We Investigated Vocarex: Legit or Scam? The Facts

Recently, Vocarex.com service surfaced, promoting itself as a place where you can safely store cryptocurrency and other assets. I managed to gather reliable supporting information that clearly confirms it is, actually, a scam service.

Despite the promises of the most user-friendly, trustworthy, and client-friendly service, Vocarex.com does not follow any of them. In fact, all this is just a shiny wrap around a blatant scam, which takes your funds and never gives them back. Any tales about gifts, backing from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Vocarex Scam Overview

Originally, Vocarex poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with exceptionally low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this platform is partnerships with celebrities that are known as crypto activists. Vitalii Buterin (Ethereum creator), Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet – the site claims having significant support from them. To make these claims look real, con actors employ deepfake videos where those celebrities advertise the fraud as 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.

Vocarex Scam

First and foremost, Vocarex copies the appearance of multiple similar pages. There are quite a few examples, like Virtnex, Visacryp or Vitcoex. They are completely identical in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the site header. Other particulars, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Probably, all these fraudulent websites are managed by the same team of scammers.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Vocarex Scam Works?

Vocarex is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Swindlers who stand behind it use numerous website designs, which still share the identical 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 complex 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 start the fraud, criminals create and fill accounts on well-liked social media platforms. They mainly aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the promotional campaign begins. Utilizing bots and paid promotions (when feasible), scam actors boost the presence of their scam activities to potential victims. And as I said, crooks do not shy away using generative AI for creating clips with the aforementioned celebrities that advertise their scam to the public. To boost the folks even more, swindlers claim the bonus for every user who joins the service immediately.

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

Users obtain a stimulus to enroll, attracted by the assurance of obtaining cryptocurrency rewards valued at hundreds of dollars, all for free. To augment the attractiveness of the offer, fake claims of cooperation with a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these assertions are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

After clicking the promos, users end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Vocarex”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Vocarex, “Start earning with Vocarex – they look rather authoritative. To heat up the interest and make the users proceed to step 3, scammers say that getting the promoted 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 get away from the scam without any losses. Before you sign up using your personal info, crooks will not be able to earn even a nickel from your presence on the website.

Step 3: Data Gathering

This is the starting poing of the main fraud action. As I just mentioned, deceivers bait folks into registration for bonuses. And all the personal info needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks 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 cryptocurrency purchases, you need to 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 cryptocurrency operations require you to have money on your account. In the case of Vocarex, 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 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 transferred money and withdraw them.

This is where the issues start to surface. When comparing the actual crypto wallet vs what the site says, you can notice that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to retrieve the money from your account, the scam is finally uncovered to the user.

Step 5: Escaping from Funds Withdrawal

There’s no need to explain that scoundrels have no intentions to send you money. But to make it look more realistic, they’ve elaborated a whole pack of reasons to decline the transfer-out request. Most of them repeat what KYC requirements say, but in this case they are here only to make the withdrawal impossible.

By asking for your personal data, frauds just stall hoping for you to understand that you’ve been scammed and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are multiple other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your grand back. And every check 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 Vocarex.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Unsubstantiated Credibility. Vocarex employs fraudulent celebrity endorsements, often featuring names like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mr. Beast, and Mark Zuckerberg. These false claims extend to fictitious partnerships with reputable entities like Coinbase, Binance, or MetaMask, despite the absence of genuine connections.
• Implausible Earnings Claims. Promising remarkable returns of 50-100-200%, Vocarex exploits the longing for quick profits. However, such gains are unrealistic within the volatile cryptocurrency landscape, unequivocally identifying Vocarex as a scam.
• Dubious Corporate Information. Vocarex arouses suspicion by providing inadequate documentation about ownership, location, and registration. Furthermore, the lack of legitimate contact information and the recent registration of domain and social media profiles deepen skepticism.
• Exclusive Cryptocurrency Payments. Vocarex.com solely accepts payments in cryptocurrencies, refraining from traditional bank transfers and other payment methods. This approach not only shrouds the company’s identity but also prevents the possibility of requesting refunds.
• Potential Pyramid Scheme. The scam relies on a Ponzi-like referral structure disseminated through social media. Nevertheless, only initial participants profit, often at the expense of funds brought in by subsequent members.
• Groundless Hype Tactics. Vocarex utilizes fabricated claims about non-existent events, such as securing contracts with Coinbase or receiving endorsements from Elon Musk. This manipulative strategy aims to foster belief in money returns and encourages individuals to top up their accounts again.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Vocarex 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 the scam to authorities. Search for local authorities responsible for financial frauds, and also notify wallet providers and social networks via their tech support. It is essential to make the further operations of these scammers much harder.
• Tell your close friends. That step is similar to reporting to the authorities, and has similar effects. By posting info about scam crypto service, you decrease the pool of people they can fool.
• Get evidence. Screenshot or save all the information related to the website. URL, screenshot of a main page, login window, EULA, account top-up menu, wallet addresses – all these things may be useful for authorities to find the scammers.
• Check whether you can ask for a refund. As I’ve said above, crypto payments do not fall under refund policies in most banks. Nonetheless, in some circumstances, it is still possible. Never lose hope until you actually confirm it is gone.
• Make your mistake your lesson. Financial losses are always a reason for frustration, but let’s imagine it was a pay for scam revealing courses. Remember the key features of these crypto scam sites, the way they attract people and what they promise. In the future, you will easily recognize a trap of spending no money.

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 duration of the fraud, its masters may reach out to you with specific documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your cryptocurrency funds. As we already determined, these scammers have no intent of giving back your money. So, what do these messages and browser plugins represent? You guessed – that is another component of the fraudulent scheme designed to entice you into deliberately installing harmful programs onto your computer.

Both extensions and files included to emails can act as a carrier for various malware. In this scenario, I expect the presence of spyware and stealers among other types of malicious programs. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the chance is always significant. As previously mentioned, their morality is of little concern, and their dignity is already neck deep in mud. They have no scruples to give up and strive to maximize gains.

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