• Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary’s Twitter account was hacked on Thursday and started promoting a crypto giveaway scam.
• The scam involved people sending their own digital assets to a fraudulent website in order to receive the giveaway prizes, which were not sent to the participants, and the scammers made away with the funds sent.
• Crypto giveaway scams are one of the most prevalent forms of scams in the industry and often involve hacked accounts of celebrities, politicians and companies being used to promote fake giveaways.
Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary’s Twitter account was the latest victim of a crypto giveaway scam on Thursday, with the famed investor’s account being hacked and sending out multiple tweets about a giveaway of 5,000 BTC and 15,000 ETH, with an accompanying image featuring O’Leary himself.
The now-deleted tweet falsely claimed that the giveaway was not a scam and that Mr. Wonderful had said on CNBC that he planned to give away some cryptocurrencies. It then provided a link that instructed respondents to first send their own digital assets to verify their wallet addresses, to receive the giveaway prizes. However, no funds were sent to the participants and the scammers made away with the funds sent.
Crypto giveaway scams are one of the most prevalent forms of scams in the industry. These often involve hacked accounts of famous people, politicians, celebrities, and companies that are used to promote fake giveaways. Scammers often impersonate well-known figures like Elon Musk, Michael Saylor, and CZ in order to promote their fraudulent schemes using fake accounts. These individuals, who are leaders in companies such as Tesla, MicroStrategy, and Binance, are commonly targeted.
The latest scam reportedly used the same website from a previous Tesla scam giveaway that contained the Tesla logo. The website also contained numerous grammatical errors. This type of fraudulent activity is extremely difficult to prevent as scammers use sophisticated tactics to gain access to victims’ accounts.
Fortunately, most of the time, the victims are able to recover their funds after the scam is uncovered. O’Leary, who has become a vocal proponent of Web3 technology, has revealed recently that he has lost almost $1 million to online scammers in 2020.
The incident highlights the need for people to be aware of the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrency and to be vigilant when it comes to protecting their accounts. It is important to remember that crypto giveaway scams are just one of the many types of fraudulent activities that exist in the industry and that investors should exercise caution when making financial decisions.