Technology

59651 readers

2691 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

724

Elon Musk Fans Are Losing So Much Money to Crypto Scams (gizmodo.com)

submitted 4 weeks ago by UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

82 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Gizmodo filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FTC to get complaints sent to the federal agency about crypto scams that pretend to be affiliated with Musk. We obtained 247 complaints, all filed between Feb. and Oct. of this year, and they’re filled with stories of people who believed they were watching ads for authentic crypto investments sanctioned by Musk on social media.

The ads sometimes featured the names of Musk’s various companies, like SpaceX, Tesla, and X, while other times they utilized Musk’s association with neo-fascist presidential candidate Donald Trump.

...

Some people in the complaints believed they were talking directly with Musk, a sadly common story that has popped up in news reports before. But they weren’t talking with Musk, of course. They were communicating with scammers engaging in what’s called pig butchering—the name for a type of fraud popularized in the mid-2010s where scammers extract as much money as possible through flattery and promises of tremendous profits if the victim just “invests” where they’re told.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I always thought people with crypto was at least a bit technical and security minded

[–] zephr_c@lemm.ee 2 points 3 weeks ago

They were at first, and if you find someone going on about Monero they still might be, but most of the crypto bubble was the dumber, less successful finance bros trying to go to the moon or whatever. They don't actually understand crypto, they just use buzzwords to try to sell it to people.