Man Cries out after losing 10 BTC Worth $550k in a Giveaway Scam

By: Mark Jessy

March 23, 2021 5:53 AM

A fake bitcoin giveaway by Elon Musk went viral on social as the flagship crypto assets went mainstream.

According to a German man who narrated his story on how he was tricked by scammers into believing Elon Musk was doing a bitcoin giveaway at that time. He lost 10 BTC to the scam which is worth over $550k at the time of writing with bitcoin currently trading above $55,266.

Elon musk has been heavily crypto active on social media with his contributions repeatedly driving the price of crypto Assets such as Doge and BTC in recent weeks. Tesla involvement in crypto spike bitcoin into record highs, there has been an increased use of the Tesla founder name to conduct fake bitcoin giveaway scam.

According to a BBC report, a German man reportedly from Cologne lost 10 BTC to an Elon musk bitcoin giveaway scam. Sebastian bemoaned saying "I had just thrown out the game changer for my life, family, my early retirement fund, and all the forthcoming holidays with my kids."

The 42-year-old revealed that one night after his wife went to bed, Sebastian got a Twitter notification about a tweet from Musk on Feb. after the SpaceX founder tweeted "Dojo 4 Doge". Now on his Twitter, he began to mull over what it signified, he saw some comments below the tweet announcing a Bitcoin giveaway.

Out of curiosity, Sebastian clicked on the link posted on Twitter which took him to what he described as a top-class-looking website where a bitcoin giveaway seems to be in motion. At that time he was still unaware that the link and comments were posted by a fake account claiming to be Elon Musk.

The giveaway seems to be run by the Tesla team, which invited people to send them BTC ranging from 0.1-20 bitcoins to be doubled in 20 minutes, a timer counting was counting down to the end of the promotion.

Sebastian told BBC he had a second look at the verification tag next to Musk's name on Twitter to be certain the giveaway was from Elon Musk to help him make up his mind to send 5 or 10 bitcoins.

He said to BBC:
"I said to myself take the maximum, as I felt it looked real, so I sent in the whole 10 BTC."

Now waiting anxiously as the timer kept counting down, the 42-year-old German refreshed his screen every 30 seconds for the next 20 minutes in excitement as he waits to receive 20 bitcoins from the Tesla team.

However, believing he hasn't been scammed, seeing another tweet from Musk reassured him that the giveaway was legit. Nonetheless, as the timer went down he began to realize then that it was not real.

Sebastian elaborated saying my heart was thumping fast, I said to myself that I had just thrown away the game changer for my family, my life, my early retirement fund, and all the impending holidays with my kids. He added, I went upstairs to the room to meet my wife. I told her that I have made a great mistake, a really big one.

Unable to sleep, Sebastian sent multiple emails to the scam website with no reply, he flagged the fake Twitter account as he tried to recover some part of his BTC. However, as time ticks away he accepted he had lost all his bitcoin.

Sebastian admitted his greed blinded him that night and has since warned people to stay clear of such scams that fall under the pretense of a Bitcoin giveaway.