Somewhere, there’s a crypto scammer ruing the decision to pitch a fraudulent investment scheme to Bitcoin educator Ben Perrin.
The Canadian YouTuber turned the tables on the scammer in epic fashion, defrauding the would-be thief and donating the proceeds to charity.
So how did Perrin do it? The same way fraudsters manage to steal from their victims – winning their confidence before emptying their pockets.
Writing on his blog, Perrin provided a hilarious account of how he flipped the script on that would-be scammer, who messaged him offering him an “exclusive investment offer.”
The “life-changing opportunity” would see Perrin double his investment in “just 24 hours” by passively investing his funds in a Bitcoin mining operation.
The fraudster explained:
“It’s a bitcoin mining investment platform for people planning to start up their own bitcoin mining but are unable to do so because of they do now [sic] want to go through all the hassle and stress involved in setting up a bitcoin mining venture,” the scammer said, adding that the mined BTC would be automatically sent to his “receiving wallet address.”
Despite recognizing it to be a cryptocurrency scam from the start, Perrin decided to play along.
https://twitter.com/CryptOwenWilson/status/1158459989926633472
Convincingly, the Bitcoin educator pretended to be a cryptocurrency newbie going to the extent of feigning ignorance about cryptocurrency wallets.
The scammer offered to help, but Perrin hooked them with a catch – they would have to transfer a small amount to Perrin first to win his confidence.
The scammer, “susan,” balked at his request for $100, but just like fraudsters create a sense of urgency by suggesting the opportunity might disappear, Perrin lied that he had received a competing offer and planned to invest 1 BTC there instead.
“Susan” took the bait, and agreed to send $50 to Perrin, who would then invest 1 BTC in the Bitcoin mining scam.
It must have come as a shock to “susan” when she realized that she had just been beaten at her own game.
After receiving the funds, Perrin yanked off the curtain in legendary fashion, lobbing a few choice insults at “susan”:
“You idiot scammer a**hole,” he gloated, “I’m donating your money to Bitcoin Venezuela… Go get a f**king job and stop being a piece of s**t.”
“Please don’t,” the scammer replied.