Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore has called the attention of his followers to an account created by an alleged scammer on BitClout, a social token forum, to lure them into buying tokens using the PM’s Twitter profile. On Friday, Loong posted the warning on his Facebook wall, advising his compatriots to be wary of dubious crypto schemes and to do proper findings before participating in any crypto venture. He claimed that a suspected scammer had created an account on BitClout on the PM’s name, Twitter profile, and pics. Loong shared a screenshot of his 27.4088 of his tokens with a market capitalization of $9,800 and a user holding of $4.77
Fraudsters tampered with my Twitter profile – Loong
The post noted that the PM’s Twitter profile had been tampered with on “particular blockchain platform that enables users to buy and trade on its crypto platform.” He also said that those behind the act were anonymous, so he called on the platform to delete the said profile and photo from the website, while distancing himself from it. “It is misleading, and the profile was created without my consent,” Loong added.
After the warning, the said account was immediately deactivated. BitClout announced that it preloaded the top 15,000 Twitter influencers to enable users to buy and sell their tokens either they are on BitClout or not. Loong has about 792K followers. Meanwhile, it seems that such Twitter influencers do not need to secure their BitClout accounts before trading the token.
For example, Elon Musk has not registered with the site, but many followers are presently transacting with his tokens of about $89,379 each as of April 5, 2021. Creators can activate their accounts by sharing their BitClout address via a tweet. Then, they will be entitled to a fixed amount of their tokens.
The PM warning was intended for all Singaporeans
The PM sent the warning to his 1.6 million Facebook followers and over 900K Twitter followers. However, the message was meant for all the 5.7 million Singaporeans. According to Loong, holding or trading in Bitcoin is tantamount to being exposed to fraudulent schemes. Hence, he advised users to deal only with firms certified by the Monetary Authority of Singa pore.
Pame la Ander son of Bay watch Star is also one of the personalities attracted to BitClout. The three top holders of her CreatorCoin will now receive her final 2016 Playboy magazine. Her token is worth $6 749 and a market capitalization of $800K as of writing this report. Crypto scammers have defrauded millions of unsuspecting users and investors of their money. A report noted that $1.7 billion was lost to various dubious crypto scams.
The thieves deploy both modern and old ways of defrauding victims of their money. Some scammers create Ponzi schemes by paying old members from the money deposited by new members. Some use complex systems by integrating software with Telegram or other social media platforms.
