We Investigated Vetbex: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Vetbex.com site popped up, promoting itself as a place to keep cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that clearly reveals it is, in fact, a scam platform.

Despite the promises of the most user-friendly, trustworthy, and client-friendly service, Vetbex.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a golden wrap around a clear scam, which steals your funds and never returns them. Any stories about gifts, endorsement from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Vetbex Scam Overview

Originally, Vetbex poses as a crypto trading & cryptowallet platform with exceptionally low commission fees. Another bright selling point for this platform is partnerships with celebrities that are known in the crypto world. 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 promote the scam 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 blatant wrap around an obvious scam.

Vetbex Scam

First and foremost, Vetbex copies the layout of many similar online platforms. There are quite a few examples, like Hueglot, Gatexbeast or Foloonax. They are totally indistinguishable in terms of graphic elements, with slight discrepancies in the webpage header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are identical. Presumably, all these deceptive online platforms are operated by a single team of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Vetbex Scam Works?

Vetbex is a part of a extensive cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating actively in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use numerous 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 authenticity of the website. But let’s review them one by one.

Step 1: Promotion

To initiate the deceptive scheme, criminals establish and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They primarily target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign begins. Employing bots and paid ads (when possible), scam actors increase the presence of their fraudulent activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters do not shy away using generative AI for creating clips with the aforementioned celebs 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 Vetbex in TikTok. Most of these videos are AI-generated deepfakes

Users get an encouragement to enroll, drawn by the promise of getting crypto benefits valued at thousands of dollars, all without cost. To enhance the appeal of the offer, fake claims of cooperation with a celebrity are incorporated. As you may guess, these assertions are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon following the promotions, victims end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Vetbex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Vetbex, “Start earning with Vetbex – they look rather authoritative. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, fraudsters say that getting the pledged bonus requires registration. And as nothing concerning happens at this point, uninformed users happily keep on – especially since the reward appears to be right behind the corner.

At this point, it is possible to skip the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal data, swindrels will not be able to earn even a nickel from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is where the main fraud action begins. As I just said, deceivers bait folks into signing up to get bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Solely by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Nonetheless, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the alleged bonus is not available to use right away. To make it at least usable for cryptocurrency purchases, you need to top up the account with the sum of a bonus. And this is what initiates the final step of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any cryptocurrency operations require you to have money on your account. With Vetbex, users are also coerced to top up to claim the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the money flow to this scam site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the promised gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start trading on this website hoping to use all the transferred capital and withdraw them.

This is where the victim notices the problems. When comparing the actual crypto wallet vs what the website says, you can notice that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to pull out 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 have zero intentions to send you money. Though to make the fraud look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what Know Your Client regulations say, but in this case they are here exclusively to make the wireout 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 money back. And every check will reveal more and more information, which – you guessed it right – will be then traded 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 Vetbex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Vetbex 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 timeline of the fraud, fraudsters may get in touch with you with specific files. Alternatively, they may propose you to deploy “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your crypto savings. As we previously figured out, these scoundrels have no intent of returning your funds. So, what do these email messages and browser plugins represent? You guessed it right – that is another element of the scam designed to throw you into willingly installing malicious software onto your computer.

Both add-ons and attachments added to emails can function as a shell for different malicious software. In this situation, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among all forms of threats. While it is not obligatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always greater than zero. As previously mentioned, their morality is of no concern, and their reputation is already severely tarnished. They have no principles to lose and intend to boost revenues.

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