Renovato - Suspicious project with a possible Fake Team member

[ICOEthics]

What happened: Suspicious project with a possible Fake Team member

Profile Link: ANN - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5111555.0
http://web.archive.org/web/20190303194313/https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5111555.0

Website: https://renovato.io/
https://web.archive.org/web/20190301213143/https://renovato.io/  (web archive from 01/03/19)
https://web.archive.org/web/20190303000507/https://renovato.io/ (web archive for 02/03/19)

We have contacted this project by posting on their ANN some questions about their team and the legality of their business.
Also recently we found a possible FAKE TEAM MEMBER on their website,  but the CEO didn't address the issue properly.
It appears that the CEO / Founder doesn't want transparency for this project, as he has refused to answer many important questions in regards to himself, the team and the project.

A couple of days ago we contacted some team members listed on their website, next day a team member was replaced and someone had a name changed.
What happened to “Oleksandr Nimets”?  and why was “Andrey Stehno” renamed to “web3.space”?


(edited/added)

https://web.archive.org/web/20190301213143/https://renovato.io/ with the first team
https://web.archive.org/web/20190303000507/https://renovato.io/ with the new team


 
POSSIBLE REAL NAME: Shengji Chen
https://www.hodlalert.com/2018/08/28/qtum-community-and-development-updates-august-27/
https://blog.qtum.org/qtum-community-and-development-updates-august-27-5c486e43925c


The CEO/Founder's image appears to be photoshopped on their website - which the CEO never answered if was or wasn't.  He uploaded a photo to their ANN, but refuses to answer many important questions.

With minimal photoshop skills, anyone can get the same results using this stock image photo:



He didn't pass KYC, but mysteriously passed KYC a few hours later after we posted on their ANN thread - NO surprise, we are used to this agency doing this often (maybe getting paid to pass a KYC?)


archived


The CEO appears to be inexperienced, his profile on Linkedin only lists 1 job experience, which is his job as the CEO/Founder of Renovato.
He didn't provide a full bio when asked= CEO for this Project - Also the founder lacks professionalism.

What you got next for me bud?

Hey buddy...

And this is his answer about a member with a possible fake name:

Here, his telegram is @soulinthone if you want to dig even deeper.

Very unprofessional, it appears that he doesn't care if the team member is fake or not.



ABOUT THE COMPANY

There are two companies - 1 in Estonia and 1 in the US:

~
Renovato LLC is a subsidiary of Renovato Trading OÜ and operated out of Los Angeles California...

The one operated out of Los Angeles, is registered in Delaware with an office in San Francisco.
I would like to see proof of such an office in San Francisco and also the one in Estonia.



Delaware registration December 2018



(search: https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/eCorp/EntitySearch/NameSearch.aspx )


The one in Estonia was just registered in February 2019




They want to raise 17 million and appears they don't even have a prototype yet. (The CEO didnt answer if they have one)

*** This project need more investigation ***

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[wwzsocki]

Very good investigation @ICOEthics as always.

Thank you very much for your great work in exposing ICO scams and let our community know about this.

Of course, I will merit you with my first available merit. I try to give them back to members as soon as I get them but relax you are on my list now.

[Hellmouth42]

For information, I had some doubt about the project last week;

The elements exposed are problematic (thank to ICOEthic for his work,as usual)
(and I would not put money as an investor on the project...)

However, I talked to the CEO of Renovato by Telegram (Charles Varnado therefore) and he was able to give me a picture of him, not retouched.



"I had a account years ago and guess I deleted it with all my connections so starting over" (source: Telegram discussion)

And this one, linked with his Telegram account:




It doesn't prove anything (one way or the other), and It's maybe a stolen picture after all, but I think it's important to make that clear.

[ICOEthics]

For information, I had some doubt about the project last week;

He already uploaded a photo to their ANN thread. One of the problems here is a possible fake member, not the CEO image (except the possible photoshopped image with eyeglasses - and if it was photoshopped, why did he do that?) ANd off course many questions that we posted on their ANN thread that he refused to answer.   (edited)


 
POSSIBLE REAL NAME: Shengji Chen
https://www.hodlalert.com/2018/08/28/qtum-community-and-development-updates-august-27/
https://blog.qtum.org/qtum-community-and-development-updates-august-27-5c486e43925c

[Hellmouth42]

What happened to “Oleksandr Nimets”?

He was never a member of the team, I guess it was him who asked to be removed from the website...
Tagged, I think that's enough.

[ICOEthics]

What happened to “Oleksandr Nimets”?

He was never a member of the team, I guess it was him who asked to be removed from the website...
Tagged, I think that's enough.

We contacted him and he also sent the same reply to us on Linkedin. I agree with you, I think after he was contacted he sent a message asking Renovato to remove his image and name from the website. It is funny how Renovato renamed “Andrey Stehno” to  “web3.space”.

[Theb]

For information, I had some doubt about the project last week;

The elements exposed are problematic (thank to ICOEthic for his work,as usual)
(and I would not put money as an investor on the project...)

However, I talked to the CEO of Renovato by Telegram (Charles Varnado therefore) and he was able to give me a picture of him, not retouched.

~snip~


It doesn't prove anything (one way or the other), and It's maybe a stolen picture after all, but I think it's important to make that clear.

Providing images especially the ones who look like they have been taken out for back up is useless. This guy already provided a lousy photoshopped image of a guy, I doubt we can even trust him with more pictures of that person. If he was kind enough to provide you more images of "Him" then he might probably go for the extra mile by providing an actual video of him maybe talking about his STO token which I think is sufficient enough to prove his identity.

Meenoy S./ Shengji Chen on the other hand confirms that they have used a fake identity for one of their team members not unless Meenoy S. is just a nickname for this dude which I doubt is the situation. None of their team is still responding so a lot of things are still unclear.

[magneto]

It's an obvious fraudulent project to me.

The fact that they have photoshopped photos of their team, stolen images of another person called a completely different name (using the same exact picture), and also apparently changing half of their team in the midst of their launch all are extremely suspicious. I suspect that their aim currently will just to gain as much money from the pre-sale as possible, because they know they can't defend against these claims, and they probably won't even bother as soon as the sale ends. I don't think it's just a "possible fake team member". It is a fake team member based on the evidence you provide, or at least very probable.

He didn't pass KYC, but mysteriously passed KYC a few hours later after we posted on their ANN thread - NO surprise, we are used to this agency doing this often (maybe getting paid to pass a KYC?)

I certainly think that there is something fishy going on with all those ICO ratings agencies, which is a part of the reason why I never trust their assessments.

People who blindly trust their judgement will be in for a nasty surprise  

[ICOEthics]

It appears that he (the CEO/Founder) doesnt want to come to this thread to answer anything. Below is their last post on their tread:

What you got next for me bud?

Hey buddy...

Here, his telegram is @soulinthone if you want to dig even deeper.

We are not your "buddy" or "bud". Your lack of professionalism should make any investor worried. You dont even care about your new team member possible fake stealing people's identity.

Since you refuse to answer here most of the questions, if you want to answer anything now go to the scam accusation board and we will continue from there.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5116514.0

We, and I especially, don't have time to deal with you flat out saying we're a scam. It's kind of a joke and I'll just let you do your thing. If you lived in America I would sue you for defamation, but you seem to be hiding who you really are or where you're even from. I will not "continue" with you. We just turned down HitBTC from listing our coin and you're really far out in the deep end here. I am a AMERICAN citizen and you're calling me a scam for 1 and then 2 with NO evidence baffles me. My business partner lives in Beverley Hills and I also trade for him so you really wrong on this one, but it will be your mistake in the end and I have zero time for your accusations.

We will continue to succeed here with our company and in the end, I promise you, any credibility you had will be tarnished.

I did see your website is registered here in the states and would be very careful with flat out blatantly calling my company a scam.

Domain Name: ICOETHICS.COM
Registry Domain ID: 2273984495_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.bluehost.com
Registrar URL: http://www.bluehost.com/
Updated Date: 2019-01-12T14:01:25Z
Creation Date: 2018-06-11T18:43:15Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2019-06-11T18:43:15Z
Registrar: FastDomain Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 1154
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: email@bluehost.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.8017659400
Reseller: BlueHost.Com
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: DOMAIN PRIVACY SERVICE FBO REGISTRANT
Registrant Organization: THE ENDURANCE INTERNATIONAL GROUP, INC.
Registrant Street: 10 CORPORATE DR, STE 300  
Registrant City: BURLINGTON
Registrant State/Province: MASSACHUSETTS
Registrant Postal Code: 01803
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.8017659400
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: email@BLUEHOST.COM
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: DOMAIN PRIVACY SERVICE FBO REGISTRANT
Admin Organization: THE ENDURANCE INTERNATIONAL GROUP, INC.
Admin Street: 10 CORPORATE DR, STE 300  
Admin City: BURLINGTON
Admin State/Province: MASSACHUSETTS
Admin Postal Code: 01803
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.8017659400
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: email@BLUEHOST.COM
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: DOMAIN PRIVACY SERVICE FBO REGISTRANT
Tech Organization: THE ENDURANCE INTERNATIONAL GROUP, INC.
Tech Street: 10 CORPORATE DR, STE 300  
Tech City: BURLINGTON
Tech State/Province: MASSACHUSETTS
Tech Postal Code: 01803
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.8017659400
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: email@BLUEHOST.COM
Name Server: NS1.BLUEHOST.COM
Name Server: NS2.BLUEHOST.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2019-01-12T14:01:25Z <<<

And here is our answer:

~
If you lived in America I would sue you for defamation...
...I am a AMERICAN citizen and you're calling me a scam...
... I have zero time for your accusations.

First of all, we are NOT calling you a scam or scammer. If you go the link below you will see that. You have a fake team member and you refused to provide valid evidence of your team member's real name. An honest project will NOT refuse to answer a simple question. And just because you uploaded some pictures to this forum, it doesnt mean anything, it could be stolen pictures. There are no dates on them and you dont want to make a video.

You don't have a reason to sue ICOEthics.com, there is absolutely nothing about your project on the website. ICOEthics just lists on the site when a project is accused of scam.

And about your website:

Domain Created: 2018-08-31
Domain Age: 6 months 2 days  
Domain Name: RENOVATO.IO
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.namecheap.com
Registrar URL: www.namecheap.com
Updated Date: 2019-02-15T06:39:18Z
Creation Date: 2018-08-31T18:59:18Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2019-08-31T18:59:18Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date:
Registrar: NameCheap, Inc
Registrar IANA ID: 1068
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: email
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.6613102107
Reseller:
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Registrant Organization:
Registrant State/Province: Panama
Registrant Country: PA
Name Server: DNS1.NAMECHEAPHOSTING.COM
Name Server: DNS2.NAMECHEAPHOSTING.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned

The information about your website ownership is hidden. And you registered your website with a company fromPanama. WHY PANAMA? Just in case you get sued?
at least ICOETHICS is registered in the US and ICOEthics is not selling anything like you are.

We have seen many scammers buying a website 6 months before starting their token sales, extend the sales until the website expiration date. Website expires and everything about the token disappears, bounty hunters don't get paid, etc. And the pump and dump start...

Why you didn't buy your site for 2+ years.  WHY you choose NAMECHEAP.com a well know site used by scammers and with a bad reputation on the internet? Why you didn't use something safer and reputable in the US - Investors will be safer with their data, etc...  

Well, you don't want to talk about data or answer questions. That's why we created this thread below and if you want it to go away, answer questions and provide evidence as all other transparent project does.

WARNING - FAKE TEAM MEMBER
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5116514.0

[coin-investor]

They thought they are going to succeed without going down here and answering these accusations, he is wrong this thread is indexed by Google and people are going down here to check the latest scam report so if you have ten investing in your ICO it will only be one but I hope you will get nothing.

[ICOEthics]

And now they replaced a team member again. But didnt explain about the fake member that they had listed earlier. (edited)





https://web.archive.org/web/20190306175746/https://renovato.io/

[fortunecrypto]

Hoy Shit!! I almost fall to this one I was going to wear their signature because their project looks good to me, great find maybe I should do what you been doing to find if a project is good or not, glad that you are still at it.

[ICOEthics]

Hi there again. You can reach out to him on LinkedIn. Cheers.
We're also changing our social media team and will continue to change or add members....
You can keep saying scam all you want...
...

I'm not participating in your fake thread, sorry. Did you ever reach out to him with his telegram name I provided you? You could of answered your own questions...
...Show me evidence of scamming and until then your claims are garbage.  You have not a ounce of proof to your claims and yet just continue to say it's a scam because your mind says so.
...You have no credibility here, zero. Show me proof, but you can't because it doesn't existent.
...

Here, his telegram is @soulinthone if you want to dig even deeper.

Again we see here a lack of transparency with this project and a lack of RESPONSIBILITY from their CEO/Founder. He doesnt want to answer anything on this thread.
A project that wants to raise $17M and don't want to answer questions, especially about a FAKE TEAM member, is not a good sign.
Any investor should be skeptical about a CEO that tells investors to go "dig even deeper" information about the fake team member, which he allowed to be listed on his website. At this point is not an obligation of an investor to investigate a FAKE team member, but the CEO to provide evidence to their investors.

And he keeps saying that we are calling them a scam/scammer, which we have NOT, we dont need to. This project is just becoming more suspicious as we see the CEO acting like a 6 years old child having a tantrum and throwing accusations at us, such as the one below:

Also how many projects have you promoted as real turned out as scams or didn't even return anything of value to their coin holders? I'll wait.

Everyone knows that ICOEthics doesn't promote any project. Maybe we should.

[sulek1010]

Thanks to the management for the job well done  in order to discovered this on time. Kudos to the ANN management.

[coin-investor]

Looks like the dev of Renovato just hire shills to shill their scam project

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5111555.msg50087327#msg50087327

This is what scam projects normally do so to make investors that the project is great and legit they hire shills,a great project let investors post their opinion about their project not pay shills to make your project looks legit