There’s no doubt that Elon Musk has a great influence over cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin. Previously, his electric car company Tesla had announced that it’ll be accepting payments in Bitcoin, fuelling the rally of the coin.
While Tesla has now refused to accept Bitcoin as a payment mode, Musk is still having a great influence over the crypto market. Cashing in on Musk’s popularity, online scammers are misusing his name to dupe investors, especially those who are new to the cryptocurrency market.
In one such case, a British woman named Julie Bushnell was conned by scammers and lost her savings worth approximately Rs 9 lakh. She told BBC that she fell for a scam in which scammers were using a fake BBC website that said that Musk would double your Bitcoin deposits.
Based on BCC News branding and Musk’s name, the woman fell for the lucrative offer. The website read, “Tesla buys $1.5 billion bitcoin, plans to give away $750M of it.”
Bushnell works as a teacher in Brighton, and had saved £9,000 for a new home. Now she has lost all her savings to a Bitcoin scam, which is gaining traction with the rise of cryptocurrency.
“It has affected me massively. I wish I could have that time back – go in a time machine and not make those couple of clicks. They have robbed me of my dignity, self-respect, self-worth and strength. They have sucked all the goodness of life out of me,” Bushnell told BBC.
She feels ashamed of falling for a Bitcoin fraud, as she herself invests in cryptocurrency. With all the savings lost, she now wants to aware investors of the online scams running in the name of fake giveaways.
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