Bitcoin has been skyrocketing since 2017, and an investment in the Cryptocurrency can make investors sit on a treasure trove of cash. While investors have been pouring their wealth in Bitcoin hoping for better returns, a 42-year-old IT expert who wished to remain anonymous told the BBC that he lost his entire life savings to a fake Elon Musk Bitcoin scam and has now accepted the fact that his hard-earned money is gone forever.
It all started when Elon Musk tweeted a cryptic message, ''Dojo 4 Doge'' hinting that the billionaire plans to invest in Dogecoin cryptocurrency, which he eventually did.
Scamsters made use of the cryptic tweet spinning their own message by luring potential investors to a fake website which looked real with a Twitter link that read 'Elon Musk is giving away Bitcoins'. Once users get to the fake website, a message in the banner read 'Buy 0.1 to 20 Bitcoins to get double money back' and showed that Musk's Tesla team is running the scheme to help investors get unbelievable returns.
If that wasn't enough, a timer on the right hand side ran on the website showing time is limited and other investors are pouring in their cash for the Bitcoin scheme. The 42-year-old father of two was convinced that the website is from Elon Musk's team and made the fatal mistake of going for the maximum by investing his entire bank savings of $565,487 into the fake website only to realize a few days later that he's scammed off his savings and there's no track of where his money went.
The heart-broken man confessed to his wife that he made a ''really big mistake'' and threw away everything they've earned to a fake Bitcoin scam. ''I went upstairs and sat on the edge of the bed to tell my wife. I woke her up and told her that I'd made a big mistake, a really big mistake. I threw my head on to the sofa cushions and my heart was beating so hard,'' se continued. "There was a link to a new event below, so I clicked on it and saw that he was giving away Bitcoin! I thought I'd just thrown away the gamechanger for my family, my early retirement fund and all the upcoming holidays with my kids,'' he told BBC.
Scamsters around the world have created several fake Twitter handles and websites to lure potential Bitcoin investors by promising high returns in a short span of time and many innocent people have fallen for it. Surprisingly, a few fake Twitter handles also have the verified tick mark next to it making gullible people believe that it's authentic.
