We Looked Into Velunur: Scam or Trustworthy? The Verdict

Recently, Velunur.com service appeared, promoting itself as a place where you can safely keep cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather credible evidence that clearly confirms it is, in truth, a scam platform.

Regardless of the promises of the most convenient, dependable, and client-friendly service, Velunur.com does not fulfill any of them. In fact, all this is just a shiny wrap around a clear scam, which takes your funds and never returns them. Any tales about gifts, backing from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Velunur Scam Overview

Originally, Velunur poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with exceptionally low commission fees. Another notable selling point for this site is backing from 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, con actors employ deepfake videos with those celebs promote the fake crypto service 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.

Velunur Scam

Initially, Velunur repeats the design of multiple equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Sainled, Rxbet or Royalchance. They are totally indistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with slight discrepancies in the site header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Presumably, all these scam websites are operated by the same team of scoundrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Velunur Scam Works?

Velunur 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 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 validity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To start the fraud, criminals set up and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They mainly target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the marketing campaign begins. Utilizing bots and paid promotions (when achievable), scam actors boost the visibility of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not disdain using generative AI for creating clips with the mentioned celebs that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, frauds claim the bonus for every user who enrolls the service immediately.

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

Users get an incentive to enroll, attracted by the promise of obtaining crypto benefits valued at thousands of dollars, all free of charge. To increase the attractiveness of the offer, false suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these assertions are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the promotions, targets end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Velunur”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Velunur, “Start earning with Velunur – they look rather credible. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, scammers say that getting the pledged bonus requires registration. And since nothing concerning happens at this point, uninformed users happily move on – especially since the bonus appears to be right behind the corner.

This is the last stage when it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal data, rascals 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 – email, username, crypto wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this information 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 alleged bonus right away. To make it at least usable for crypto purchases, the user should top up the account with the sum of a bonus. And this is what initiates the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Eventually, any cryptocurrency operations require having money on your account. With Velunur, users are also coerced to top up to use the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates the majority of the cash flow to this fraudulent site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the pledged gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this website hoping to use all the credited money and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the victim notices the issues. When comparing the actual crypto wallet vs what the site says, you can observe 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

Needless to say that swindlers have 0 intentions to give your money back. Though to make the denial look more realistic, they’ve crafted a whole bunch of reasons to decline the wireout request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client requirements say, but in this case they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By requesting your personal info, deceivers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are multiple other checks you should go through before getting your grand back. And each of these checks 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 Velunur.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Velunur 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 course of the scam, its masters may contact you with specific files. Alternatively, they may propose you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto savings. As we already figured out, these rascals have no plan of returning your funds. So, what can these emails and browser add-ons represent? Correct – that is another side of the fraudulent scheme designed to throw you into deliberately running malicious programs onto your computer.

Both add-ons and files attached to email messages can act as a shell for different malware. In this situation, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among other kinds of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always above zero. As previously mentioned, their conscience is of little concern, and their dignity is already severely tarnished. They have no scruples to lose and intend to maximize profits.

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