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A con artist posing as Elon Musk walked away with $ 560,000, the BBC reported.
After a man watched a series on Netflix with his wife at their home in Cologne, Germany, he sat on the sofa and looked at his phone. Then he received a Twitter notification that appeared to be from Elon Musk, as described by the BBC.
“Musk tweeted, ‘Dojo 4 Doge?’” The man told the BBC, referring to the cryptocurrency dogecoin. “There was a link to a new event below, so I clicked on it and saw it was offering Bitcoin!”
Then he followed the link to a legitimate looking website “where the Bitcoin giveaway seemed to be in full swing,” according to the account.
The bogus contest invited participants to send in up to 20 bitcoins (well over a million dollars) and they would double their money. (REUTERS / Benoit Tessier / Illustration)
The bogus contest invited participants to send in up to 20 bitcoins (well over a million dollars) and they would double their money. After the man thought he had checked the logo – which was actually a fake – next to Musk’s name, he decided to bet the farm and sent in 10 bitcoins (around $ 560,000 at the time).
And he was reassured as the crooks posted responses using a profile almost identical to Elon Musk, the BBC said.
But the money never came. It was then that he realized that it was a scam and that he had lost his early retirement fund.
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It was the most lost in a single transaction, the BBC said, citing Whale Alert, which tracks cryptocurrency transactions.
Scammers have already made $ 18 million in the first three months of this year, eclipsing the $ 16 million made in the 12 months of 2020, according to Whale Alert.
The crooks have already made $ 18 million in the first three months of this year.
(REUTERS / Steve Marcus)
“Unfortunately, it’s very easy for scammers to set up social media accounts and pretend to be people,” Bitcoin.org says on its website.
“Often they wait, until the person they’re trying to impersonate posts content. The impersonator responds with a follow-up message or a call to action – like a free giveaway – in using an account that almost looks like the poster or the original author, ”Bitcoin.org says.
And there are countless variations of scam.
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Another common item is fraudulent coins.
“Fraudulent coins can feature a flashy website and / or boast of a large community to create the fear of missing out on the effect on people who discover them. This helps early holders to raise the price so that they can empty and exit their positions for a profit, ”Bitcoin.org says.
More and more common
This is not the first time that crooks have tried to capitalize on the Twitter profile of Elon Musk – who has nearly 50 million subscribers and often tweets about cryptocurrency – and other famous people with many. followers.
In July 2020, hackers managed to take over the Twitter accounts of famous people, including Musk, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Mike Bloomberg.
“I give back to the community,” some of the tweets said at the time.
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And the scam was similar: double your money.
“All Bitcoins sent to the address below will be returned doubled! If you send $ 1,000, I will return $ 2,000 to you. Only doing this for 30 minutes,” the scam states.
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