They are everywhere, the bitcoin-related scams that plague users of social media all over the world. They have been written about both by Trijo News and other crypto news sites such as Cointelegraph.
Uses celebrities in fake news articles
The scams are usually called things like Immediate Edge, Bitcoin Profit or Bitcoin Code. They normally come in the form of fake news articles claiming that a celebrity has put their money into an algorithm that invests in cryptocurrencies.
These fake news articles are then distributed to users of Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.
If you read the content in the ads, it is obvious that they are aimed at a wide audience. Few advanced terms are used and there’s not a lot of details. And most of the people who are deceived by the scam are also people who have no prior experience in trading cryptocurrencies.
Advertises on respected crypto site
But now it seems that the fraudsters have a new method. At Bitcoinist, which is usually regarded as a respected news site in the crypto world and has over 56,000 followers on Twitter, there is currently an advertising article from Bitcoin Code.
The article is very long and contains no pictures of glamorous celebrities. However, it is filled with info and details about how good Bitcoin Code algorithms are at making people rich. In addition, it links to other versions of the fraud, such as Immediate Edge and Bitcoin Revolution.
A section of the article is entitled “Is Bitcoin Code Real or is it a Fraud”. Below this headline there are a series of claims that Bitcoin Code was founded by a former Wall Street quantum programmer named Steve McKay.
If you Google Steve McKay you get his personal website. It contains info about both him and Bitcoin Code. In addition, there is a picture of this alleged magician. However, the picture is not a picture of any Steve McKay but of a professional model, something previously revealed by the website Trading Beasts.
If you do some further research you will soon know that the same image is used on Swedish Bitcoin Code sites. There, the same man is called Stefan Holmquist.
Brags about its “ethics”
But how is it that a large crypto news site publishes an ad for a scam?
On the Bitcoinist page for ad buyers, it can be read that it costs about $1,400 to get an ad published as an article on the site.
For this price, the people behind Bitcoinist boast that advertisers will have the opportunity to reach hundreds of thousands of crypto-interested readers. But they also write that they do not work with just about anyone.
Under the heading “Ethics”, Bitcoinist writes:
Bitcoinist strives to be the most reliable and trustworthy publication in the Bitcoin and blockchain industry. We believe the most important part of maintaining our audience’s trust is adhering to strong journalistic and business ethics.
We do not spam, and we do not advertise or promote illegitimate or untrustworthy business. If a company we advertise has spammed you or taken advantage of you, we encourage you to contact us so we can investigate. If we discover wrongdoing, we will look into terminating our business with the offending companies.
No response
In addition to all this, it may seem extra strange that Bitcoinist publishes the article considering that they themselves previously has written about similar scams.
Bitcoinist has, as of now, not responded to Trijo News request for a comment regarding the matter.
