Elon Musk’s SNL appearance exploited to promote crypto-currency scams

ByCraig Haley

Scammers are capitalising on Elon Musk’s Saturday Night Live performance to trick Twitter users into falling for crypto-currency giveaway scams.

We’ve been warning some time now about scammers promoting fake crypto-currency giveaways on Twitter. These scams ask a Twitter user to send crypto-currency to a particular crypto account on the promise that it will be doubled or even tripled and then sent back to the user.

Sounds good. Only that doesn’t happen. The crypto-currency is never returned.

To lure Twitter users to the fake giveaways in the first place, such scams are promoted by hacked “blue tick verified” Twitter accounts. Scammers gain access to verified Twitter accounts and change the account profile picture and name to make them appear like they belong to a particular celebrity.


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This gives the impression that the tweets and comments made by the Twitter account belong to a verified celebrity or business. For example these scammers will often user Elon Musk’s identity to lure victims to these scams (below)

After Elon Musk’s Saturday Night Live appearance, these scammers are now using fake SNL Twitter accounts to lure Twitter users. See below.

To spot these fake Twitter accounts, even if they have the blue tick next to them, you should pay close attention to the username of the account posting the giveaway links. In the case above the username is BoserforPA. That was a Twitter account used in 2019 by Susan Boser for her unsuccessful attempt to run for the Pennsylvania State Senate. It was long abandoned, and since compromised by crooks who changed the name and picture to make it appear like it belonged to SNL.

Another good way to spot these scams, of course, is to realise that if it appears too good to be true, it probably is. Are you really going to double or triple your crypto-currency for free? Probably not.

Keep up-to-date with all the latest cybersecurity threats and our tips to stay safe online. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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