Security News > 2021 > May > Ongoing Bitcoin Scams Demonstrate Power of Social Engineering Triggers
Bitcoin scams have soared over the last seven months.
The surge started around October 2020, and the scams are continuing today.
On May 17, 2021, the FTC announced, "Since October 2020, reports have skyrocketed, with nearly 7,000 people reporting losses of more than $80 million on these scams." It describes two scam methods.
The second is effectively a celebrity scam, where the supposed celebrity promises to immediately multiply any bitcoin investment.
A scammer, with the twitter name Elon Musk, responded offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - send up to 20 bitcoin and receive double in return.
The lesson to be learnt from all these bitcoin scams is that it is almost impossible to prevent users from falling for good social engineering - whether it be scam or phishing.