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Elon Musk Bitcoin Scam Being Promoted by Popular QAnon Telegram Channel

Fri, 04/09/2021 - 15:12
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Alex Dovbnya
A popular QAnon Telegram channel has found new life as an Elon Musk Bitcoin scam
Elon Musk Bitcoin Scam Being Promoted by Popular QAnon Telegram Channel
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A major QAnon channel on encrypted messaging app Telegram has been rebranded to push an Elon Musk Bitcoin scam, according to political analyst Arieh Kovler.

In his Twitter thread, Kovler shares a screenshot that shows multiple messages promoting an advance fee scam: people are asked to send a certain amount of Bitcoin to an address that purportedly belongs to the Tesla CEO in order to receive more. Of course, they will never see their money again.

Elon Musk
Image by @ariehkovler

The channel—which was previously called "Great Awakening"—boasts 125,000 subscribers, many of whom have already parted ways with their coins. Over $16,500 worth of BTC has already been sent to the fraudulent address.

Related
Hacker Behind Massive Twitter Bitcoin Scam Gets Three Years in Prison

A systematic scammer

Crypto Twitter has been teeming with Elon Musk cryptocurrency scams for years, with verified accounts being hacked to promote them.

Back in July, a Florida teenager managed to hijack the accounts of Joe Biden, Elon Musk and Kim Kardashian to advertise a fraudulent Bitcoin giveaway. As reported by U.Today, he was recently sentenced to three years in prison.

However, the Telegram Bitcoin scam is actually run by a person who, according to Kovler, was never a QAnon believer. Instead, he or she used the fringe ideology simply to gain a following. After the proponents of Q got de-platformed by social media, apps like Telegram become their new home.

The scammer also has another group that is asking for donations to "fight the Deep State."

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About the author

Alex Dovbnya (aka AlexMorris) is a cryptocurrency expert, trader and journalist with extensive experience of covering everything related to the burgeoning industry — from price analysis to Blockchain disruption. Alex authored more than 1,000 stories for U.Today, CryptoComes and other fintech media outlets. He’s particularly interested in regulatory trends around the globe that are shaping the future of digital assets, can be contacted at alex.dovbnya@u.today.