Canadian Bitcoin Expert Scams a Scammer
“double your investments”
Calgarian Youtuber, Ben Perrin, runs a popular educational Youtube Channel focused on teaching people about bitcoin and cryptocurrency, and is the marketing director of a bitcoin exchange. When a scammer slid into his Instagram inbox on Monday – offering to “double his investment” if he’d send thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin, Perrin decided to have some fun.
He told CBC news, “ I’ve come across a lot of these people before, they make ridiculous claims. In this case, every 24 hours, they guaranteed me a doubling of my bitcoin, and said that if I would just send them some bitcoin, I could start seeing returns”.
Perrin didn’t just play along – he faked a bitcoin wallet statement and even pretend he had contacted by someone else with a better offer. Then he scammed the scammer.
I said that I would gladly invest $20,000 with them if they would simply send me $100 back, I could then return it to them, just to ensure that everything was legit.”
The scammer met Perrin halfway and sent $50 US. Perrin then turned the tables and let them know he had donated their money to charity. He sent the money to Bitcoin Venezuela, which helps people there buy food using the cryptocurrency, as the Venezuelan Bolivar has collapsed. The Instagram account the scammer was using has since been deleted.
Rule of Thumb
Perrin hope that this acts as a reminder to not send money over the internet. “A good rule of thumb is your investment…. should directly reflect your understanding of the asset you’re investing in,” he said. Scammers often take advantage of the fact that bitcoin transfers are irreversible.
Calgarian police don’t recommend trying the same response. “We don’t encourage anyone to engage, talk with, try and rile up these scammers or fraudsters. You could potentially be creating a target for yourself, where they may become frustrated with you and they already know your phone number or they already know your email,” said Sgt. Matt Frederiksen of the Calgary police economic crime unit fraud team.
Frederiksen said police receive about 13 to 14 reports every day from fraud victims, adding that in 2019 there have been 21 occurrences of fraud through cryptocurrency payments, totalling just under $1 million in losses.
Perrin also told CBC that although he may have won in this case, he doesn’t plan on continuing to scam scammers—he just saw an opportunity to show cryptocurrency newcomers how to exercise caution.
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