Those who have lost $2 million to impostor Elon Musks beg for assistance.
Dozens of consumers who were scammed by Elon Musk impersonators taking advantage of the recent cryptocurrency mania are begging the Federal Trade Commission for help getting their money back.
Since October 2020, consumers have reported losing more than $80 million to crypto-investment scams, according to the federal agency. Many of the schemes promised that a celebrity associated with cryptocurrency would multiply and return any coins the consumer sent to their digital wallet. The losses to Elon Musk impersonators alone have exceeded $2 million.
Such ruses had already been going on for years when Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla and SpaceX, hosted NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” earlier this month — raising interest in crypto and making it even easier for crooks to find people to dupe.
Public records obtained from the FTC illustrate the litany of complaints, with names and addresses removed to protect consumer privacy. “I was sucked into a fake Elon Musk Bitcoin scam,” says one complaint. “I got scammed by these guys,” reads another. Other tales of woe include:
