- Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has labelled Bitcoin a “Ponzi scheme” after his likeness was used in a fake Bitcoin investment advert
- O’Leary was used in the well-trodden Bitcoin Lifestyle advert that has seen other high profile individuals used
- Ryanair is well known for supplementing cheap tickets with extra charges and fines and is consistently ranked as the worst airlines in Britain
The boss of budget airline Ryanair has said that Bitcoin is “equivalent to a Ponzi scheme” after his image was used in a fake advert for a Bitcoin scam. Michael O’Leary is the latest high-profile figure to be used as an enticement to invest in Bitcoin Lifestyle, but many who have experienced flying with Ryanair will find it ironic that its CEO has accused another operation of being a scam however, given the tricks that the ‘budget’ airline use to rack up the cost of using them.
Bitcoin Should be “Avoided Like the Plague”
Bitcoin Lifestyle is a cryptocurrency investment scam which promises a “windfall of cash” among other things, and O’Leary has followed on the heels of the likes of Kate Winslet, Simon Cowell, and Lord Alan Sugar in being illegally used as the face of it.
The boss of Ryanair, which like most airlines has suffered during the coronavirus pandemic, was contacted by The Times after the discovery of how his identity had been used. O’Leary wasn’t in any mood to mince words, condemning both the scam and Bitcoin itself:
I have never, and would never, invest one cent in Bitcoin, which I believe is equivalent to a Ponzi scheme. I would strongly advise everyone with any shred of common sense to ignore this false story and avoid Bitcoin like a plague.
Ryanair Doesn’t Fare Much Better
Of course, those who know anything about Bitcoin know that Bitcoin is not a Ponzi scheme, a sentiment that has been backed in recent years by the likes of Garry Kasparov, Paul Tudor Jones, and Sir Richard Branson, alongside some of the biggest banks in the world.
Ryanair, on the other hand, is famed for adding extra charges and fines in order to rake in as much money as possible from unsuspecting customers, as well as finding other ways of getting you to dig further into your pocket. Some examples include fining you if you fail to print every page of your boarding pass, including adverts; paying extra for a priority boarding service they don’t offer at the gate; and offering insurance that falls short of minimum legal requirements yet is some of the most expensive around.
In 2019 Ryanair was voted the worst short haul airline by passengers for the sixth year in a row, with the surveyor, Which?, stating that with Ryanair “you need a calculator to work out what the final bill will be…” Their coronavirus policy has recently come under fire from passengers too, with one British couple recently accusing them of “making money out of misery”.
This criticism has led to some passengers warning, somewhat ironically, that Ryanair should be “avoided like the plague”.
And Bitcoin is the scam. Sure.
