BTC Giveaway Scams Using Elon Musk’s Name Pulls in More than $2M in Just Over a Month

2020-6-22 16:00

Bitcoin giveaway scams bearing the name of Tesla CEO and the founder and CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk raked in more than $2 million in just the past two months.

While these giveaway scams have been around for over two years now, the latest ones involve the use of Bitcoin vanity addresses such as 1MuskPsV7BnuvMuHGWmmXUyXKjxp3vLZX6 or 1ELonMUsKZzpVr5Xok8abiXhhqGbdrnK5C to give credibility to the scam.

Justin Lister, CEO of cyber-security firm Adaptiv has been tracking these addresses that have been abusing Musk’s name over the past month with the help of BitcoinAbuse found that 67 of such addresses have scammed users.

These 67 addresses received about 214 BTC worth more than $2 million since they were created in late April 2020, reported ZDNet.

Most of these vanity URLs are shared with the help of YouTube live streams. Hackers hijack YouTube accounts with high follower count to change its name and graphics to mimic one of a trusted brand or a celebrity.

Hacked accounts are sold on hacking forums for an amount ranging from $5 to thousands, depending on the follower count.

Hackers renamed the channels to Elon Musk’s name, the SpaceX brand, or news outlets for credibility. Moreover, they are usually organized on the occasion of an important event in the particular celebrity or brand’s history such as SpaceX’s first successful rocket launch carrying a live NASA astronaut crew.

The scammer then basically asked users to send them BTC under the promise of doubling their profits. These scams have made as much as $180k in one day.

The bitcoin addresses where a user has to send the BTC was either embedded in the live stream and users had to scan it with a QR code reader or users were asked to visit a giveaway website.

Cryptocurrency giveaway scams have been around since about early 2018, the tricks are just getting newer and better.

Other vanity addresses were found in the name of Bill Gates and those addresses hold more than $100,000 in stolen funds.

These scams aren’t limited to YouTube either but are also running rampant on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and recently on TikTok.

Similar to Notcoin - Blum - Airdrops In 2024

origin »

Ceocoin (CEO) íà Currencies.ru

$ 0.00304614 (+0.00%)
Îáúåì 24H $0
Èçìåíåèÿ 24h: 0.00 %, 7d: 0.00 %
Cåãîäíÿ L: $0 - H: $0
Êàïèòàëèçàöèÿ $0 Rank 99999
Äîñòóïíî / Âñåãî 0 CEO

scams giveaway two ceo bitcoin elon musk

scams giveaway → Ðåçóëüòàòîâ: 36


Ôîòî:

Scammers target Facebook users with sponsored ads for fake cryptocurrencies

It appears Twitter has become so saturated with cryptocurrency scams that attackers are finally starting to target other platforms too – like Facebook. Unlike the standard Bitcoin giveaway scams on Twitter, the Facebook scam (as noticed by Hard Fork) is designed to trick users into giving up sensitive data, like their credit card information.

2018-11-28 17:48


Twitter on the Defensive, Blames Third-Party App for Recent Scams

Twitter is pointing the finger at an unnamed third-party app as the party responsible for a string of cryptocurrency giveaway scams in recent weeks involving some major brands. Throughout the year, the popular social media platform Twitter has been in a losing battle against a massive botnet and cybercriminals who are hijacking prominent, verified accounts.

2018-11-17 03:00


Twitter Cryptocurrency Hacks Continue On Google To Promote Bitcoin Giveaway Scams

No sooner than the hacking of Target’s Twitter account was announced by TheNextWeb, the media website had another scam to cover – Google. Just like Target, Google became the latest verified account to be hacked by attackers on Twitter, promoting a “Bitcoin giveaway” scam that they hoped would reach the 800,000 followers. The message on […]

2018-11-14 10:31


Ôîòî:

India’s national disaster authority hacked to promote Bitcoin scams on Twitter

The cryptocurrency market is going through a rough patch, but this isn’t stopping scammers from duping people out of their funds. Hackers took over the official Twitter account of India’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to promote blatant Bitcoin giveaway scams – a trend that’s been plaguing social media for months now.

2018-11-6 12:47


Ôîòî:

Scam Me Once: Twitter Promotes Fake Elon Musk’s ‘Bitcoic’ Giveaway

Twitter has come under fire from cryptocurrency commentators once again after the social network began actively promoting an ongoing scam involving a Bitcoin giveaway. ‘Elon Musk’ Offers Millions of Dollars in ‘Bitcoic’ The scam, which has involved various accounts in recent weeks, currently revolves around a fake Elon Musk account using the hijacked Twitter handle of publishing house Pantheon Books.

2018-11-5 22:00


New Zealand PM Used As Pawn In Fake News Site

Jacinda Arden, Prime Minister of New Zealand has had her face used by a fake news site in order to promote articles aimed at Facebook to encourage a crypto startup. A local media source, ‘Stuff’ reported on Friday that multiple sponsored posts have recently been promoted on Facebook by using the likeness of the New Zealand PM with headlines such as New Investment Plan For Kiwis which were targeted at several different age groups around the country.

2018-10-12 16:30


Ôîòî:

Crypto Twitter Bots Have Become Worse than Anyone Could Have Imagined

Cryptocurrency–One of the industry’s worst proponents is a pervasive, network of scam bots that has quickly come to litter the space of Twitter. While most social media users have become accustomed to the incessant “Ethereum giveaway” scams that adorn the profile of any crypto industry figure, the problem has begun to bleed over into other […] The post Crypto Twitter Bots Have Become Worse than Anyone Could Have Imagined appeared first on Ethereum World News.

2018-8-7 06:22