The issue of scamming is becoming a threat to the level of trust in the cryptocurrency industry. Fraudsters now impersonate influential figures in the industry to defraud unsuspecting followers and investors, especially on YouTube. In most cases, these scammers flaunt their new “double-your-coin” tactics to lure investors looking to make quick returns from their crypto holdings. This particular act probably became rampant after the Twitter hack.
Just this week, a similar Cardano scam launched to ensnare the Cardano community, wherein Cardano’s founder, Charles Hoskinson, was being impersonated.
Cardano scam promoted with the project founder’s video clip
The imposters were using a video clip containing Cardano’s founder Hoskinson to deceive the project investors into investing in their double-your-coin Cardano scam. That particular video clip was cropped from the recent AMA session conducted online by the project’s founder. Thus, there were high chances that Cardano (ADA) investors could fall for it, especially those people who weren’t aware of.
Unfortunately, a Redditor recently posted that he/she lost about 15,000 ADA (over $1,500) to the scammers, hoping that the investment which reads – we will double what you send in ADA – was legitimate. However, Cardano recently warned on Twitter that Hoskinson wasn’t offering any free ADA cryptocurrency. “This is fake and is not from IOHK or the Cardano Foundation.”
Increase in YouTube scams
Notably, scammers usually impersonate influential profiles who are related to any booming project to perpetuate their double-your-coin scams. Notably, the development came as Cardano continues to note more increased adoption and popularity in the crypto industry. A few days after the transition of the Cardano blockchain to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) model, the project recorded over 700 active pools, as Cryptopolitan reported on August 4. Today, there are more than 1,144 active pools on the blockchain, with over 17 billion ADA staked.
On June 8, Cryptopolitan reported that YouTube scammers made away with more than $150,000 in Bitcoin, as they flaunted a fake investment while impersonating Elon Musk, who initially disclosed interest in cryptocurrency.
