Vautes Reviewed: Legit or Total Ripoff? Read This First

Recently, Vautes.com service appeared, promoting itself as a platform where you can safely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible supporting information that unmistakably confirms it is, actually, a deceptive site.

Despite the promises of the most convenient, reliable, and client-friendly service, Vautes.com does not offer any of them. In fact, all this is just a gilded wrap around a blatant scam, which steals your money and never gives them back. Any stories about gifts, sponsorship from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Vautes Scam Overview

Originally, Vautes poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with outstandingly low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this site is backing from celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look more realistic, con actors employ deepfake 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 said in the introduction, all this is just a glaring wrap around a transparent scam.

Vautes Scam

Initially, Vautes shares the design of numerous similar websites. There are quite a few examples, like Vadorno, Kubixbit or Cubum. They are totally identical in terms of graphic elements, with minor discrepancies in the website header. Other details, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Presumably, all these scam online platforms are managed by the same gang of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Vautes Scam Works?

Vautes is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively 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 advanced 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 initiate the scam, criminals create and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign starts. Using bots and sponsored promotions (when feasible), scam actors intensify the exposure of their fraudulent activities to potential victims. And as I said, scammers do not disdain using generative AI for creating videos with the aforementioned celebrities that promote 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 Vautes in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the promotions, targets end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Vautes”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Vautes, “Start earning with Vautes – they look rather reliable. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that retrieving the promised bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware users happily proceed – especially since the gift 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, rascals 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 mentioned, frauds bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – email, username, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this information 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 it at least usable for crypto purchases, you need to top up the account with the equivalent sum. And this is what starts the final step of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

It is obvious that any crypto operations require you to have funds on your account. In the case of Vautes, users are also compelled to top up to claim the bonuses. And this is what creates most of the money flow to this fraudulent site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the promised gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this site hoping to use all the credited funds and withdraw them.

This is where the first obvious 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 retrieve 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 fraudsters are naught on intentions to give your money back. But to make it look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole pack of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Usually, they repeat what KYC regulations say, but for the Vautes.com they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for your personal info, frauds just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are numerous other checks you should go through before getting your money 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 Vautes.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Vautes 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 to Authorities. Your initial action should involve reporting the scam to local authorities responsible for addressing financial fraud. Additionally, reach out to wallet providers and engage with the technical support teams of social networks. This collective effort raises the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Inform Your Inner Circle. Extend your impact by sharing information about the scam with your close friends. Similar to notifying authorities, this dissemination of details curbs the scammers’ potential to deceive.
• Document the Trail. Assemble a comprehensive record by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. This encompasses the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These materials offer invaluable leads for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Explore Refund Possibilities. While cryptocurrency payments may not typically align with traditional bank refund policies, it’s worthwhile to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain a positive outlook until you secure confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Insight. Shift your focus from the financial loss to gaining wisdom. Consider your loss as an investment in comprehending the tactics employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their distinctive traits, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant pledges they make. This knowledge equips you to recognize and avoid future traps, minimizing the risk of enduring further financial setbacks.

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 contact you with specific files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to streamline access to your crypto assets. As we earlier determined, these rascals have no intent of restoring your money. So, what can these messages and browser plugins represent? You guessed it right – that is another element of the scam designed to entice you into willingly installing harmful software onto your system.

Both extensions and attachments included to email messages can serve as a carrier for various malicious code. In this case, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of malware. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always existent. As previously mentioned, their conscience is of no concern, and their dignity is already neck deep in mud. They have nothing to give up and intend to boost profits.

Frequently asked questions