Elon Musk Scams gathered $300k in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin.
The scammers stole a lot of crypto in a matter of time just by using verified Twitter accounts.
Cybercrooks acquired around $300,000 in crypto over the weekend. They used the hype around Elon Musk’s Saturday Night Live appearance to scam people.
Elon Musk appeared on the latest episode SNL then promoted Dogecoin. The meme coin dropped in value after his appearance. However, it is an ideal opportunity for scammers to make it as a front for a scam.
The scammers put up around 20 SNL and Elon Musk Twitter accounts then asked people to send their Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Dogecoin to suspicious addresses.
The criminal addresses received $191,293 in Bitcoin and Ethereum, then around $90k in Dogecoin.
The conmen claimed that by sending crypto to a given address, more crypto could be sent back in return. This move has been in the social media for many years now.
“This type of scamming is going for long time, people lost millions (if we count with the prices right now, tens of millions) of $ in coins and there is still no signs of real care about this from Twitter,”
MalwareHunterTeam
With the use of verified accounts that copy Elon Musk or SNL’s profile, people easily fall for those scams.
The profiles look real and have the blue Twitter verification icon. That is why people are more inclined to assume that the “giveaways” are real.
Fake Celebrity Scams going on
Scammers have been using celebrity endorsements to trick people into sending them crypto. Elon Musk is often used as a face for scams. Last year, a Bitcoin account that seemed to be owned by Elon Musk received $2 million worth of BTC in just two months.
More recently in March, a fake website that pretends to be the Tesla CEO got sent $243,000 in Bitcoin.
The Financial Conduct Authority in the UK repeatedly warned that it is common for fraudsters to use fake celebrity endorsements in social media to set traps for investors.
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