The Truth About Zauwtous: Legit or Scam? Our Review

Recently, Zauwtous.com website appeared, promoting itself as a place to store cryptocurrency and other assets safely. I managed to gather credible proof that clearly confirms it is, in fact, a fraudulent service.

Regardless of the promises of the most user-friendly, dependable, and client-friendly service, Zauwtous.com does not offer any of them. All this is just a golden wrap around a blatant scam, which takes your money and never returns them. Any stories about gifts, endorsement from celebrities etc are nowhere to be found as well.

Zauwtous Scam Overview

Originally, Zauwtous poses as a cryptocurrency trading & cryptowallet platform with outstandingly low commission fees. Another highlighted marketing point for this site is partnerships with 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 real, frauds use deepfake videos with those celebs advertise the fake crypto service as if it was the best thing in the world. For obvious reasons, Elon Musk is the most common among them. But, as I said in the introduction, all this is just a vivid wrap around an obvious scam.

Zauwtous Scam

Initially, Zauwtous shares the appearance of numerous equivalent pages. There are quite a few examples, like Xlsnetwork, Saywes or Deptox. They are totally undistinguishable in terms of visual elements, with minor discrepancies in the site header. Other specific elements, and sometimes even crypto wallet addresses, are matching. Probably, all these deceptive websites are led by the same team of swindrels.

Cryptocurrency Scam Summary

How the Zauwtous Scam Works?

Zauwtous is a part of a significant cryptocurrency scam scheme that started circulating vividly in 2023. Scammers who stand behind it use numerous website designs, which still share the identical 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 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 popular social media platforms. They mainly target Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Subsequently, the advertising campaign begins. Utilizing bots and sponsored promotions (when possible), fraud actors increase the visibility of their deceptive 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 registers the service immediately.

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

Step 2: Gaining Traffic

Upon clicking the ads, victims end up on a page filled with attractive offers. “Crypto starts with Zauwtous”, “Your crypto savings are secured with Zauwtous, “Start earning with Zauwtous – they look rather authoritative. To heat up users and make them proceed to step 3, scammers say that unlocking the promoted bonus requires registration. And since nothing suspicious happens at this point, unaware users happily proceed – especially since the bonus appears to be right behind the corner.

This is the last stage when it is possible to steer away from the scam without any losses. Before you register using your personal data, frauds will not 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 signing up to get bonuses. And all the personal information needed for it – email, username, cryptocurrency wallet address – are valuable for user identification. Only by gathering this information and selling it further into the Darknet, swindlers can earn quite a penny. Still, their plans go much further.

As it turns out, you cannot use the alleged bonus right away. To make at least cryptocurrency purchases on the platform with it, you need to top up the account with the sum of a bonus. At this point, the final stage of the scam begins.

Step 4: Requesting funds

Obviously, any cryptocurrency operations require having capital on your account. With Zauwtous, users are also forced to top up to claim the bonuses. And these top ups is what creates most of the cash 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 credited capital and withdraw them.

This is where the problems start to surface. When comparing the actual cryptocurrency wallet vs what the website says, you can notice that no transactions are done whatsoever. And then, when you’d try to retrieve the capital 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 0 intentions to send you money. But to make it look more realistic, they’ve developed a whole pack of reasons to decline the wireout request. Usually, they repeat what KYC requirements say, but for the Zauwtous.com they are here exclusively to make the wireout impossible.

By asking for your personal info, deceivers 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 funds back. And each of these checks 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 Zauwtous.com. Actually, there are a lot of scams that fall under the same points, so they are pretty much universal.

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

What Should I do as a Victim?

If you had to deal with Zauwtous 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 particular documents. Alternatively, they may suggest you to install “cryptocurrency wallet applications” or “browser extensions” to facilitate access to your cryptocurrency assets. As we previously figured out, these deceivers have no plan of giving back your funds. So, what can these email messages and browser plugins represent? You guessed it right – this is another element of the scam designed to entice you into deliberately running harmful software onto your computer.

Both add-ons and files included to emails can serve as a shell for different malicious code. In this scenario, I anticipate the presence of spyware and stealers among all kinds of malware. While it is not mandatory for scammers to distribute malware, the likelihood is always greater than zero. As stated, their conscience is of little concern, and their reputation is already severely tarnished. They have no scruples to lose and aim to boost revenues.

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