Even though the Bitcoin 2024 event has concluded, a deepfake scam featuring Elon Musk has surfaced on YouTube, posing as the official Bitcoin 2024 livestream. Over the past three days, this scam has deceived many users into losing their crypto assets, with one video alone collecting over $28,000 in Bitcoin, Ether, and Dogecoin. The scam falsely portrays Elon Musk, tricking viewers into sending their cryptocurrencies with the promise of doubling their money.
- The scam involves a looped AI-generated deepfake of Elon Musk, making it appear that he has been livestreaming non-stop for 72 hours.
- The phony livestreams claim to be from Bitcoin Magazine and feature titles like “Bitcoin 2024 Conference Nashville! Donald Trump & Elon Musk Speech – General Day 2.”
- The fraudsters use the typical “double your money” scheme, convincing users to send Bitcoin, Ether, Dogecoin, or Tether with a false promise of returning double the amount.
This post serves as a warning: anyone promising to double your crypto in exchange for sending funds to their wallet is a scammer. We identified three distinct livestreams over the weekend. Onchain data revealed that the scammers received 0.322 BTC, 2.026 ETH, and 374.63 DOGE, totaling $28,586. Unfortunately, YouTube is slow to remove these fraudulent videos, despite multiple reports. The video, still live as of Sunday, July 28, 4:25 p.m. EDT, falsely claims to have 91,000 viewers.
Bitcoin proponent Michael Dunworth highlighted the scam on X, cautioning the crypto community. “I’ve had people call me telling me Elon Musk is giving free bitcoins away at Bitcoin ‘24,” Dunworth wrote on X. “No wonder, they have a fake live stream with dubbed voice-over, and 70k+ (fake) people watching the live stream. Be cautious,” he added.
