Velubet Reviewed: Legit or Total Ripoff? Read This First

Recently, Velubet.com website surfaced, promoting itself as a place to keep cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that clearly indicates it is, in truth, a fraudulent site.

Regardless of the promises of the most easy, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Velubet.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a dirty scam, which takes your money and data and never returns them. Any tales about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Velubet Scam Overview

Originally, Velubet poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with outstandingly low commission fees. Another highlighted selling point for this platform is backing from celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Vitalii Buterin, Warren Buffet – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look more realistic, rascals employ deepfake videos where those celebrities promote the fraud 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 blatant wrap around a transparent scam.

Velubet Scam

Initially, Velubet shares the design of numerous equivalent online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Tesfex, Spinsboss or Spindexo. They are entirely undistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with minor discrepancies in the website header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Presumably, all these fraudulent sites are operated by a single gang of swindrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Velubet Scam Works?

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

Step 1: Promotion

To start the fraud, criminals establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They generally target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign commences. Employing bots and sponsored ads (when feasible), fraud actors boost the visibility of their deceptive activities to possible victims. And as I said, crooks do not shy away using generative AI for creating videos with the mentioned celebrities that advertise 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 Velubet in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the promotions, users end up on a page filled with appealing offers. “Crypto starts with Velubet”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Velubet, “Start earning with Velubet – they look rather credible. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that claiming the pledged bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware users happily move on – especially as 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 register using your personal data, crooks will not be able to 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 said, scammers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – username, email, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this info and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the claimed bonus right away. To make at least crypto purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the equivalent sum. And this is what initiates the final step of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any cryptocurrency purchases require having funds on your account. With Velubet, users are also compelled to top up to use the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates the majority of the cash flow to this scam site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the committed gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start trading on this site hoping to use all the deposited funds and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the first obvious problems start to surface. When comparing the real cryptocurrency wallet vs what the site says, you can notice that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to retrieve the funds from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

There’s no need to explain that swindlers are naught on intentions to return your money. But to make it look more realistic, they’ve elaborated a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what KYC guidelines say, but for the Velubet.com they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal data, 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 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 Velubet.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Velubet 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.

• Immediate Reporting. Your initial step should involve promptly notifying local authorities specializing in financial fraud. Extend your reach by reaching out to wallet providers and engaging with social networks’ technical support teams. These actions serve to raise the bar for the scammers’ operations.
• Share among Friends. Amplify your efforts by informing your close friends about the scam. Similar to informing authorities, this dissemination of information restricts the scammers’ potential victim pool.
• Preserve Crucial Information. Compile a comprehensive evidence archive by capturing screenshots and archiving all relevant website-related data. Collect the website URL, screenshots of the main page, login interface, end-user license agreement (EULA), account top-up menu, and wallet addresses. These records could provide vital clues for authorities in their pursuit of the scammers.
• Exploring Refund Options. While most banks’ refund policies may exclude cryptocurrency payments, it’s advisable to explore potential refund avenues under specific circumstances. Maintain hope until you obtain confirmation of the loss.
• Transform Loss into Knowledge. Turn your financial setback into an opportunity for growth. View your loss as an investment in understanding the strategies employed by crypto scam sites. Familiarize yourself with their telltale characteristics, the methods they employ to entice individuals, and the extravagant promises they make. Equipped with this insight, you’ll be well-prepared to spot and evade future traps without suffering additional 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 timeline of the scam, its actors may get in touch with you with particular files. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to simplify access to your cryptocurrency assets. As we already determined, these scammers have no intent of giving back your funds. So, what can these email messages and browser plugins represent? You guessed it right – this is another side of the deceptive plan designed to entice you into willingly installing harmful programs onto your system.

Both plugins and attachments attached to emails can function as a carrier for diverse malicious code. In this scenario, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always existent. As previously mentioned, their morality is of little concern, and their reputation is already neck deep in mud. They have nothing to give up and aim to boost revenues.

Frequently asked questions