A crypto scammer got a taste of their own medicine recently when he or she made the foolish decision to try and con a crypto YouTube personality out of his hard-earned Bitcoin. Ben Perrin, star of the BTC Sessions YouTube channel with almost 300 videos on the subject of cryptocurrency going back over three years, published a blog post Monday about how he turned an attempted scam around and managed to get the scammer to send him money instead.
Ben Perrin of Calgary says he recently tricked someone who was trying to bilk him out of his cryptocurrency, and donated the results to charity. https://t.co/RhMaR3Jxci
— CBC Toronto (@CBCToronto) August 7, 2019
“Investment Opportunity”
Perrin’s adventure started when he received something that anyone who has been in the crypto space for any decent amount of time will have received – an unsolicited message about cryptocurrency. Unlike many, Perrin had been in the space long enough to smell a rat and decided to have some fun, playing along with the so-called ‘Susan Williams’ to see where it led. The ruse was the good old ‘investment opportunity’ trope that has been around since the days of Napoleon Hill, in this case a “bitcoin mining investment platform” that promised to double Perrin’s investment in 24 hours. Sound familiar?
Perrin Turns the Tables
Perrin allows the scammer to take him through the process of sending 2 BTC through his Bitpay wallet, but before pulling the trigger he tells the scammer that he is messaging someone else who is also offering him a great crypto investment opportunity. The scammer, clearly desperate to avoid being gazumped, offers to send Perrin $50 in BTC as confirmation that the address is correct and as proof that he or she is trustworthy. The moment the transaction is confirmed, Perrin reveals his dastardly plan and says that the BTC is going to the Bitcoin Venezuela charity, with the final exchange being absolutely golden.
Not a Game for Everyone
Clearly not everyone has the patience and talent to turn the tables on the scammers in such a way, and the best thing to do is to ignore and delete any unsolicited messages. However, if you have the time and inclination, it can be fun to string scammers along and at least waste their time, providing you don’t accidentally reveal any information about yourself along the way. And if you can manage to get them to send you money like Ben Perrin did, then hats off indeed.
