$2M Worth of Cryptocurrency Scam Reported by Impersonating Elon Musk
Investors fooled by scammers who impersonated Elon Musk and stole over $2M worth of cryptocurrency.
In the history of scams, here comes a new tragedy, which involves cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency scammers impersonated celebrities like Elon Musk and looted money from people. As we all know that Elon Musk has constantly been promoting cryptocurrency over the last few years on the social media platform, it’s nothing shocking that people got fooled. The popularity stance of Elon Musk and the increased number of scams last year lead a number of investors into believing scammers.
Elon Musk is popularly recognized as a creative entrepreneurial venture and has created aspiring plans from autonomous cars to a flamethrower, which includes a portfolio with cryptocurrency. In addition to this context, Tesla started processing Bitcoin as a payment mode for new car models. However, the company’s Bitcoin plan lived a short life but did not reduce Elon Musk’s excitement for cryptocurrency at all. Somehow this adventure portrayed Elon Musk as a perfect object for the scam.
According to reports, last year, Elon Musk, including other popular personalities’ data were hacked on the social media platform ‘Twitter,’ and it was used to tweet fake promises of offering free cryptocurrency to anyone who responded to the message. Later, the scam was reported and addressed, but the scam stayed still.
According to the reports of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), there was more than $2M worth of losses that cryptocurrency investors reported, which was caused by an impersonation scam scheme. However, in the whole scenario, only Elon Musk was reported, but it is clear that there were other names as well. And the whole event did not end on the impersonation act. They also offered tips for investment returns.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has continuously received 7,000 reports since October 2020, which turned out to be more than $80 million worth of loss. The loss figure has grown by approximately 1000% in comparison to same time before 1 year.
How to avoid cryptocurrency scams on social media?
The popularity of cryptocurrency may be high-rated, but it is still an eruptive way of investment. If you receive high-valued results, then it is beneficial, but the losses are just as same. There is still so much to learn about trading through cryptocurrency, and with loads of scammers roaming around offering tips, people are easily getting scammed. These kinds of incidents show how little knowledge people acquire about the cryptocurrency market.
In order to avoid this huge mess and getting scammed, the would-be investors need to acknowledge that verified schemes do not offer massive returns or tips to get instant fix for any loss. In addition, you need to avoid accounts that offer tips in return for money or ask for money at all. It does not matter if the offer is from a verified account. You need to avoid whoever asks for money.
For instance, according to the Twitter hack from 2020, the scammers ask would-be investors to send them crypto from their wallets and offer massive returns. These incidents usually end up as investors losing their money.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also tells people to report such incidents and scams. However, it is hardly possible to get what you lost, but scammers might end up getting a penalty, punishment, or whatever fits the shoes. There was a scam reported in 2020, which ended up in a scammer getting arrested and sentenced.
Since the scam was reported on Twitter, social media platforms are now aware of cryptocurrency scam schemes, but you need to be aware of the fact instead of relying on social media platforms to protect you.
META– $2 million worth of cryptocurrency scam reported by impersonating Elon Musk and other popular celebrities. Read how to avoid getting cryptocurrency scammers.
Hello, I am Blanche Harris. Being an online security expert, I love to make people aware of cyber threats and share helpful information to them regarding them. Download, install and activate your norton security at norton.com/setup.
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