Kevin O’Leary, or Mr. Wonderful has been giving out Bitcoin and Ethereum since Thursday morning, according to his official Twitter account (hacked). The account stated that O’Leary had decided to give away 5,000 Bitcoin and 15,000 Ethereum because he had gained a significant amount of money from cryptocurrencies over the past few years.
The tweet also included a link that anyone can use to participate in the fake cryptocurrency giveaway event. A few hours after they were published, Twitter deleted the fraudulent giveaway posts.
Investors could access the official website for O’Leary’s Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) giveaway by clicking the link in the first tweet. The website states that “everyone can participate, including those in the United States.” There were two additional URLs provided, one for the BTC giveaway and the other for the ETH giveaway.
O’Leary’s Twitter account added that the freebies are legitimate and that it has not been compromised. Additionally, it made the untrue assertion that Mr. Wonderful declared last night on CNBC that he would actually give away some crypto.
Scams involving cryptocurrency giveaways are common on a number of social media sites, including Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram. Hackers frequently utilise the accounts of well-known individuals, politicians, celebrities, and businesses to spread the word about their fraudulent freebies.
A significant number of Twitter accounts, including those of Apple, Google, Bill Gates, Kanye West, Mike Bloomberg, Mr. Beast, Uber, Warren Buffett, and Floyd Mayweather, were compromised in July 2020 to advertise a bitcoin giveaway. More recently, the British Army’s official YouTube and Twitter accounts were infiltrated in July to promote a bitcoin giveaway, while Pakistani politician Imran Khan’s Instagram account was used to promote a giveaway fraud using Musk.
Mimicking or user identity of a prominent personality or any other entity is common among scammers to establish credibility. Recently, a study by blockchain security company SlowMist showed that North Korean hackers impersonate well-known NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, X2Y2, and Rarible to trick victims into believing that they are mining a genuine NFT by linking their wallet to the website.