Following on from our discussion about scams, it seems there’s one born every minute.
Sebastian will always remember the moment he lost £407,000, with equal parts anger and shame.
The night leading up to it had been otherwise forgettable.
He and his wife watched a series on Netflix, before she went to bed and left him on the sofa messing about on his phone.
Then he received a Twitter notification with news from Elon Musk.
Sebastian told the BBC: “Musk tweeted, ‘Dojo 4 Doge?’ and I wondered what it meant.
“There was a link to a new event below, so I clicked on it and saw that he was giving away Bitcoin!”
Sebastian followed the link to a professional-looking website where the Bitcoin giveaway looked to be in full swing.
Because of course Elon Musk was giving away Bitcoin. FFS, what planet are these people from? I saw one the other day on Farcebook. Apparently it was Richard Branson plugging an investment scheme on the feed of a friend. It didn’t take long for people to point out that the account had been hacked and the scheme a scam. Well, yes, blindingly obvious yet still there are people stupid enough to believe it and fall for it.
There’s an old adage – if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Whale Alert founder Frank van Weert says it’s hard to say why the scams are not only prevailing, but also becoming more successful.
The criminals’ actual techniques haven’t changed much since the scams emerged in 2018.
Because there is always a mark out there waiting to be parted from their money. Ultimately, this scam relies on the mark being both greedy and stupid and it paid off.
Why are they always called Sebastian?
How do these blithering idiots get hold of that much money in the first place?
He gambled on bitcoin apparently.
Figures. I’m stupid enough to have gambled on bitcoin but didn’t, so I’m still poor
I simply don’t know enough to try. I may be poor, but I haven’t been scammed either.
We are told we mustn’t blame the victims of crime. Well, in this case, we should blame the victim. We should have a jolly good laugh at him too. Was “Sebastian” really so gullible and greedy that he thought if he transferred £400,000 to Elon Musk, Musk would then send back double that amount? (That’s a rhetorical question, by the way.)
If it looks too good to be true: here’s my money! These people aren’t safe to be out.