Dogecoin creator Jackson Palmer recently made a post on Twitter warning his followers about scammers who have been impersonating him in attempts to swindle crypto out of unsuspecting supporters.
Palmer revealed the scammers were sending out emails to people who commented and subscribed to his YouTube channel. The fake email profile would then carry on a conversation with the supporter, and eventually ask them to invest in a Ponzi scheme.
Palmer said he would never cold email anyone for this purpose, and shared examples of the emails in his post. Palmer tweeted:
🚨 Scam alert: Someone is sending these fake emails to my YouTube subscribers (no idea how they got the email list) where they eventually try to sell you a ponzi “investment program”. THIS IS NOT ME, I WILL NEVER COLD EMAIL YOU. Stay safe. pic.twitter.com/gavK8eOErR
— Jackson Palmer (@ummjackson) October 17, 2018
Last month, Elon Musk asked Dogecoin creator Jackson Palmer to help him find a solution to crypto scam bots that were impersonating celebrities on the microblogging website.
Palmer shared a script with Musk, which he had developed in the past to block said bots. Palmer said the code is “short, simple and you just run it with cron somewhere.” “Not giving away ETH” became a popular tag amongst the crypto space after scammers pretending to be prominent community members asked supporters to send small amounts of crypto to a specific address with the promise of a big payoff.
At one point, scammers even impersonated a Bloomberg reporters’ account on Twitter, in an attempt to swindle her followers. To gain credibility, the scammers have kept on swapping identifies of hijacked verified accounts. As CryptoGlobe covered, researchers at Duos Security have earlier this year revealed there’s a massive botnet army behind the cryptocurrency giveaway scams. The botnet army, according to them, has three tiers and has been evolving.
It is important to remember that like Palmer, other influential figures in the crypto space would not be cold emailing their supporters and asking for money.