The Truth About TRUSTVEX: Legit or Scam? Our Review

Recently, Trustvex.com service surfaced, promoting itself as a place where you can securely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that clearly reveals it is, actually, a fraudulent service.

Despite the promises of the most user-friendly, reliable, and customer-centric service, Trustvex.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a dirty scam, which steals your money and never gives them back. Any tales about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are absent as well.

TRUSTVEX Scam Overview

Originally, TRUSTVEX poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with exceptionally low commission fees. Another notable selling point for this platform is partnerships with celebrities that are known in the crypto world. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Vitalii Buterin, Jeff Bezos – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look more realistic, con actors employ deepfake videos where those celebrities advertise 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 vivid wrap around an obvious scam.

TRUSTVEX Scam

First and foremost, TRUSTVEX shares the appearance of numerous similar pages. There are quite a few examples, like Luxerybit, Venasy or Vucrex. They are totally undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the webpage header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are the same. Probably, all these fraudulent websites are operated by the same gang of swindrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the TRUSTVEX Scam Works?

TRUSTVEX is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use various website designs, which still share the same overall layout. Another mutual 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 validity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To initiate the fraud, criminals establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They primarily aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign commences. Using bots and paid ads (when possible), fraud actors boost the exposure of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not disdain using deepfake for creating clips with the aforementioned celebs that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, deceivers claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the promos, users end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with TRUSTVEX”, “Your crypto savings are secured with TRUSTVEX, “Start earning with TRUSTVEX – they look rather authoritative. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that unlocking the promoted bonus requires registration. And since nothing questionable happens at this point, unaware users happily proceed – especially since the reward appears to be right behind the corner.

This is the last stage when it is possible to steer away from the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal info, frauds will not 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, scammers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – username, email, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, fraudsters can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the promised bonus right away. To make at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the equivalent sum. At this point, the final stage of the scam begins.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any cryptocurrency purchases require you to have funds on your account. With TRUSTVEX, users are also compelled to top up to use the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the cash flow to this fraudulent website. By topping up the account, users hope to get the pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start engaging on this website hoping to use all the transferred money and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the victim notices the problems. When keeping an eye on 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 funds from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

Needless to say that fraudsters have 0 intentions to return your money. Though to make the fraud look more realistic, they’ve elaborated a whole bunch of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what KYC regulations say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal information, scammers just stall hoping for you to understand that you’ve been scammed 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 every check will uncover more and more info of yours, 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 Trustvex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• False Celebrity Sponsorship. TRUSTVEX 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. Trustvex.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. TRUSTVEX 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. Trustvex.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%, TRUSTVEX preys on the desire for quick profits. Yet, the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market makes such gains highly unlikely, definitively labeling TRUSTVEX as a scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with TRUSTVEX 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 timeline of the scam, its actors may reach out to you with specific files. Alternatively, they may propose you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your cryptocurrency savings. As we previously determined, these scammers have no intent of giving back your funds. So, what do these email messages and browser plugins represent? Correct – this is another side of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into willingly installing malicious applications onto your device.

Both plugins and files attached to emails can act as a carrier for diverse malicious code. In this case, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always existent. As noted, their conscience is of little concern, and their dignity is already neck deep in mud. They have no principles to lose and intend to boost gains.

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