Elon Musk Impersonation Scam Nets $165,000 in Crypto

Elon Musk impersonation scam orchestrated a fraudulent cryptocurrency giveaway, which BitOK and SpaceX have jointly exposed. Scammers were able to collect $165,000 in donations through this scheme.

Deepfake versions of Elon Musk were allegedly utilized in the scheme during live YouTube broadcasts; however, that content has since been removed.

According to the report shared, the broadcast purportedly provided users with a QR code granting website access.

Participating individuals were instructed to transfer cryptocurrencies to designated contribution addresses and then patiently await transaction processing, as stated on the page.

They are then guaranteed a cryptocurrency refund to their wallets and a 200% incentive.

Subsequently, SpaceX disseminated fabricated giveaway broadcasts on its YouTube channel, which amassed a subscriber count of 180,000.

Subsequent investigation revealed that the BTC address employed by the individuals accountable for donation receipts was bc1qc4rwqqf0q75rn032knwkvxtrdm4vurkusr8s4k.

A cumulative amount of 2.48 BTC was accumulated, equivalent to around $91,566 at the present exchange rate.

After that, every dollar was wired to the following address: bc1q6yjkfe0edtyn4luwskx30gg35r7eclllfsp3jg.

A portion of the funds, 1.25 BTC, was transferred from the address bc1q6‒sp3jg to the deposit address of the KuCoin exchange 3NcPowGtnnUxsgFSeCUoiaXW2MtcHUjXF4.

Concurrently, the outstanding value was transferred to the change address bc1qwyrv7wkuqh79gk9uu9zjhc2sutyw80ksk4qjug before being redirected to the KuCoin exchange’s deposit address 3NcPowGtnnUxsgFSeCUoiaXW2MtcHUjXF4.

This disclosed fraud is merely the most recent in a series of deceitful schemes.

In October, more than $32.2 million was lost to crypto scams and security incidents, according to the blockchain analysis firm CertiK.

Vulnerabilities, exit scams, and flash loan manipulations were identified as the primary causes.

The cumulative cost of compromised funds reached $290 million in November.