Gizmodo filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FTC to get complaints sent to the federal agency about crypto scams that pretend to be affiliated with Musk. We obtained 247 complaints, all filed between Feb. and Oct. of this year, and they’re filled with stories of people who believed they were watching ads for authentic crypto investments sanctioned by Musk on social media.
The ads sometimes featured the names of Musk’s various companies, like SpaceX, Tesla, and X, while other times they utilized Musk’s association with neo-fascist presidential candidate Donald Trump.
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Some people in the complaints believed they were talking directly with Musk, a sadly common story that has popped up in news reports before. But they weren’t talking with Musk, of course. They were communicating with scammers engaging in what’s called pig butchering—the name for a type of fraud popularized in the mid-2010s where scammers extract as much money as possible through flattery and promises of tremendous profits if the victim just “invests” where they’re told.
I mean it makes sense to target these people. If you’re stupid enough to believe the shit Musk or Trump spout, you’re also stupid enough to not see these very obvious scams.
When these scams first started featuring Musk, it was clear that he was a common lead because of his wealth. Pretty much just “Get rich quick, and be rich like [insert rich guy here]”. I’ve seen scams in the past with Buffet, Gates, or Bezos on it before, because the kind of people who fall for a get-rich-quick scam are the kinds of people who idolize wealth.
But now it seems that Musk fans are a uniquely exploitable group. They are easily fooled by wild claims, and quickly subscribe to magical thinking. At this point, they’re just low-hanging fruit.
W
Skill issue lmao
This is pretty sad.
I have a number of elderly relatives. The one thing I keep telling them is if they ever get approached, to contact their kids, or check with another family member before responding. So far, there haven’t been any problems.
But I heard an in-law’s parents in a different state lost a big chunk of money to one of these scams and may now lose their home.
while other times they utilized Musk’s association with neo-fascist presidential candidate Donald Trump.
I love that they called him what he is. I wish more in media would.
I’m so glad they’re losing it to these scams instead of to leon.
The people that end up cashing in from those scams are the same people that end up supporting Trump & Musk.
I want a water bear as a pet so bad but the fact that they’re microscopic might be an issue
Who taught this Tardigrade to play the Cello? Its all wrong. He’s not going to get any notes out of it playing it under the bridge.
He’s doing the best he can, show a little respect.
There’s a simple explanation for this. Elon Musk fans are fucking idiots.
They might also just be the target demographic for pig butchering.
- Middle Class
- Over 40
- Conservative Male (lonely)
- Greedy / Self-serving
But yeah there is definitely correlation with low cognitive ability.
You also have to be the sort of person that genuinely believes you can get something for nothing. You have to have a relatively low IQ for that to be the case.
You also have to have a relatively low IQ to continue to listen to anything Musk says, so the group are Self-Selecting.
Not really. You have to be the sort of person who understands that investment works and not how it works or why it works and most importantly why you aren’t going to hit the jackpot on it even though some people do. They’re the standard marks for an investment con. So yeah they’re stupid and self selected, but the mechanism of action is important because it shows us how to help people avoid falling for it not just letting us feel superior to those who do.
I feel like everyone understands the basic concept behind investment. But I also feel like pretty much everyone knows that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Whenever you invest in something it’s pretty obvious what the other party’s motivations are. If you cannot see how the other party could possibly benefit, then it’s probably because it’s a scam.
You need to believe that you can get ahead in society by being smarter than the competition, instead of just being luckier.
They are naive if anything.
Like their master
I feel like they don’t even need to be crypto schemes affiliated with Musk for that Venn diagram to work
Can we take NASA contract away from SpaceX? Let’s bring it back in house. Space should not be for profit .
But then how will billionaires get to say they’re literally thinking of the big picture because they got to go on a brief space joy ride?
Arg
Just want to share that NASA has one of the highest ROIs of any government agency.
I want to increase NASAs budget and go to space.
Idiots who fall for Elon Musks genius persona and think they are smart also fall for crypto scams? Shocking I tell you, shocking
Tech bros are tech broing?!
I saw one of these and it took me a second to realize it was a scam. I’m a spaceflight geek and as much as a tool as Musk is, there’s heavy overlap in spaceflight and SpaceX.
On Youtube there was a purported “live launch update” livestream. I was confused because I knew there were no launches scheduled that day of any kind much less SpaceX. What I saw was Musk on a stage outdoors apparently talking about a new SpaceX crypto product and the voice, which sounded exactly like Musk’s talked about giving away free crypto the only thing you had to do was buy it, then share you wallet info and Musk would double it.
Besides this smelling very suspect, I realized that there were never close shots when musk was talking, so you couldn’t see the lips match the words being said audibly and I knew it was a scam.
I can absolutely see how the greedy would get scammed by this.
I can absolutely see how the greedy would get scammed by this.
Really? The only way that could sound more like a scam is if there were a chyron at the bottom spelling out THIS IS A SCAM.
It sounds like a scam because I’m distilling all the things that told me it was a scam. I’m glad you can take what I’m tell you is a scam and say “yes thats a scam”. Congrats?
Musk also does stupid stuff that loses money. He’s (likely illegally) giving away money to buy votes in some states. Musk is also a known cryptobro. The idea that Musk would be giving away crypto to try to build influence or attention isn’t far fetched.
I mean, “give access” and “double your bitcoin” are somewhat textbook phrases for scams…
Although, I def. see how one can miss it at first. I remember one bank scam call where the thing that ultimately clued me in was a rather unprofessional response along the lines of “don’t call crying back to us” when I’ve said I’m a bit busy to go check the card or whatever they’ve asked to, while what should’ve done this in the 1st place was another textbooky “have u transfered any funds to Joe Shmoe”. Looking back, would’ve been funy AF to pull the Karen on them 🥲
I saw one of these too on YouTube – it easily popped up early on my home page.
I’d consider myself a tech savvy person and even then, this took a minute to spot the scam. I can totally see someone falling for it.
If only they had a safe place to put their money that was protected by law and insured against losses.
Protected‽ Then their exes can get it for child support!
First world comment.
Do you think the people who fell for these scams aren’t?
The only people buying into crypto scams are westerners anyway because no one else has the money
