UK School Teacher Falls For Fake 'Elon Musk' Bitcoin Scam, Loses Savings Of Rs 9 Lakh

The victim said she lost the money she had saved for a new home; now, she has come forward to warn others not to commit a similar mistake

Scammers are adapting to the changing, tech-driven world and finding new ways to defraud people of their hard-earned money. In the latest case to surface, online scammers duped a cryptocurrency investor of £9,000 (roughly Rs 9.28 lakh) using the name of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has repeatedly supported Dogecoin, a meme currency, on his social media accounts and once even said crypto could be the world's future currency. Now, the victim of the fraud has come forward to warn others to not commit the same mistake she did. Julie Bushnell said she lost the money she had saved for a new home after falling for a Bitcoin fraud that used a fake story that featured Mr Musk. The BBC reported that the fraudsters created a website that appeared similar to its own BBC News website to add authenticity to the fake news item. It also shared a screenshot of the fake report. Bushnell told the British TV network that she felt ashamed and embarrassed after falling for the fraud. She said she thinks about it “every minute of every day”. Detailing what had happened, the Brighton teacher said she paid £9,000 after reading a news on a website that resembled BBC News and claimed that Mr Musk would pay back double the amount of any Bitcoin deposit. When no money came, she realised she had been conned.