Whenever one is chasing the next big thing, they may sometimes make strange decisions for the fear of missing out on great investment opportunities. Bearing that in mind, several bitcoin and crypto scams have come up. The latest scam indicates that Sir Alan Sugar, Jeremy Clarkson, and Simon Cowell all have profited from obscure online crypto investment schemes.
Is it true that these celebrities have tested and profited from investing in these schemes? That appears too much of a coincidence which could most likely be a scam. Various articles were faked to look like they were published on ITV’s website about the Bitcoin Revolution scam. The scheme reportedly has many endorsements for the investment from multiple celebrities.
One online Bitcoin investment platform purported that Jeremy Clarkson said that it was his best investment ever. On his part, Clarkson said that he had never heard of such a platform and would be consulting his lawyers.
Neither the star of The Apprentice, the host of ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’, nor the top judge on The X-Factor is backing this scam.
The fake article has a supposed quote from Clarkson stating:
‘Bitcoin Revolution has been the greatest investment I’ve ever made.’
Nevertheless, when he was contacted, he said:
‘I have absolutely no knowledge of this company. It is a scam. I’ve engaged the services of a lawyer to deal with this. And will now go online to see what a “bitcoin” is.’
All celebrities mentioned in this scam have been warned and they all have confirmed that they are not a part of this unscrupulous scheme. The Bitcoin Revolution scam is advertised on a fake ITV news story that starts with a tale that features a bride who claims to have made millions from Bitcoin investments.
The story has the bride telling her groom on their wedding day that she had become a millionaire after investing in an automated Bitcoin trading platform called Bitcoin Revolution.
This article is designed to lure unsuspecting and the naïve investors and traders with praise from the stars. It is also well designed to appear as if it comes from a reputable news source, ITV. Furthermore, the article falsely claims that the platform has an endorsement that appeared on the Daily Mail, BBC2, the Sun, the Guardian, and Good Morning Britain.
The fake news aims to attract people to sign up for the Bitcoin Revolution platform. The potential users are invited to deposit an initial $250 and then sit back and relax as they watch themselves become ‘the next millionaire.’
Combined with the unlikely tale is the alleged backing from the celebrities. The advert claims that Clarkson was approached by a recent graduate on set ITV’s ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ who pitched him the Bitcoin trading platform. It goes on to claim that the graduate pitched the platform after the show.
The fake reports say that Clarkson was unconvinced until he saw an initial £250 deposit turn into £323.18 ‘within three minutes’. These profits are said to have been achieved as a result of data machine learning that means the platform is designed to know the perfect time to buy Bitcoin low and sell on a high.
Clarkson was so convinced that he assured to invest £2million for 25% of the company.
Other converts included Simon Cowell who reportedly had already made a 630% return on his investment and Sir Alan Sugar. Readers and investors must avoid the Bitcoin Revolution scheme which is still online and making false reports of the profits made by non-existent users.
This occurrence is one of the latest celebrity-fronted Bitcoin trading scams. According to the Financial Conduct Authority, these scams have so far stolen £27million from victims in 2018-19. Two scam stories have combined with a previous Dragons’ Den yarn alleging that the famous investors acquired part of the company.
Implausible claims coupled with mistakes are the norm of scams and they are designed to weed out the savvy and leave the more likely victims to fall for them. Cowell at some point is quoted as saying that the entrepreneurs decided to go with Jeremy.
It seems that these scams involving Bitcoin and celebrities are spread around across the globe. One of the targeted countries is Italy, but the targeted celebrity seems to be a local one. Lorenzo Jovanotti and Bitcoin trading systems seem to have been the target and widely searched by Italians. These false claims are the same, and said that the Italian singer seems to be invested in an automatic trading robot and has made millions from it.
Nevertheless, while that appears sloppy, it is well set up to lure the unsuspecting victims. Bitcoin Revolution alleges that in return for a 2% commission on profits, users have access to a platform that performs at a ‘94.4% accuaracy level’ (the spelling mistake is theirs). They also go ahead to claim that their platform is ahead of the general markets by 0.01 seconds.
That latter part of the story is a major selling point of the entire scam. It is intended to attract investors who think that they are getting access to something that will offer them an advantage over everyone else and beat the markets to a profit.
It is also a major selling point since those investors who know little about crypto investments and trading would likely feel intimidated about the potential of doing that unless they think that they had a crutch of some kind.
The platform’s site encourages traders and investors to invest a deposit of €250 to become the next Bitcoin millionaire. For added, conviction, they feature a shot of Bill Gates.
Regulator Warns on Crypto Scams
In May 2019, the FCA stated that crypto and currency investment scam reports are on the rise. Their data shows that these scams have tripled in the past 12 months to more than 1,800. The FCA stated:
“Fraudsters often use social media to promote their “get rich quick” online trading platforms. Posts frequently use fake celebrity endorsements and images of luxury items like expensive watches and cars. These posts then link to professional-looking websites where consumers are convinced to invest.”
In most cases, the investors are led to think and believe that their first investment has successfully made a profit as promised. These scammers then contact the victim telling them to invest more money or introduce friends and family with bogus promises of greater profits.
Nevertheless, these returns eventually stop and the customer account is closed. That is the instance when the scammer disappears into thin air with no further contact. Investigators believe that it is the likely reason that Bitcoin Revolution requests for an initial £250 deposit. They also claim that the investors can get back their deposit any time they want.
The FCA goes ahead to warn that crypto scams ask investors to make initial deposits to start the trading process. They are then told that the deposit was made successfully and trading has begun. However, through this method, many investors are scammed out of a lot of their money.
One individual in the legitimate crypto industry stated that they had seen many of these celebrity-supported scams. The person described these scams as extensively frustrating from an industry and marketing point of view.
Mark Steward, FCA’s executive director of enforcement and market oversight said months ago that consumers must remain cautious when engaging with adverts that promise high returns from online trading platforms.
In most cases, the scammers are very convincing. Thus, the investors must do thorough research into any company that they wish to invest with top ensure that they are real.
Before making any online investment, investors should visit the ScamSmart website to discover how to protect themselves from scams. Whenever in doubt, the investor should never invest.
