YouTube Elon Musk Live Stream Scam
Scammers created a fake Tesla account on YouTube, @elon.teslastream, which had over 10k subscribers and even YouTube's official verification. According to Engadget, Google reported and subsequently took down this account.
On June 23, this fake Tesla YouTube account hosted a live stream featuring a deepfake of Elon Musk giving a speech. During the stream, "Elon Musk" promoted a fraudulent cryptocurrency event, displaying a QR code on-screen with the message, "SCAN OR REGRET"
The fake Elon Musk claimed that anyone who sent Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), or Dogecoin to a specified wallet would receive double the amount back. For example, sending 1 BTC would supposedly result in getting 2 BTC. At one point, the live stream had 30K simultaneous viewers.
Fake Bitcoin Giveaway Campaigns
Scanning the QR code on the screen directs viewers to a fake Tesla campaign website (hxxps[:]//teslaus[...].net), as shown in the image below. The site features a blurred Tesla logo, unlike the genuine website.
The fraudulent campaign site falsely advertises that people can transfer cryptocurrencies and receive double the rewards. The campaign rules also emphasize that "you can only participate once," tempting people to transfer large amounts of cryptocurrency at a time to maximize their supposed rewards.
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How to Identify Deepfake Investment Scams
1. Verify Official Accounts
Simply recognizing verification symbols on platforms is no longer enough to ensure an account's legitimacy. Scammers sometimes acquire verified accounts through illegal purchases or hacking to use for fraudulent activities. Visit the brand’s official website to find their genuine social media accounts, or search for the brand name directly on the platform. If you find multiple accounts claiming to be official, compare their follower counts and descriptions to identify the genuine one. For example, the scam YouTube account appeared as Tesla but had the username @elon.teslastream, whereas the real Tesla YouTube account is @tesla.
2. Assess Investment Return Plausibility
Investment scams often promise low-risk, high-return opportunities or free giveaways to lure users. However, if an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is a scam. Transferring a large amount of money with the expectation of high returns without a solid guarantee can lead to significant financial loss.3. Avoid Interacting with Suspicious Links or Making Transfers
Scam websites often mimic legitimate ones with similar colors and logos. While they may look convincing at first glance, closer inspection can reveal flaws, such as blurry images or logos due to unauthorized use. Additionally, some buttons on these sites might not work, indicating an incomplete website.
Before entering a website, always check the URL carefully. For example, Tesla’s official website is https://www.tesla.com/, not hxxps[:]//teslaus[.]net or hxxps[:]//givesmusk[.]net. Scammers increasingly use URLs that closely mimic legitimate ones by substituting characters, making it difficult to spot the difference with the naked eye.
Use a website checker like Whoscall to directly share suspicious URLs and quickly assess their risk level before visiting. This tool can help detect scam even before you enter the website.
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