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Bitcoin Users Send $1.14 Million For Michael Saylor Giveaway

A bitcoin user lost $1.14 million to online thieves impersonating MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor on Saturday. The user sent the equivalent of 26.4 BTC to an address tracked by Whale Alert confirm is a scam.

“This is a fake giveaway that received the biggest payout ever. We suspect the funds were made through a Coinbase address” Whale Alert said.

The thief committed the fraud by a website and YouTube, both “confirmed” platforms where scammers often impersonate Saylor.

channels youtube was later shut down and received an error message when trying to access the website.

26.4 BTC worth $1.14 million were sent to scammers’ addresses in five transactions file Monitor.

Bitcoin scams are thriving

Giveaway scams use the identities of celebrities like Michael Saylor to trick people into sending bitcoins with promises of replicating the original cryptocurrency.

Saylor is a Bitcoin proponent. In August 2020, his company MicroStrategy acquired 124,391 BTC, now valued at $5.39 billion, the largest holding of any publicly traded company.

Responding to a whale alert, Saylor to speak:

“At least 489 of these scams were posted on YouTube last week. We report them every 15 minutes and they shut down every few hours, but scammers are introducing more and more tricks.”

This is the latest Saylor-related fake giveaway. In November, someone also sent almost 3 BTC ($179,000) to another giveaway impersonating him.

Scammers impersonate not only Saylor, but also Elon Musk and famous government agencies or corporations.

Whale Alert said in a 2020 report that cybercriminals find it very easy to scam people’s bitcoins because their plans have become reliably aggressive and professional.

After analyzing hundreds of thousands of data, Whale Alert concluded that “scammers were paid heavily in crypto.” This is mainly because the bitcoin scam operation is almost risk-free as the chances of getting caught are extremely low.

Whale Alert is currently monitoring 9,214 fraudulent websites and 92,955 fraudulent crypto addresses. To date, more than $803 million in digital assets have been stolen worldwide.

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Annie

Championing positive change through finance, I've dedicated over eight years to sustainability and environmental journalism. My passion lies in uncovering companies that make a real difference in the world and guiding investors towards them. My expertise lies in navigating the world of sustainable investing, analyzing ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) criteria, and exploring the exciting field of impact investing. "Invest in a better future," I often say. That's the driving force behind my work at Coincu – to empower readers with knowledge and insights to make investment decisions that create a positive impact.