Investigating Winshine: Legit or Scam? The Truth Revealed

Recently, Winshine.online service surfaced, promoting itself as a place to keep cryptocurrency and other assets securely. I managed to gather reliable proof that unmistakably indicates it is, actually, a fraudulent site.

Despite the promises of the most easy, dependable, and client-friendly service, Winshine.online does not follow any of them. All this is just a shiny wrap around a clear scam, which steals your funds and never gives them back. Any stories about bonuses, backing from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

It is better to prevent, than repair and repent!

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Winshine Scam Overview

Originally, Winshine poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet service with remarkably low commission fees. Another highlighted selling point for this service is backing from celebrities that are known in the crypto world. Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Vitalii Buterin, Jeff Bezos – the site says about being supported by them. To make these claims look more realistic, con actors employ AI-generated videos where those celebrities promote the scam as the best thing in the world. For known reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a blatant wrap around an obvious scam.

Winshine Scam

Initially, Winshine shares the design of many similar pages. There are quite a few examples, like Teslacapitalhub, Zetboom or Roiwin. They are completely identical in terms of graphic elements, with small discrepancies in the webpage header. Other specific elements, and at times even crypto wallet addresses, are unchanged. Probably, all these fraudulent sites are managed by a single gang of fraudsters.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Winshine Scam Works?

Winshine is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use various 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 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 scam, criminals create and fill accounts on popular social media platforms. They primarily aim at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign starts. Employing bots and paid promotions (when feasible), scam actors intensify the presence of their scam activities to possible victims. And as I said, fraudsters 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, frauds claim the bonus for every user who registers the service immediately.

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

Users receive an incentive to enroll, attracted by the assurance of getting crypto rewards valued at thousands of dollars, all for free. To increase the attractiveness of the offer, fake suggestions of cooperation with a celebrity are added. As you may guess, these claims are entirely baseless.

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the promos, victims end up on a page filled with enticing offers. “Crypto starts with Winshine”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Winshine, “Start earning with Winshine – they look rather credible. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, crooks say that getting the promised bonus requires registration. And as nothing questionable happens at this point, uninformed users happily proceed – especially since 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 register using your personal information, crooks 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 mentioned, deceivers bait folks for registration with bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – is valuable for user identification. Exclusively by gathering this data and selling it further into the Darknet, crooks can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, the promised bonus is not available to use right away. To make at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, the user should top up the account with the sum of a bonus. And this is what starts the final stage of the scam.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any cryptocurrency operations require you to have money on your account. With Winshine, users are also coerced to top up to use the bonuses. And this is what creates the majority of the money flow to this fraudulent site. By topping up the account, users hope to get the committed gift (usually $500-1000 in USDT), and may start participating on this website hoping to use all the deposited capital and withdraw them.

This, however, is where the victim notices the issues. 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 retrieve the funds 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 send you money. Though to make it look more legitimate, they’ve crafted a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what Know Your Client requirements say, but in this case they are here only to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for your personal info, scammers just stall hoping for you to accept the loss and stop contacting them. If you don’t – well, there are multiple other checks you would desperately need to undergo before getting your funds back. And every check will reveal more and more info of yours, 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 Winshine.online. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

• Cryptocurrency-Only Transactions. Winshine.online 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. Winshine 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. Winshine 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. Winshine 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%, Winshine capitalizes on the desire for high profits. However, the tumultuous nature of the cryptocurrency market renders such gains implausible, solidifying Winshine.online as a definite scam.

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Winshine 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 timeline of the scam, scoundrels may reach out to you with specific files. Alternatively, they may offer you to set up “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your cryptocurrency assets. As we previously figured out, these rascals have no intent of restoring your funds. So, what can these emails and browser extensions represent? Correct – that is another component of the scam designed to throw you into willingly installing malicious applications onto your computer.

Both plugins and files added to email messages can act as a carrier for diverse malicious software. In this case, I foresee the presence of spyware and stealers among other forms of malicious programs. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the probability is always existent. As previously mentioned, their morality is of negligible importance, and their reputation is already deeply compromised. They have no principles to lose and aim to maximize gains.

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