Consumers scammed by fraudulent bitcoin giveaways surrounding SNL’s broadcast with ELon Musk have asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for help.
Online giveaways
During Elon Musk’s performance at Saturday Night Live on May 8, fraudsters posing like him posted giveaways online. Some cryptocurrency holders have been tricked into sending money to unknown accounts with the assurance that they will get a higher return. Reported losses are in excess of $ 2 million, although it was initially estimated at $ 5 million.
Now some of these victims are calling on the FTC to help them get their money back. Emma Fletcher of the FTC on the hype surrounding the rising value of cryptocurrency: “People don’t want to miss anything, and scammers want to take advantage of the information gap between their knowledge and enthusiasm about cryptocurrency.”
Testimonials from victims
From files from the FTC are public, in which you can read about various ways scammers tricked gullible investors.
One victim claimed that a tweet that looked like it came from Elon Musk offered a tenfold increase for sending one bitcoin, to celebrate. Another fraudster posted a special crypto airdrop from Elon Musk, promising to double the amount of crypto sent. A victim claims they sent the address 5,000 DOGE before realizing it was a scam.
Promotion of SNL
Other fraudsters used Musk’s high-profile performance on the iconic show as a feat of arms. “ I foolishly thought Saturday Night Live was running a promotional giveaway in support of Elon Musk’s debut to host the show, ” says another victim. She went to the website SNLMUSK.com and sent 30,000 DOGE expecting them to increase that amount tenfold.
Musk doesn’t need a fake account
But Elon Musk doesn’t need scams or fake accounts to influence the market and make people lose their money. Bitcoin has fallen sharply since Tesla’s CEO announced that the company would no longer accept bitcoin as payment.
Further comments from Musk only made that drop worse. Although he later made that clear Tesla geen bitcoin has sold.
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