Crypto influencer launches bogus investment scheme to ‘educate’ people

A crypto influencer claimed to have amassed over $100,000 (Rs 80 lakh) in Bitcoin (BTC) from investors in a fraudulent scheme that was started to demonstrate the risks of blindly taking advice from influencers.

The influencer, who goes by the Twitter handle @FatManTerra, said the motivation behind the fictitious investment plan was to experiment and make people in the crypto world aware that anyone offering to hand over free money is lying.

Followed by over 101,000 people on Twitter, FatManTerra had been a supporter of the Terra blockchain. However, he spoke out against Terra and its creator Do Kwon following its collapse in May, which wiped out $40 billion worth of investor money.

According to the Twitter posts, FatManTerra had obtained access to a high-yield BTC farm and invited others to take part. FatManTerra raised more than $100,000 in BTC through the first post on Twitter and Discord in about two hours.

Another tweet from FatManTerra stated that the investment programme “isn’t real.” It was only intended to raise awareness of how easily people can be duped by buzzwords and investment returns.

“Your favourite influencer selling you quick money trading coaching or offering a golden investment opportunity is scamming you,” FatManTerra tweeted.

FatManTerra said every person who sent money has been refunded in full.

FatManTerra said the Lady of Crypto Twitter account, which was accused of promoting dubious investment schemes to its 257,000 followers, served as the inspiration for this experimental fake fundraise.

The Lady of Crypto published a whitelist on September 5 for its trading firm, claiming it could trade customers’ cash on their behalf and divide the earnings, with 80 percent for the customers and 20 percent for itself.