We Investigated Terunax: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Terunax.com service surfaced, promoting itself as a place to keep cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather credible evidence that clearly reveals it is, actually, a deceptive site.

Regardless of the promises of the most user-friendly, reliable, and customer-centric service, Terunax.com does not offer any of them. All this is just a gilded wrap around a clear scam, which steals your funds and never returns them. Any stories about bonuses, sponsorship from celebrities etc are non-existent as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Terunax Scam Overview

Originally, Terunax poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with outstandingly low commission fees. Another bright marketing point for this platform is partnerships with celebrities that have relation to the crypto world. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Vitalii Buterin, Jeff Bezos – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look real, rascals employ AI-generated videos with those celebs promote the scam as if it was the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around an obvious scam.

Terunax Scam

Initially, Terunax repeats the design of numerous similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Vegobit, Zalunex or Rexwexy. They are completely indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with slight discrepancies in the site header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Probably, all these scam websites are operated by the same gang of frauds.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Terunax Scam Works?

Terunax is a part of a large cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Rascals who stand behind it use numerous website designs, which still share the similar overall layout. Another shared 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 authenticity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To begin the fraud, criminals create and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They generally target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign starts. Using bots and sponsored ads (when achievable), scam actors increase the visibility of their scam activities to possible victims. And as I said, scammers do not disdain using generative AI for creating videos with the mentioned celebrities that promote their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

Promotions of cryptoscams like Terunax in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users get a stimulus to register, attracted by the assurance of obtaining cryptocurrency rewards valued at hundreds of dollars, all without cost. To augment the attractiveness of the offer, fake claims of sponsorship by a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are completely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After following the promotions, victims end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Terunax”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Terunax, “Start earning with Terunax – they look rather authoritative. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that getting the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing concerning happens at this point, unaware users happily keep on – especially since 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 data, crooks will not be able to earn even a nickel from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is where the main fraud action begins. As I just mentioned, frauds bait folks into signing up to get bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters 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 crypto purchases, the user should top up the account with the equivalent sum. At this point, the final stage of the scam kicks in.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any crypto operations require having money on your account. In the case of Terunax, users are also forced to top up to use the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the cash flow to this scam site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this site hoping to use all the transferred capital and withdraw them.

This is where the issues start to surface. When comparing the real cryptocurrency 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 scoundrels have zero intentions to return your money. Though to make it look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole bunch of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Most of them repeat what KYC guidelines say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By asking for 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 numerous other checks you should go through before getting your money back. And every check 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 Terunax.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Unsubstantiated Credibility. Terunax 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%, Terunax exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Terunax as a scam.
• Dubious Corporate Information. Terunax 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. Terunax.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. Terunax 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 Terunax 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 timeline of the scam, fraudsters may get in touch with you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your cryptocurrency assets. As we previously figured out, these deceivers have no plan of giving back your capital. So, what can these emails and browser add-ons represent? You guessed – this is another component of the fraudulent scheme designed to throw you into willingly installing malicious software onto your system.

Both plugins and attachments added to email messages can serve as a carrier for different malware. In this situation, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always significant. As stated, their conscience is of negligible importance, and their dignity is already deeply compromised. They have nothing to give up and strive to boost profits.

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