You’ve heard of the Tesla Model 3; you’ve definitely heard of cryptocurrency; and you’ve probably heard of John McAfee from the security products that carry his name. But what do the three of them have in common? The three were used together for enticement and fraud, apparently.
Modus Operandi: The perpetrators create a fake profile on a fake version of Medium – in this case, a fake John McAfee, founder of antivirus software makers McAfee Associates, who is a known cryptocurrency enthusiast – and make an offer of giving away a shiny new Tesla Model 3 electric car. But not just any Model 3: one that’s been signed by McAfee himself. Participants in the giveaway are asked to send a small amount of crypto (ETH or BTC) to verify their accounts, but nothing comes back. The post itself is hardcoded with comments (fake) from other users (fake) who claim to have won the grand prize. All fake.
A little digging unearthed the fact that the Medium URL itself was fake, and it was only registered a few days ago. Moreover, most of the links on the site either point back to the main page or are dead links.
It would have been a brilliant ruse if it had worked, but apparently nobody has been swindled so far. A check of the Ethereum and Bitcoin wallets that the scam post contains revealed that no funds were sent as of Sep 3.
Biggest ICO Exit Scams
Scams aren’t new to cryptocurrency. With so many ICOs over the past year since BTC went berserk and hit an all-time high of $19,783.06 the week before Christmas 2017, the scams have been coming thick and hard.
And it started even before that.
The PlexCoin “ICO Exit Scam” perpetrated by Dominic Lacroix and Sabrina Paradis-Royer was nipped in the bud by the SEC, which froze PlexCoin’s $15 million collected since the ICO in August 2017.
In all, the top five ICO exit scams accounted for nearly $22 million in losses to cryptocurrency dabblers.
While the latest scam involving the Tesla Model 3 / John McAfee lure was not successful, it shows what lengths fraudsters will go to in order to make an easy buck.
Crypto Tip-toe:
If you’re thinking of investing in cryptocurrency, only do it on a trusted exchange or platform that is registered with the SEC. Don’t believe amazing offers that look too good to be true. If they look incredible, they’re usually exactly that – lacking in credibility.
