A number of websites claim to offer visitors an automated way of making lots of money by using Bitcoin, often claiming they’ve been endorsed by celebrities. However, these sites are scams, and they’ve been defrauding people out of money with false and unrealistic promises for many years.
Whether it was an advert on a website, a link on an email or chat message or a browser window just popped up on your device, it’s likely that at some point, most of us have seen a website promoting some sort of Bitcoin “get-rich-quick” scheme.
The site probably claimed that people all over the world were getting rich with Bitcoin, and by signing up to some system, you could start making money straight away.
However, such sites – despite their claims of guaranteed money – ultimately lead to third party unregulated trading platforms that – at best – are incredibly risky and will most likely result in you losing all of the money you’re told to “invest” – or, at worst, will simply steal any money you give them. And importantly, none of them have anything to do with Bitcoin.
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As far as “get-rich-quick” scams go, these “get rich with Bitcoin” schemes are usually pretty par-for-the-course, in that they use the same tried and tested techniques that we see across the get-rich-quick industry in order to lure visitors into opening their wallets. These techniques can include –
– Fake news stories and celebrity endorsements. Get-rich-quick scammers often try and add legitimacy to their schemes by promoting them with fake news stories, and such stories often falsely claim a celebrity is endorsing (or even created) the system. For example, this fake media website pretending to be from UK tabloid The Mirror falsely claiming UK personality Martin Lewis endorses it.
– Catchy names. Such systems employ catchy names like Bitcoin Loophole, Bitcoin Circuit or Bitcoin Revolution to make themselves appear legitimate.
– Fake testimonials. Whether it’s fake celebrity testimonials or testimonials purporting to come from people who live in your area, none of them are real or verifiable.
– Pay to play. As with most get-rich-quick scams, users are expected to pay with their own money to use the system. Money they ultimately lose.
The aim of these scams is to lure victims to unregulated trading platforms that are either risky or will just steal any money you give them. Those behind the fake media stories, celebrity endorsements and catchy names either own these trading platforms or get paid a commission when they lure someone to them. Such platforms can be focused on Forex trading, Penny Stocks trading and Binary Options trading. Whatever it is, they all pose significant risks to any money invested into them.
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The trading platform we were directed to when we last investigated these websites claimed that it was a well-known brand that has been operational since 1994, trading billions of dollars each year. A quick Internet search revealed the website has been operational for 90 days and it had no feedback or reviews about it anywhere on the Internet. That’s more than just a red flag.
And because most people have most likely heard that you can make money using Bitcoin but don’t understand exactly how it works, the scammers are hoping their victims don’t realise that these schemes don’t actually have anything to do with Bitcoin whatsoever.
There are no get-rich-quick automated systems online. Making money online is of course possible (we outline some ways here) but it takes time, perseverance and the ability to learn new things. There are no shortcuts, and looking for shortcuts will likely result in one thing; getting yourself scammed.