Biggest Bitcoin giveaway scams and how can you avoid them

[Bitcasino.io Support]

Recent Bitcoin giveaway scams

Bitcoin giveaway scams have been all over Youtube in the form of ad videos. In the videos, big tech names such as SpaceX’s Elon Musk,
Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson, and Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin are shown giving away free Bitcoin worth 5,000 BTC up to 10,000 BTC.

These fraudulent videos appear as ads that play before, during, or after any Youtube video, reaching millions of users around the globe.
These scammers have already amassed millions of dollars, and they still haven’t stopped fooling people into sending cryptocurrencies to their addresses.

While giveaway scams are not new to the Bitcoin community, this kind of targeted modus using social media has been going on as early as
February 2020. From Elon Musk to Jeff Bezos and now Vitalik Buterin, these scam videos change their “main face” every few months to attract
unsuspecting victims.

Twitter hacks on popular accounts

Before the Youtube scam videos, a cyber attack on Twitter occurred earlier in February 2020. Hackers breached the accounts of popular personalities
such as Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Kanye West and used their platforms to announce fraudulent giveaways, claiming that
these wealthy people will double all Bitcoin sent to a certain address.

Ripple Labs vs Youtube

Last April, Ripple Labs also complained to Youtube about scam videos promising free XRP to people who will send any amount of XRP to a certain address.
Led by CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple Labs filed a lawsuit against the video-sharing platform after they failed to stop the scammers.

Fake Youtube videos of Garlinghouse promoting a fake 50 million XRP airdrop were reported, but Youtube was not able to remove the content
as quickly as Ripple Labs wanted. As a result, XRP holders lost their assets and Garlinghouse’s image was tarnished.

SpaceX Bitcoin Giveaway scam videos on Youtube

This type of scam isn’t entirely new but what boosted the attacks was SpaceX’s launch earlier this year. Scammers used this opportunity to use
big tech names and launch a massive fraudulent attack alongside SpaceX’s most anticipated launch.

Months since the first Twitter hacks in February, millions of dollars have been scammed off of unsuspecting victims. With some of these videos still
popping up on Youtube, people are still being robbed of their coins.

 
What do these Bitcoin Giveaway scams look like and what should you look out for?

Youtube Bitcoin video scams


 
It’s almost a given that it’s a giveaway scam video if a clip of a famous personality
giving a speech with the words 'BTC Giveaway' is plastered all over the screen.

Here’s what happens so you know how to recognize a Youtube video scam:

* These videos show up as ads at the start, middle or end of any Youtube video.
It shows a screen saying if you send any amount of Bitcoin to the displayed address,
then Elon Musk, for example, will double your money and you’ll receive twice the
amount you sent from your wallet.

* The screen-grabbed video looks like a live streaming video.

* The screen provides the wallet address where the people can send their Bitcoin.

* The screen includes a site such as SpaceXBitcoin.org or Spacex.VC that supposedly
gives more information. If you check the sites, they contain information about the
fake giveaway that makes it believable to gullible eyes. These sites even have a terms and
conditions page but small discrepancies on this page should make you question its legitimacy.

* These videos come from Youtube channels that look legitimate, and some may even
be verified with a checkmark. That’s because scammers hacked legitimate Youtube accounts
and changed the branding and content to emulate that of Elon Musk’s SpaceX channel. In one live
stream in June, at least 80,000 people watched and 15.31 BTC were collected by the scammers.

Twitter impersonation Bitcoin scams


 
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is among the many hacked Twitter accounts used to lure people into the giveaway scam.
The tweet was immediately deleted by the account.

Here’s how the Twitter impersonation scams worked so you know what to look out for:

* Hackers create accounts that impersonate verified Twitter accounts of celebrities
(Kanye West), influential people (Barack Obama) and companies (Coinbase and Binance).

* By impersonating other people, they tweet that they are giving back to the community
amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and will double all BTC sent to their given address.

* Aside from impersonation, scammers hacked multiple verified accounts of companies
and famous personalities and tweeted the same content saying they have partnered with
CryptoForHealth and are giving back to the community by doubling all funds sent to the given address.


Next actions taken by concerned parties after these scams

While the scammers remained anonymous, their movements could be traced through the blockchain. Cyber-security firms such as Adaptiv
tracked the flow of Bitcoin sent to vanity addresses containing names such as Elon Musk, Tesla or SpaceX and found over 66 addresses.

These addresses have been reported to Bitcoinabuse.com, a public database of Bitcoin addresses used by hackers and criminals.
Using Adaptiv’s research data, Bitcoinabuse found that 214 BTC have been sent to the Elon Musk vanity addresses alone,
accounting for more than USD$2 million.

Twitter’s cyber-attack response

During the Twitter cyber-attack in February and July, the social media site immediately responded and locked down the high-profile accounts
to prevent the scammers from tweeting any further. The CrypoForHealth scam website mentioned in the fraudulent tweets was immediately suspended
by Namesilo, the domain registrar used by the scammers.

Google and Youtube were sued

Unfortunately, things didn't go as smoothly in Youtube’s situation. Due to their slow response, tech entrepreneur Steve Wozniak sued Google and
Youtube for allowing scammers to use his name and image in these scams. Aside from Wozniak, 17 other victims are also suing the video-sharing platform.

Youtube denies liability saying that they are not at fault for the scammers using their platform. However, to appease the violated parties, Youtube stated,
'We take the abuse of our platform seriously and take action quickly when we detect violations.'

Ripple Labs was the first to file a lawsuit against Youtube with the accusation that despite having the power to stop the illicit use of their website,
the platform allegedly gained profit from the ad money.

Lots of people have complained to Google, who owns Youtube, since these videos keep popping up. Up to now, you can search ‘SpaceX special event’
on the platform and you’ll see streaming videos with the same screen sharing a QR code for a Bitcoin address and an Elon Musk interview clip.


How can you tell if it’s a Bitcoin scam?

If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
Some people have the notion that unlike fiat money, earning Bitcoin is easy. Alas, that’s not true. Receiving free Bitcoin already sounds sketchy and
a sweet promise can render a person irrational and pliable so make sure to not fall into such promises.

Be aware
There are plenty of scams out there, and the first thing you can do to avoid it is by being aware. Research and learn to detect red flags in deals or giveaways.
From blackmails, fake exchanges, phishing emails and free giveaways to pyramid schemes and malware, there are plenty of scams out there.

To protect yourself, learning about previous Bitcoin hacking and scamming incidents is good essential knowledge to have. This will help you
know how scammers were able to breach security protocols, and how you’ll be able to protect your funds.

For example, the controversial Mt. Gox incident where thousands of Bitcoin were stolen taught crypto holders to never store their funds on an exchange site
due to its vulnerability. Instead, invest in a secure crypto wallet and transfer your coins as soon as you receive them.

Run a search
If you’re sceptical, run a search to see if the giveaway is a scam. There’s a high chance that other holders have seen it and are questioning
its legitimacy as well. Forums are one of the best places to do this as you can ask your fellow crypto enthusiasts to help certify the legitimacy of a giveaway.

Check the legitimacy of the site
Scam alert sites such as Bitcoinabuse and Scam Alert are created for this purpose. Go to any of these sites and check if the site in question
has already been reported there.

If a contact number or email address is given, reach out and ask for verification or certification. Ask security questions and request to speak with
a customer service staff since bots can run messaging applications.


What to do if you come across a Bitcoin scam?

If you come across a Bitcoin scam, you should report it to Bitcoinabuse and Scam Alert first so the sites can be taken down.
Afterwards, you should report the video and channel to Youtube as fraudulent activity or report the tweet and questionable account to Twitter.

It is vital to report the site to Bitcoinabuse and Scam Alert first because if you report the video or tweet to their respective companies,
they will be taken down but the website will still be live.


Can you recover a scammed Bitcoin?

Unfortunately, crypto transactions are irreversible as per the blockchain. Once you send funds to a scammer’s address,
there is nothing you can do to get it back. That’s why it’s important to educate yourself about these crypto scams since once you’re pulled into them,
there is no insurance and you will not be able to get your money back.


Cheers,
Karl
Bitcasino.io

[1715385886]

1715385886

[1715385886]

1715385886

[1715385886]

1715385886

[1715385886]

1715385886

[Gotumoot]

Just a simple step don't send out money or Bitcoin if it is a giveaway then why would you need to send first before receiving it?
That is the only thing that you should never forget on crypto or in every currency.
Just ask yourself why would you even need to pay in order to receive a free giveaways?

[Taskford]

No giveaway will ask for payment or any returns in any forms and people should always bare that on their mind since many scammers are using now a high profile identities to create an appealing attention to the people who's seeking an opportunity.

People should remember always that to good to be true is so risky and always end up scam.

[Gozie51]

Just a simple step don't send out money or Bitcoin if it is a giveaway then why would you need to send first before receiving it?
That is the only thing that you should never forget on crypto or in every currency.
Just ask yourself why would you even need to pay in order to receive a free giveaways?

This is the simple truth about avoiding being scammed also in real life. Whatever is genuine shouldn't be attached with you first obliging. The fear of not responding back as expected when duty or obligation has been carried out is the reason we have escrow in certain services

[F_Societys]

Recent Bitcoin giveaway scams

Bitcoin giveaway scams have been all over Youtube in the form of ad videos. In the videos, big tech names such as SpaceX’s Elon Musk,
Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson, and Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin are shown giving away free Bitcoin worth 5,000 BTC up to 10,000 BTC.

These fraudulent videos appear as ads that play before, during, or after any Youtube video, reaching millions of users around the globe.
These scammers have already amassed millions of dollars, and they still haven’t stopped fooling people into sending cryptocurrencies to their addresses.

While giveaway scams are not new to the Bitcoin community, this kind of targeted modus using social media has been going on as early as
February 2020. From Elon Musk to Jeff Bezos and now Vitalik Buterin, these scam videos change their “main face” every few months to attract
unsuspecting victims.

Twitter hacks on popular accounts

As we know, scams and hacks due to Bitcoin have increased a lot in recent years.
And these scams are due to the lack of sufficient knowledge of most people in the world to install bitcoins.
In my opinion, these behaviors should be stopped as soon as possible, otherwise the face of bitcoin in the world will change.

For example, I say: A 40-year-old person who does not know bitcoin and hears the news of hacking, theft, fraud, etc. every day, gets discouraged about installing bitcoin and says (why not buy my money in gold or etc ?).
The mentality of the society must change.

[LUCKMCFLY]

This topic is interesting, in our local Spanish forum we have touched on this topic a lot, what many people should know is that to give away money or Bitcoin is almost impossible, many people do not understand it, only on rare occasions that actually it They do, most people still do not identify very well this type of scams, the easiest way to realize it is when they offer to earn a lot for doing nothing or little.

[F_Societys]

This topic is interesting, in our local Spanish forum we have touched on this topic a lot, what many people should know is that to give away money or Bitcoin is almost impossible, many people do not understand it, only on rare occasions that actually it They do, most people still do not identify very well this type of scams, the easiest way to realize it is when they offer to earn a lot for doing nothing or little.

It is true that, as you said, many people do not know much about this area, and this ignorance opens the way for fraud and theft.
We need to think about this.
I have also talked about teaching this information to children in this article. You can see:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5272395.0

[plvbob0070]

Just a simple step don't send out money or Bitcoin if it is a giveaway then why would you need to send first before receiving it?
That is the only thing that you should never forget on crypto or in every currency.
Just ask yourself why would you even need to pay in order to receive a free giveaways?

That idea itself is already suspicious because giveaways are meant to be given for free without you having to give money first before receiving one. And also, when it's too good to be true, we should really be careful and not to easily believe that kind of giveaways. It's very rampant now that we keep seeing fake and scam giveaways in poplar social media platforms just like mentioned above yet, people still fall for it repeatedly. Even in our local board, there's always an issue of using popular and influential people to deceive others

[proscratcher]

What's your best bitcoin security practices?

Would you advice shapeshift? Or paper wallet? Or backing up to a secured external hard drive?

[grabpopcorn536]

During the years I have been in the crypto market, there have been many forms of fraud as mentioned above, including airdrop projects. They asked us to send a small fee to receive something bigger. I don't think someone is good enough to give away his possessions to people we don't know. If they were really good they went to charity.

[Raflesia]

No giveaway will ask for payment or any returns in any forms and people should always bare that on their mind since many scammers are using now a high profile identities to create an appealing attention to the people who's seeking an opportunity.

People should remember always that to good to be true is so risky and always end up scam.

There is no giveaway like that and it obviously doesn't make sense to me, especially taking action on Youtube live and also several profiles of well-known people as a result of their hacking, most of which are the giveaway medium and it's flat with the name Binance oh my God what are they is it stupid that every day keep changing the domain to a new one? and I'm sure people already know that it's a perpetual scamer.

[Anna138]

Just a simple step don't send out money or Bitcoin if it is a giveaway then why would you need to send first before receiving it?
That is the only thing that you should never forget on crypto or in every currency.
Just ask yourself why would you even need to pay in order to receive a free giveaways?

Sometimes there are services where you really need to make such a Deposit to withdraw money. This is a normal practice especially for a casino or a betting aggregator. This is the usual protection against bots and robots that conduct automatic mass registrations, thereby receiving some bonuses from the platforms.

[Oilacris]

Common line here that should be always remembered:

"If something seems too good to be true then it’s probably a scam"

its pretty basic but there are still lots of people who do still fall into these giveaway scams.If they have just use their own common sense
they can really point it out.

[boyptc]

Twitter giveaway scam was popular even before. And the number one targeted people are the followers of Vitalik and CZ.

They were making fake accounts similar to these personalities and will do the same trick of asking to send any amount and they'll send with the promise of higher amount later.

[Nellayar]

Even though many of us in forum have knowledge on how to treat the scam giveaways like this, I know that there are still many people who will be baited by this scam. Those people who are greed in money which always want to double their investment in a day will fall for this giveaways scam. Who will easily caught up by giveaways which will you send bitcoin to them? This is the reason why I did not browse any giveaways in social media app because most of them are scammers. They are just spamming the social media with their fake giveaways.

[verita1]

Today the internet has become so insecure: Twitter, Google, You tube. We have witnessed these scams, as we know the pattern of these scammers it is very difficult to fall into the trap.
Sad is for those who do not know how these cyber criminals act and they are scammed by large amounts of money valued in Bitcoin and Ether, the most used cryptos.

[TGD]

Twitter been into many hacking and the target is those popular personalities,we must know when to determine if it was scam, no giveaways will ask payment first and know that these personalities will not just do giveaway in twitter alone they will use their own website or platform to announce it, not just in twitter.

[Wexnident]

Avoid anything that says they would return you 200% (or more) of whatever you invested, those are flags for scams. Even if famous people did so, better not do so, especially with how recently such issue has happened. Tbh, anything, or any giveaway, that asks you to pay or give money isn't really a give away already, more like it's a promo or something. The word "giveaway" is used to make it seem like you're actually winning, but let's be real here, you're losing a lot in this case. It's almost like gambling at that point, and really, I think gambling is more trustworthy since a win guarantees a return back, while giveaways still have that chance of you getting scammed.

Simple solution to everyone's plight regarding giveaways is actually the harsh reality, there's no easy way to earn money. Just work hard and smart, you'd see returns after a few years.

[Darker45]

Scams come in so many faces. Even in Twitter scams are not just in the form of fake giveaways, double-your-money schemes, or investment opportunities with unbelievably high ROI promises. Asking for charitable donations is also being done by scammers.

As a matter of fact, just yesterday, the verified Twitter account of India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, was hacked by a certain 'John Wick' and posted a tweet asking people to "donate generously to PM National Relief Fund for Covid-19." The hacker proceeded to state the preferred currency, "Kindly Donate Bitcoin…"^[1]

So everybody should be watchful not just with regard to investment opportunities but also with those which appeals to our sympathy.

[1] https://indianexpress.com/article/india/twitter-account-pm-narendra-modi-hacked-6580967/

[maydna]

If the giveaway is good to be true, you need to be careful because, as we know, if the giveaway is real, we don't have to send any money, but it is okay if we only send an email. But the scammers will use many ways to trick their target people, and sometimes if we are not smart enough to think if that is real or not, we can get scam too.

But unfortunately, when people see or read about the giveaway, they will do anything because they think that the giveaway is real, even if they need to send their documents. That will need our concern if we don't want to get scam, and if we read about the giveaway, we need to search for the other news to know more about that.