this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2024
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Gizmodo filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FTC to get complaints sent to the federal agency about crypto scams that pretend to be affiliated with Musk. We obtained 247 complaints, all filed between Feb. and Oct. of this year, and they’re filled with stories of people who believed they were watching ads for authentic crypto investments sanctioned by Musk on social media.

The ads sometimes featured the names of Musk’s various companies, like SpaceX, Tesla, and X, while other times they utilized Musk’s association with neo-fascist presidential candidate Donald Trump.

...

Some people in the complaints believed they were talking directly with Musk, a sadly common story that has popped up in news reports before. But they weren’t talking with Musk, of course. They were communicating with scammers engaging in what’s called pig butchering—the name for a type of fraud popularized in the mid-2010s where scammers extract as much money as possible through flattery and promises of tremendous profits if the victim just “invests” where they’re told.

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[–] [email protected] 241 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 65 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Who taught this Tardigrade to play the Cello? Its all wrong. He's not going to get any notes out of it playing it under the bridge.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 month ago

He's doing the best he can, show a little respect.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I want a water bear as a pet so bad but the fact that they're microscopic might be an issue

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

the fact that they're microscopic might be an issue

Why? All that means is you may already have one without knowing it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

YOU'RE SO RIGHT OH MY GOD

[–] [email protected] 182 points 1 month ago (2 children)

There's a simple explanation for this. Elon Musk fans are fucking idiots.

[–] [email protected] 120 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

They might also just be the target demographic for pig butchering.

  • Middle Class
  • Over 40
  • Conservative Male (lonely)
  • Greedy / Self-serving

But yeah there is definitely correlation with low cognitive ability.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 month ago (3 children)

You also have to be the sort of person that genuinely believes you can get something for nothing. You have to have a relatively low IQ for that to be the case.

You also have to have a relatively low IQ to continue to listen to anything Musk says, so the group are Self-Selecting.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

Like their master

[–] [email protected] 112 points 1 month ago

while other times they utilized Musk’s association with neo-fascist presidential candidate Donald Trump.

I love that they called him what he is. I wish more in media would.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 month ago

Tech bros are tech broing?!

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I mean it makes sense to target these people. If you're stupid enough to believe the shit Musk or Trump spout, you're also stupid enough to not see these very obvious scams.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

there was a story here recently about a lot of scamming happening on truth social. so yeah.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 month ago (4 children)

If only they had a safe place to put their money that was protected by law and insured against losses.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is pretty sad.

I have a number of elderly relatives. The one thing I keep telling them is if they ever get approached, to contact their kids, or check with another family member before responding. So far, there haven't been any problems.

But I heard an in-law's parents in a different state lost a big chunk of money to one of these scams and may now lose their home.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I saw one of these and it took me a second to realize it was a scam. I'm a spaceflight geek and as much as a tool as Musk is, there's heavy overlap in spaceflight and SpaceX.

On Youtube there was a purported "live launch update" livestream. I was confused because I knew there were no launches scheduled that day of any kind much less SpaceX. What I saw was Musk on a stage outdoors apparently talking about a new SpaceX crypto product and the voice, which sounded exactly like Musk's talked about giving away free crypto the only thing you had to do was buy it, then share you wallet info and Musk would double it.

Besides this smelling very suspect, I realized that there were never close shots when musk was talking, so you couldn't see the lips match the words being said audibly and I knew it was a scam.

I can absolutely see how the greedy would get scammed by this.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

I saw one of these too on YouTube – it easily popped up early on my home page.

I'd consider myself a tech savvy person and even then, this took a minute to spot the scam. I can totally see someone falling for it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I can absolutely see how the greedy would get scammed by this.

Really? The only way that could sound more like a scam is if there were a chyron at the bottom spelling out THIS IS A SCAM.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It sounds like a scam because I'm distilling all the things that told me it was a scam. I'm glad you can take what I'm tell you is a scam and say "yes thats a scam". Congrats?

Musk also does stupid stuff that loses money. He's (likely illegally) giving away money to buy votes in some states. Musk is also a known cryptobro. The idea that Musk would be giving away crypto to try to build influence or attention isn't far fetched.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I mean, "give access" and "double your bitcoin" are somewhat textbook phrases for scams...

Although, I def. see how one can miss it at first. I remember one bank scam call where the thing that ultimately clued me in was a rather unprofessional response along the lines of "don't call crying back to us" when I've said I'm a bit busy to go check the card or whatever they've asked to, while what should've done this in the 1st place was another textbooky "have u transfered any funds to Joe Shmoe". Looking back, would've been funy AF to pull the Karen on them 🥲

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Can we take NASA contract away from SpaceX? Let's bring it back in house. Space should not be for profit .

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Just want to share that NASA has one of the highest ROIs of any government agency.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

I want to increase NASAs budget and go to space.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But then how will billionaires get to say they're literally thinking of the big picture because they got to go on a brief space joy ride?

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Maybe a hot take, but those currently into crypto and Musk aren't that bright.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That is the coldest take I've ever heard.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yep - It was found in the frozen food section

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago

Idiots who fall for Elon Musks genius persona and think they are smart also fall for crypto scams? Shocking I tell you, shocking

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Sure, the scams like pig butchering look dumb from the outside, but never think shit like this can't happen to you. There's TONs of ways scammers can trick you, but usually they'll seek out vulnerable people. Sure the gullible are vulnerable, but just because you're not vulnerable right now, doesn't mean you won't be at some point in the future. Desperation can make scholars into fools.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago

I feel like they don’t even need to be crypto schemes affiliated with Musk for that Venn diagram to work

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm so glad they're losing it to these scams instead of to leon.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

The people that end up cashing in from those scams are the same people that end up supporting Trump & Musk.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ngl I always hated crypto but this is like best argument for crypto. Wtf I'm even doing at my job, I should be doing something actually important like scramming Elon Musk fans.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I like the idea of crypto, vut i hate crypto bros.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago

Who would think that Musk fans are gullible people susceptible to scams?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

This has been news in Canada for about a year, story after story about people getting sucked in and losing tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. When it's not Musk it's Justin Trudeau, same M.O.

You'd think if these people read the news outlets they share their stories with that they would have seen one of the articles already because they're so common. But then again people still take Sunwing package vacations then complain to the news when it's subpar so idk.

Edit to add I blame big tech more than the scam victims, they have no protections in place and are profiting off the scammers immorally as well. They should have to manually review these things or at least be responsive to user reports and they're doing neither. I actually know someone who got banned from Meta products for reporting too many scam ads.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

You’d think if these people read the news outlets they share their stories with that they would have seen one of the articles already because they’re so common.

Crypto scams have overwhelmed the news feeds. I see scams showing up on the front page of my fucking retirement account. Dumb money retail investors chasing fictitious capital are setting off a feeding frenzy.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Here is the secret all crypto is a scam. People just have not figured it out yet.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago
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