Looking to buy Bitcoin? Don’t fall for fake celebrity endorsements leading to cryptocurrency scams. Here’s why!
Bitcoin is on the rise once again, and investors are anxious to see just how high it will go. The rush to invest in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency derivatives has opened the door to online scammers, eager to get their “piece of the pie.”
The quickest way to bring in new clients is to establish credibility, which these scammers attempt to do by putting fake celebrity endorsements in their advertisements or use verified social media accounts to memic celebrities especially Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk.
The Latest Trend in Online Investment Scams
This newest scam is just another development from the same people who have infested online trading for years. The endorsements themselves are part of affiliate advertising networks. Partners receive a cut of the scam’s proceeds for directing traffic to the scammer’s websites. This extra layer of anonymity helps protect scammers, who are often difficult, if not impossible, to track down.
Anyone who tries to invest with the scammers will soon find that they aren’t buying Bitcoin, but instead, derivative assets, called contracts for differences (CFDs). This means investors never own any bitcoin. They’re essentially betting on whether the price is going to go up or down.
Phony Bear Grylls Endorsement for Bitcoin Era
Apparently, Bitcoin Era, a crypto trading platform, which, according to Bitcoin News Magazine, is a scam, was also caught using the popular television survivalist Bear Grylls’name for some of their latest fake endorsements.
The former SAS serviceman became well known through his television series Man vs. Wild and has gone on to do many more survival-related programs in the years since.
Bitcoin Era’s advertisements claimed that Grylls had made substantial sums of money by using their “unique trading algorithm.” In reality, Grylls was not involved with the firm. Their algorithm is just another one of their sleazy recruitment tactics.
The scam went so infamous among crooks and unsuspected Bitcoin users that on April 30th, 2020 Grylls had to publish a blog post publically denying endorsing Bitcoin. According to his blog:
It’s been brought to my attention that there are a number of fake stories circulating the internet linking me to fake bitcoin schemes. These are totally incorrect and false endorsements. Please do not click through on any links or images and avoid engaging with these posts at all costs to avoid scammers taking advantage of you.
Avoiding Bitcoin Scams Online
Anyone eager to invest in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies online should be doing so with a broker registered to offer financial services within their country. Unregistered brokers aren’t under the jurisdiction of financial regulators and don’t have to meet their strict standards.
A registered broker provides certain investor protections that protect traders from broker malpractice. The brokers using fake celebrity endorsements to draw in victims offer no such protections. They could simply disappear with your investments at any time.
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