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- Michael Saylor impersonators are trapping Bitcoin investors with a new scam in the market.
- Social media platforms have been one of the hot destinations to sway crypto investors into different giveaways.
As Bitcoin continues to get more mainstream, the number of Bitcoin scams in the market is increasing simultaneously. Recently, there’s been a fake Bitcoin address impersonating the famous Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor.
As per the recent reports, the scam address has received a staggering $1.1 million worth of Bitcoin in January alone. Such impersonating scams have been a growing threat in the crypto industry. Last year, we have seen several such impersonating scams under the name of famous billionaire Elon Musk.
Such scams usually target high-profile people who have been associated with the Bitcoin community. The most common scams are offering users to double their BTC after sending them to a particular wallet.
Needless to say, all the BTC that goes to the scammers’ addresses are completely lost. Although these scams sound too good to be true, many people have a victim to them. Last Saturday, January 15, Whale Alert reported one address confirmed to be impersonating Michael Saylor.
đźš” A payment of 26 #BTC (1,124,191 USD) was just made to a confirmed Michael Saylor Giveaway scam!https://t.co/YNYRBLBt4P
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) January 15, 2022
Responding to it, Saylor said that he continues to report such addresses. However, they continue to pop up too often in recent times. Responding to this tweet, Saylor added:
489 of these scams were launched on YouTube last week. We report them every 15 minutes and they are taken down after a few hours, but the scammers just launch more…
Crypto scams on the rise
Over the last year, multiple cryptocurrency scams have been on the rise across several popular digital assets. Last month, hackers hacked the Twitter profile of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promoting a Bitcoin giveaway scam.
Related: Indian PM’s Twitter hacked account promotes Bitcoin scam, claims India buying 500 BTC
The tweet from the official account claimed that the government of India was buying 500 BTC. Besides, the scammers have also been keeping the law enforcement and regulatory agencies on their toes.
In November 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned users of growing crypto scams using QR codes and ATMs. These scammers usually impersonate government officials or from a lottery that demands some fee before offering the reward.
These criminals then direct the victim to visit a physical cryptocurrency ATM for buying the coins. Post the purchase, the scammers ask the victims to use a QR code thereby withdrawing all funds to the scammers’ wallets.
Popular meme cryptocurrency Shiba Inu (SHIB) which created a storm in Q4 2021 was also at the center of one such crypto scam. Several Shiba Inu scams were floating on multiple social media platforms. Such platforms, especially YouTube, have become hotbeds for scammers to attract people.
Read More: Shiba Inu team raises concern of scam; community warned not to share private keys
