Twitter Scammers Exploit Elon Musk's Name With Shady Cryptocurrency Tweets

Did Elon Musk Create Bitcoin? This Former SpaceX Intern Thinks So

They say fame is a double-edged sword. With all the limelight y'all are going to get some unsavoury attention too. Elon Musk knows this now as he'south embroiled in a strange new cryptocurrency scam on Twitter.

For the past few weeks, scam accounts take been using Twitter handles with names close enough to Elon Musk to fool unsuspecting Twitter users. These accounts also have the same profile movie that Musk has used. While they don't have the verified bluecoat, it can fool someone who may have heard of Musk but doesn't know much about Twitter. Some examples of the handles are @elon_musk_, @elonmursk, @alonmusk, @elonmursk, etc. But since the name clearly says 'Elon Musk', it'southward enough to convince some unsuspecting users that the account is legitimate.

It's easy to see why people might get scammed by this. Musk's popularity grows by the month, especially with more and more than SpaceX projects going live. The man who has been described as Tony Stark is an piece of cake starting signal for scammers. Their cover? Elon Musk being in a philanthropic/jubilant mood, and equally such, wanting to reward his followers with some crypto cash. Here'southward a sample:

But that'due south not all. In a bid to heave the authenticity of their fraud, the scammers followed Musk, and replied to his previous message in a contextual tone to make their offer appear similar the real deal. Terms like jubilant or commemorating the launch of certain satellites by SpaceX are a recurring element.

https://twitter.com/elonmursk/status/967284777450602496

The whole premise of Musk giving away Ethereum to celebrate an accomplishment is far-fetched, only it tin can fool the gullible since it can be seen as a billionaire being generous.

Like tweets and replies in the name of Elon Musk take been appearing all over the social media platform. To further silence the alarms of suspicion, the scammers even created accounts of fake beneficiaries, who have received hefty returns afterward transferring their cryptocurrency to a particular Ethereum address.

heya. received mine ETH fair and square. Elon, please agree such giveaways everyday!

— Gregory Finch (@wayra_gregory) Feb 24, 2018

Your giveaways are the best of the agglomeration. I can probably do this a couple of times, volition try.

— joel hardin (@joelver1978) February 24, 2018

Cheers Elon! Only received 5 eth – awesome! Please Concur these promos once a week!

— Oren Niggling (@orennhal1976) February 24, 2018

Moreover, to farther calm the suspicion of users, the scammers created a fake webpage which showed a big number of active Ethereum transactions on the accost mentioned in the false tweet. The link posted in such fraudulent tweets directed users to the aforementioned Ethereum transaction folio in order to further quash whatever suspicion.

Twitter Scammers Exploit Elon Musk's Name With Shady Cryptocurrency Tweets — Epitome courtesy: Mashable

Naturally followers of Musk and other Twitter users have been urging Twitter's team to check and cease this scam.

Why is this allowed to be a recurring problem? There is no alibi for making it so easy for the scammers to impersonate VIPs — they are not even irresolute the name or the photograph! In the era of avant-garde AI, is Twitter not capable of doing a simple string friction match? picture.twitter.com/y7y1xMdEz3

— How does information technology work (@generuso) February 22, 2018

BuzzFeed News reporter Ryan Mac said he informed Twitter to deed confronting the scammers, but that was not enough to stop all the scam tweets.

https://twitter.com/RMac18/status/963165614524194817

Musk'due south fame is just i cistron; the scam has a high chance of working due to the rapid surge in popularity of Ethereum. Ethereum continues to surge, despite its comparatively lower merchandise value, and is largely seen equally a stabler alternative to Bitcoin.

Of course, Musk is well-aware of the situation and how his name is being misused.

Not sure. I let @jack know, but information technology's notwithstanding going. I literally own nada cryptocurrency, apart from .25 BTC that a friend sent me many years ago.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2018

The Tesla chief further revealed that apart from a .25 BTC, he owns no crypto money at all.

Twitter had acted recently against accounts which were using verified badges to scam cryptocurrency enthusiasts. But information technology'southward non even so taken any decisive activity against the wannabe-Musks shilling cryptocurrency.