Elon Musk impersonators take more than $2 million from customers

On Monday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said since October, consumers lost more than $2 million in a scheme where someone impersonates Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and says he would multiply cryptocurrency sent to his wallet and have it sent back.

The FTC warned a common form of the scam involves a “promise that a celebrity associated with cryptocurrency will multiply any cryptocurrency you send to their wallet and send it back.”

The agency also found that scams of the same nature involving digital currencies accounted for losses of more than $80 million since last October, increasing more than 10 times from what was recorded for the same period in 2019.

Thousands of reports received by FTC

In a new consumer protection data spotlight released by the FTC, they said nearly 7,000 consumer reports were sent to them, with the median sum of losses set at $1,900.

Those belonging to the age bracket 20 to 49 were five times more likely to be scammed than older age groups. Those in their 20s and 30s lost more sum of money to investment scams compared to any other kind of fraud. More than half of those involved cryptocurrencies.

FTC also revealed that scams come in different ways and sometimes begin as investment tip offers in online message boards directing consumers to fake investment websites.

FTC offers tips to avoid being scammed

The agency said there are few red flags to look for in order to avoid being scammed. One sure sign is when one has to pay to buy a cryptocurrency and anyone who requires to be paid by wire transfer, gift card or crypto is a scammer.

This is because there is no way to get the money back once it is sent, and that is what scammers love to capitalize on.

Image courtesy of Cointelegraph News/YouTube

Source: https://bitcoinerx.com/blockchain/elon-musk-impersonators-take-more-than-2-million-from-customers/