We Investigated Venotur: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Venotur.com website appeared, promoting itself as a platform to store cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather reliable evidence that unmistakably confirms it is, in truth, a deceptive platform.

Regardless of the promises of the most easy, trustworthy, and customer-centric service, Venotur.com does not follow any of them. All this is just a shiny wrap around a blatant scam, which takes your funds and never returns them. Any stories about gifts, sponsorship from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Venotur Scam Overview

Originally, Venotur poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this platform is partnerships with 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 real, con actors use deepfake videos where those celebrities advertise the fake crypto service as the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common choise for that. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a glaring wrap around a transparent scam.

Venotur Scam

To begin with, Venotur shares the design of many similar online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Delunor, Boomsity or Bowplay. They are completely undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with slight discrepancies in the site header. Other details, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Probably, all these scam sites are led by the same group of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Venotur Scam Works?

Venotur is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use several 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 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 set up and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They mainly target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign begins. Utilizing bots and paid promotions (when possible), scam actors boost the visibility of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, fraudsters 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, frauds claim the bonus for every user who enrolls the service immediately.

Promotions of cryptoscams like Venotur 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 enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Venotur”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Venotur, “Start earning with Venotur – they look rather reliable. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, scammers say that retrieving the promoted bonus requires registration. And as nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware users happily move on – especially as the gift appears to be right behind the corner.

This is the last stage when it is possible to get away from the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal info, frauds will not be able to 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 into registration to get bonuses. And all the personal data needed for it – email, username, crypto 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, the claimed bonus is not available for withdrawal 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 stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

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

This, however, is where the issues start to surface. When comparing the real crypto wallet vs what the site says, you can observe 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 fraudsters have no intentions to return your money. But to make the fraud look more legitimate, they’ve elaborated a whole bunch of reasons to decline the withdrawal request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client requirements say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the withdrawal impossible.

By requesting your personal information, frauds 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 would desperately need to undergo before getting your grand back. And every check will reveal more and more information, which – you guessed it right – will be then marketed 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 Venotur.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Cryptocurrency-Only Transactions. Venotur.com insists on cryptocurrency payments exclusively, excluding conventional methods like bank transfers. This strategy ensures anonymity for the scam and eliminates any possibility of seeking refunds.
• Dubious Company Credentials. Venotur arouses suspicion by failing to provide critical information about ownership, location, and legal registration. The lack of valid contact details and the recent creation of domain and social media profiles cast doubt on its legitimacy.
• Baseless Hype Generation. Venotur resorts to fabricating non-existent achievements, such as contracts with Coinbase or endorsements from Elon Musk, to manipulate emotions and enhance the perception of potential returns, enticing victims to invest more.
• Fictitious Celebrity Association. Venotur employs a deceptive tactic by falsely associating itself with well-known figures like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. Additionally, the scam falsely claims partnerships with established entities like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask to bolster its false credibility.
• Potential Ponzi-Like Model. The scam operates on a pyramid-style referral system disseminated through social media, benefiting only initial participants and relying on later investments to sustain the illusion.
• Unrealistic Profit Promises. Promising improbable returns of 50-100-200%, Venotur capitalizes on the desire for high profits. However, the tumultuous nature of the cryptocurrency market renders such gains implausible, solidifying Venotur.com as a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Venotur 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 fraud, scoundrels may get in touch with you with particular documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto savings. As we earlier figured out, these scammers have no plan of restoring your funds. So, what do these emails and browser plugins represent? You guessed – that is another element of the scam designed to throw you into deliberately running malicious applications onto your device.

Both add-ons and attachments attached to emails can function as a shell for different malicious code. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among all types of threats. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always existent. As previously mentioned, their conscience is of negligible importance, and their reputation is already seriously marred. They have no scruples to lose and strive to maximize gains.

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