Scams are nothing new in the world of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It appears there is a fake Charlie Lee account on Twitter claiming to offer free Litecoin. A total of 180 LTC would allegedly be donated in the process. It is evident this is a clear scam which needs to be avoided first and foremost. Unfortunately, it’s very likely there are already people who lost small amounts of Litecoin. It’s not the first time we see such scams either, though.
Given the current popularity of cryptocurrencies, scammers will crawl out of the woodworks for some time to come. Whether it is in the form of fake ICOs, phishing scams, or just blatant Twitter impersonations, there are plenty of risks. The latest scam on Twitter comes in the form of a fake Charlie Lee account. Someone impersonates the creator of Litecoin in an attempt to collect small amounts of Litecoin. It makes things look somewhat believable, even though everyone can see this is a clear scam.
Beware of the Fake Charlie Lee on Twitter
In the messages, the scammer asks users to send 0.3 LTC to a specific address. In doing so, the senders will allegedly receive 3 LTC in return. This is a tried and tested scamming business model which seems to work surprisingly well. Moreover, everyone knows Charlie Lee has sold virtually all of his Litecoin a while ago. Even if he had some left, he would not give them away through a “contest” like this one. It’s also easy to spot the fake Twitter account, as it uses @SatoshiLitez instead of @SatoshiLite.
Surprisingly, there have been a few similar attempts like this one in the past. There has been a fake Vitalik Buterin account offering a similar scheme but with Ethereum. A fake Blockchain Twitter account has also attempted the same business model not that long ago. It is evident scammers will remain attracted to cryptocurrencies for quite some time now. Moreover, there are so many novice users, it’s not unlikely ventures like this will continue to pop up. A lot of people can’t distinguish between the real and fake accounts, unfortunately.
Thankfully, it seems no one has sent any money to this scammer’s address as of yet. That doesn’t mean this situation won’t change, though. As long as this fake Charlie Lee account remains active, this scam will continue. Rest assured there will be more of these attempts in the future as well. Novice cryptocurrency users are a prone target for efforts like these. We can only hope not too many people fall victim these elaborate attempts.