Scams involving cryptocurrencies are unquestionably on the rise. In December, we reported on startling statistics claiming that such scams and rug pulls will cause at least US$7.7 billion in damages to cryptocurrency holders by 2021, according to a report by the Financial Times.
While many of these dubious activities are carried out by anonymous fraudsters, one more or less famous YouTuber has now apparently joined their ranks and used the stolen funds to purchase a new Tesla vehicle.
Kotaku reports that the well-known streamer Ice Poseidon has managed to steal a total of US$500,000 from his fans by convincing them to invest in CxCoin, a cryptocurrency that he appears to have created solely for the purpose of running a pump and dump scheme.
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As soon as he had reassured his fans that this would be a long-term investment, the streamer who goes by the real name of Paul Denino pulled the rug out from under them, causing the CxCoin cryptocurrency to plummet to the point where it was worth practically nothing.
Apparently, Denino made US$500,000 from this scam, but he used US$200,000 of that money to compensate the developers who assisted him in orchestrating the scheme.
A portion of the remaining US$300,000 was allegedly used to purchase a brand-new Tesla, which he ironically demonstrated to the world via a live stream on YouTube when he picked it up last summer.
When he was confronted with these allegations by another YouTuber, he purportedly admitted to the cryptocurrency scam but quickly attempted to place the blame on his overly emotional fans while insisting that he would keep the majority of the money for himself, despite the fact that he was technically obligated to return all of the money to the investors.
