TikTok scammers used Elon Musk’s image to steal Bitcoin

A fresh wave of cryptocurrency giveaways impersonating Elon Musk has begun on TikTok. The report comes from Bleeping Computer.

According to the publication, the videos are posted hourly. In them, Musk allegedly gives interviews to major outlets and invites viewers to visit a site where the giveaways are conducted.

Criminals created hundreds of such pages, including some posing as crypto exchanges.

Most videos use very similar domain names: bitoxies.com, Moonexio.com, altgetxio.com, cratopex.com.

Journalists tested one of the giveaways: they created an account on the platform and entered the promo code shown in the TikTok video. After that, they were promised a credit of bitcoins to their account.

The screenshot below shows that the wallet allegedly contained 0.34 BTC ($9,000). However, when attempting to withdraw, the user was first asked to activate the account by depositing 0.005 BTC ($132).

Some sites also request KYC information, on the basis of which cybercriminals can compromise other legitimate accounts.

Earlier in September, unknown gained control of Vitalik Buterin’s X account and posted a scam post with phishing. The estimated loss exceeded $691 000. Buterin himself noted that the attackers swapped his SIM card.