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.

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.

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

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.

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