Title: [PSA] CRYPTO AIRDROP SCAMS ON TWITTER/YOUTUBE [$100K+ STOLEN] Post by: Darkio on November 03, 2019, 10:11:17 PM Hello BitcoinTalk Community.
I have been here previously under a few different accounts with essentially no posts and almost no merit, but this is the account that I plan to actively use until I leave this forum. I am not sure if I should post this here or in the Scam Accusations forum, but I feel like since there isn't a specific individual on here that I can point a finger at, this serves better as a public warning to all crypto newbies, as there are still people falling for this, and that is hurting my head. The Crypto Double/Crypto Airdrop Scam 1 - Anatomy of an Airdrop/Double scam
1a. - Ponzi/Pyramid It will end up being a "Ponzi Scheme", a Ponzi/Pyramid scheme is described by investopedia.com as: Quote The Ponzi scheme generates returns for early investors by acquiring new investors. This is similar to a pyramid scheme in that both are based on using new investors' funds to pay the earlier backers. The scammers will pay back the first investors using the investments of later investors to increase the "legitimacy" of their airdrop/doubling service, one they are reputable enough to secure an investment that meets their scam goal, they will exitscam and disappear with all of the user's funds.1b. - Running Scam They just outright run with the funds that they are given, no payback to any of the investors, they will usually go to a new account and start the same scam over again under a different name, often having the same graphics/description of the scam, most of the scammers wont put in enough effort to make their airdrop scam look unique each time, and will often reuse the same luring principles over multiple accounts and multiple coins. 2 - Where do these scams occur? How do people fall for them there?
Twitter is one of the leading social medias on the planet, the founder of twitter (Jack Dorsey) is an avid cryptocurrency user and bitcoin supporter, many discussions about cryptocurrency utilize twitter, and MANY cryptocurrency users own a twitter account. Twitter's avid crypto-centric userbase and open speech platform makes it the perfect place for fraudsters to target people in their scams. The crypto airdrop scam on twitter usually unfolds like this.
2b - YouTube YouTube is the world's largest video sharing platform, and just like twitter, has an absurd amount of cryptocurrency enthusiasts present on it's platform. Seeing a fake airdrop livestream in my recommendeds while simply browsing YouTube last night is what actually prompted me to write this PSA thread, as upon inspection of the "Promo" addresses, the scammers had up to $XX,XXX USD in their scam addresses! (More on this in 3X). A YouTube airdrop scam usually unfolds like this
3 - How much has been lost to this? How can we stop this?
3a - So how can we stop this? There are many preventative measures we can take to stop these scams or lessen the overall impact that they have on the cryptocurrency community, many of them are quite straightforward and easy! For starters, just report them! If they are streaming on youtube, click the flag icon above their subscribe button and report them for "Scamming/Fraud", if it is on twitter, Report them for Impersonation, Scamming & Fraud, and if they have a verified account, report them for Compromised Account (They get locked VERY fast if you do this). If you wanna hit the scammers where it hurts (In the wallet, like I did), then it is worth going through the transaction logs on their promo addresses, see if there are withdrawals or deposits to any exchanges from the address or other linked addresses (Ie; binance, coinbase, bittrex, bitmex), email the designated security teams of each company and dictate that there are users using their exchange to facilitate fraud/scams, be sure to be as informative as possible and include the wallet addresses of the exchange that are connected to the address used for fraud, the address that was actually used for fraud, and proof of fraud (screencap the stream/twitter post, copy the description ETC.) I have recently done the above to the YouTube scammers that I saw myself, I will be posting a followup thread if my report was successful, but if you see any of these, you may contact the security teams of the exchanges below: Coinbase: security@coinbase.com Binance: https://www.binance.com/en/support/articles/360000006051 Bittrex: Will add later Kraken: Will add later Bitmex: Will add later[/list] Title: Re: [PSA] CRYPTO AIRDROP SCAMS ON TWITTER/YOUTUBE [$100K+ STOLEN] Post by: Lafu on November 03, 2019, 11:17:15 PM 1 - Anatomy of an Airdrop/Double scam
Thats what i have written in the other thread CRYPTO DOUBLERS SCAM !!! (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5198094.0) from mosprognoz (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1094569) and yes its old as hell and many new Users or people fall into this trap . Blah blah blah you get more out when you invest this amount and such things and after a few hours you get nothing and they run away with a lot of coins and money . Its realy bad at twitter the last years with that and i am sick of this and report that instant when i see it. Title: Re: [PSA] CRYPTO AIRDROP SCAMS ON TWITTER/YOUTUBE [$100K+ STOLEN] Post by: yazher on November 04, 2019, 06:31:56 AM The only way to stop this thing is to educate them all to be aware of this kind of scam. but those newbie investors are only coming to this site after they fell victim to this kind of scams. that's why before they engage in some kind of investment, they really need to study it and research the project as much as they can.
The most helpful topic I read about preventing such scam is this one: Collection of comprehensive guides on identify and avoid scam projects (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5125435) Title: Re: [PSA] CRYPTO AIRDROP SCAMS ON TWITTER/YOUTUBE [$100K+ STOLEN] Post by: tbct_mt2 on November 04, 2019, 08:07:00 AM One of methods scammers use to scam on Youtube channels is fake promotion, as you can see below.
I think scammers will repeatedly use that method to scam naive and greedy guys on different cryptocurrency. Be careful and protect your capital, guys. Scammers on Youtube. Don't fall into this scam trap and lose money, guys (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5198456.0) (tbct_mt2 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1096237)) It is likely a new hot trend from scammer. Youtube does not fastly response to scam reports from community but this is the username of that scam channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thehotgeek You can search with the keyword: thehotgeek. If you check, you will see 12/14 videos on that channel are non-crypto things, only two of them relate to crypto and for scam purpose. I don't know that Youtube does not care about scam reports at all or they just lately response and handle scam reports. Let's see how long it takes till the Youtube takes action about that channel. In the meantime, don't send your ETH to that fake address. The most helpful topic I read about preventing such scam is this one: Collection of comprehensive guides on identify and avoid scam projects (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5125435) That one is mine and I thank you for pointing it out, yazher.Title: Re: [PSA] CRYPTO AIRDROP SCAMS ON TWITTER/YOUTUBE [$100K+ STOLEN] Post by: Darkio on November 04, 2019, 09:10:55 AM One of methods scammers use to scam on Youtube channels is fake promotion, as you can see below. Youtube is very slow to respond to these types of things which makes it very easy for scammers to get away with this shit on there.I think scammers will repeatedly use that method to scam naive and greedy guys on different cryptocurrency. Be careful and protect your capital, guys. Scammers on Youtube. Don't fall into this scam trap and lose money, guys (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5198456.0) (tbct_mt2 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1096237)) It is likely a new hot trend from scammer. Youtube does not fastly response to scam reports from community but this is the username of that scam channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thehotgeek You can search with the keyword: thehotgeek. If you check, you will see 12/14 videos on that channel are non-crypto things, only two of them relate to crypto and for scam purpose. I don't know that Youtube does not care about scam reports at all or they just lately response and handle scam reports. Let's see how long it takes till the Youtube takes action about that channel. In the meantime, don't send your ETH to that fake address. thehotgeek was the exact youtube channel which I was referencing in the OP, that was the channel I was getting recommended, very strange how lax youtube is on this while they are still willing to overenforce DMCA claims and take down innocent user's channels in mere hours but not the scammers! Thanks for the alternative threadlink though! Title: Re: [PSA] CRYPTO AIRDROP SCAMS ON TWITTER/YOUTUBE [$100K+ STOLEN] Post by: funsponge on November 05, 2019, 12:20:15 AM The only way to stop this thing is to educate them all to be aware of this kind of scam. but those newbie investors are only coming to this site after they fell victim to this kind of scams. that's why before they engage in some kind of investment, they really need to study it and research the project as much as they can. The most helpful topic I read about preventing such scam is this one: Collection of comprehensive guides on identify and avoid scam projects (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5125435) Ponzi's are always evolving and can be hidden behind some really convincing business models. I'm not sure how we are to educate newbies because as you said they are only looking out for this information about potential scams once they have already been scammed. .Ponzi's are not only an issue with Bitcoin and are a problem with fiat too. The only difference is that the law enforcement on cash related ponzi's are moderated and enforced more often. Title: Re: [PSA] CRYPTO AIRDROP SCAMS ON TWITTER/YOUTUBE [$100K+ STOLEN] Post by: FireBallex on November 07, 2019, 06:32:12 AM If you ask people if they want to learn you will see that they will ignore you but if you ask they if they would like to earn you will see them begging you show them the way BUT they have forgotten that you can't earn without learning, this is why they fall for cheap tricks
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