Key Takeaways
- Scammers use Elon Musk’s name to trick people into cryptocurrency scams on YouTube, to impersonate Musk on X, and promote fake cryptocurrency schemes.
- Elon Musk’s likeness was also used in a Delaware-based advertising network to promote cryptocurrency schemes and medicines, despite Musk’s unlikely involvement.
- The best way to stay safe is to ignore anything involving Musk outside of his official channels.
Elon Musk. You know who he is, his businesses, and his influence not just on tech but electric cars, space travel, payment processing, and so much more.
Scammers know you know his name, too, and use that as a way to trick unsuspecting victims. That’s right; Elon Musk’s name alone is enough to draw people into scams of all kinds, and you’d be surprised to learn how many there are.
1. Elon Musk YouTube Crypto Scam
The Elon Musk YouTube crypto scam capitalizes on Musk’s influence in the cryptocurrency world.
Hackers target high-profile YouTube channels, altering their appearance to mimic Musk-related accounts. These hijacked channels then broadcast videos featuring Musk discussing cryptocurrency, intertwined with instructions for a fraudulent giveaway.
The scam promises viewers that any cryptocurrency they send will be doubled by Musk, creating a false sense of urgency and credibility. It exploits the ‘get rich quick’ allure of cryptocurrency, combined with Musk’s reputation as a tech visionary.
In March 2023, the enormously popular tech channel, Linus Tech Tips, was hacked and began broadcasting the Elon Musk crypto scam, showing the lengths the scammers will go to promote the scam.
2. Elon Musk X (Twitter) Crypto Scam
If you use X (formerly Twitter), you’ve probably seen this scam in play more than a few times, with scammers impersonating Musk by responding to his tweets, directing users to scam crypto giveaways.
Given part of the reason Musk bought X to begin with was to curb crypto scams and crypto bots, this one feels particularly poignant. Yet, despite efforts to curb impersonation, these scams persist, sometimes even using paid advertisements and Musk’s likeness to promote cryptocurrency scams.
Despite Musk’s prominence on the platform, the scam works because victims are tricked into believing each message from a fake Musk account is legitimate, further illustrating the problems with moderating any large social media network.
3. Elon Musk TruthGPT Coin Scam
In May 2023, Musk announced that he was working on an AI tool dubbed “TruthGPT.” Musk planned TruthGPT as a direct response to the limitations of ChatGPT, Google Bard, and other generative AI tools.
However, what followed was the opportunistic launch of a fake cryptocurrency called TruthGPT Coin, falsely associated with Musk. Despite the enormous red flags with TruthGPT, the fake crypto still managed to snare several victims, illustrating the allure of any project linked to Musk.
Thankfully, TruthGPT (and its associated scams) were taken down fast, stopping any real damage from taking place.
4. Using Elon Musk’s Likeness in a Fake Advertising Network
In mid-2023, ProPublica reported that a Delaware-based advertising network named AdStyle had been using the likeness of Elon Musk (along with countless other celebs) to promote cryptocurrency schemes, medicines, and more.
As per ProPublica, some of the claims were the normal outrageous claims you see from trashy ad networks, like “This 197-Year-Old Man’s Longevity Secret Makes Your Cells 4 TIMES Younger” or other classics like “Doctors Hate This One Trick” type posts.
Even with Musk’s at times questionable decision making, lending his likeness to an advertising network to promote crypto schemes is extremely unlikely.
5. Elon Musk Deepfake Scams
In the age of AI, deepfake scams are better than ever, and as one of the world’s most prominent figures, you’d better believe Elon Musk is a frequent feature. As with many scams involving Musk, they’re typically pushing people towards fake investment schemes and cryptocurrency scams (have you spotted a theme yet?!), attempting to use Musk’s previous involvement with crypto to build trust.
In the video below, the voice and lip movement is terrible, doesn’t sound like Musk, and is quite clearly fake. However, it’s unfortunately enough for some folks to be lured in.
Other scams involving deepfakes and Elon Musk also circulate. For example, in mid-2023, Martin Lewis, a prominent financial journalist in the UK, was used in a deepfake video to talk up a fake investment scheme allegedly run by Elon Musk. The whole scenario was fake, and part of an enormous scam, but the quality of the deepfake tech used on Lewis was impressive, capturing the background of his home perfectly and using AI tools to create an impressively accurate voice.
Compared to the first deepfake video linked above, the mouth movement is much better, and the voice doesn’t sound anywhere near as garbled. Now, consider that the first video was published in mid-2022 and the second video in mid-2023—what a difference in deepfake technology through AI a year makes.
6. Elon Musk Grok Cryptocurrency Scam
November 2023 saw Elon Musk announce Grok, a brand new generative AI tool developed by his xAI startup. However, while Grok is meant to do battle with the incumbent, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the announcement of Grok brought forth yet another wave of scammers using Musk as the focal point.
In this case, scammers used the Grok announcement to promote the launch of a brand new cryptocurrency, also known as Grok, without any official endorsement or link to Elon Musk, xAI, or otherwise.
At the time of writing, the scam project hasn’t yet rug pulled, which is typical when it comes to scam cryptos and accounts on X (formerly Twitter). However, some sleuthing by X user @zachxbt found numerous red flags with the project and accounts linked to it, not least that the X account was previously used for another crypto scam.
However, as other posts in that timeline show, some crypto folks just don’t care and will believe anything to promote a pump-and-dump scheme they believe they’ll be on the right side of. Either way, there is no official Grok cryptocurrency, and you should steer clear of anything remotely looking like one.
It’s Not Musk’s Fault Everyone Uses Him to Scam Others
Musk isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. He’s certainly not mine. But as the world’s richest person and the leader of numerous world-leading companies (whatever your take on them), Musk’s reach and appeal are almost unparalleled, especially in the crypto world.
On that, most of the scams using Musk’s likeness or otherwise have one goal: funnel victims into fake crypto schemes. In that, be extremely wary of anything or anyone promoting a project using Elon Musk in any way; it’s highly likely it’s another Musk scam.
