, false claims of sponsorship by a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these assertions are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Users who express interest visit Sonelate.com via links present in ads or bot-generated posts. The site uses captivating visuals, design elements that appear legitimate, and claims of holding a valid license, all aimed to convey an initial image of trustworthiness.

Step 3: Data Gathering

To claim their benefits, users need to proactively set up an account on Sonelate and receive prompts to submit sensitive and personal information throughout the enrollment process. This comprises linking their cryptocurrency wallets, providing email addresses, supplying phone numbers, submitting identification documents, and the like.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Once registered, users notice substantial amounts of cryptocurrency, valued at thousands of dollars, within their Sonelate wallets. However, as it usually happens with such rewards, you cannot withdraw them before making a deposit. Typically, a deposit of $100 is asked to withdraw the sign-up bonus. This stipulation serves as the enticement that eventually leads to the money loss.

Step 5: Disappear

The point in time the payment is submitted, the deceivers halt all contact. They move forward to restrict users, erase accounts, and disappear with both the submitted funds and vital personal details. The fictitious benefits persist perpetually uncredited, as they lack actual existence. They function purely as a fraudulent strategy. This technique forms the foundation for the deceivers’ ability to trick victims and steal hard-earned funds through their double-dealing online crypto scheme.

Signs of Scam

I gathered several facts that point at the scammy nature of the Sonelate.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Sonelate 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 scam, its actors may get in touch with you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may propose you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto assets. As we already determined, these scoundrels have no intention of giving back your capital. So, what do these emails and browser extensions represent? You guessed – this is another component of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into willingly running malicious programs onto your computer.

Both add-ons and attachments included to emails can function as a carrier for diverse malicious code. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of malicious programs. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always significant. As previously mentioned, their morality is of little concern, and their dignity is already seriously marred. They have no scruples to give up and strive to maximize gains.

Remove spyware with Gridinsoft Anti-Malware

We have also been using this software on our systems ever since, and it has always been successful in detecting viruses. It has blocked the most common malicious programs as shown from our tests with the software, and we assure you that it can remove spyware as well as other malware hiding on your computer.

To use Gridinsoft for remove malicious threats, follow the steps below:

1. Begin by downloading Gridinsoft Anti-Malware, accessible via the blue button below or directly from the official website gridinsoft.com.

2.Once the Gridinsoft setup file (setup-gridinsoft-fix.exe) is downloaded, execute it by clicking on the file.

3.Follow the installation setup wizard's instructions diligently.

4. Access the "Scan Tab" on the application's start screen and launch a comprehensive "Full Scan" to examine your entire computer. This inclusive scan encompasses the memory, startup items, the registry, services, drivers, and all files, ensuring that it detects malware hidden in all possible locations.

Be patient, as the scan duration depends on the number of files and your computer's hardware capabilities. Use this time to relax or attend to other tasks.

5. Upon completion, Anti-Malware will present a detailed report containing all the detected malicious items and threats on your PC.

6. Select all the identified items from the report and confidently click the "Clean Now" button. This action will safely remove the malicious files from your computer, transferring them to the secure quarantine zone of the anti-malware program to prevent any further harmful actions.

8. If prompted, restart your computer to finalize the full system scan procedure. This step is crucial to ensure thorough removal of any remaining threats. After the restart, Gridinsoft Anti-Malware will open and display a message confirming the completion of the scan.

Remember Gridinsoft offers a 6-day free trial. This means you can take advantage of the trial period at no cost to experience the full benefits of the software and prevent any future malware infections on your system. Embrace this opportunity to fortify your computer's security without any financial commitment.

Trojan Killer for “spyware” removal on locked PC

In situations where it becomes impossible to download antivirus applications directly onto the infected computer due to malware blocking access to websites, an alternative solution is to utilize the Trojan Killer application.

There is a really little number of security tools that are able to be set up on the USB drives, and antiviruses that can do so in most cases require to obtain quite an expensive license. For this instance, I can recommend you to use another solution of GridinSoft - Trojan Killer Portable. It has a 14-days cost-free trial mode that offers the entire features of the paid version. This term will definitely be 100% enough to wipe malware out.

Trojan Killer is a valuable tool in your cybersecurity arsenal, helping you to effectively remove malware from infected computers. Now, we will walk you through the process of using Trojan Killer from a USB flash drive to scan and remove malware on an infected PC. Remember, always obtain permission to scan and remove malware from a computer that you do not own.

Step 1: Download & Install Trojan Killer on a Clean Computer:

1. Go to the official GridinSoft website (gridinsoft.com) and download Trojan Killer to a computer that is not infected.

2. Insert a USB flash drive into this computer.

3. Install Trojan Killer to the "removable drive" following the on-screen instructions.

4. Once the installation is complete, launch Trojan Killer.

Step 2: Update Signature Databases:

5. After launching Trojan Killer, ensure that your computer is connected to the Internet.

6. Click "Update" icon to download the latest signature databases, which will ensure the tool can detect the most recent threats.

Step 3: Scan the Infected PC:

7. Safely eject the USB flash drive from the clean computer.

8. Boot the infected computer to the Safe Mode.

9. Insert the USB flash drive.

10. Run tk.exe

11. Once the program is open, click on "Full Scan" to begin the malware scanning process.

Step 4: Remove Found Threats:

12. After the scan is complete, Trojan Killer will display a list of detected threats.

13. Click on "Cure PC!" to remove the identified malware from the infected PC.

14. Follow any additional on-screen prompts to complete the removal process.

Step 5: Restart Your Computer:

15. Once the threats are removed, click on "Restart PC" to reboot your computer.

16. Remove the USB flash drive from the infected computer.

Congratulations on effectively removing spyware and the concealed threats from your computer! You can now have peace of mind, knowing that they won't resurface again. Thanks to Gridinsoft's capabilities and commitment to cybersecurity, your system is now protected.

Frequently asked questions

The truth about Sonelate

Name: Sonelate

Description: Cryptocurrency scams continue to increase as digital assets achieve mainstream adoption. A recent example of such a scam involves Sonelate, a fraudulent crypto exchange that entices victims with promises of free crypto giveaways. This detailed article will extensively examine the operations of the Sonelate scam, techniques for recognizing it, and, most crucially, ways to evade becoming a victim.

Operating System: All

Application Category: Crypto Scams

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