--- title: "A Fake SpaceX Stream That’s Scamming Bitcoins Has 16,000 Viewers" description: "A fake livestream on YouTube with 10,000 viewers is playing SpaceX footage, accompanied by a QR code that sends users to a fake Bitcoin giveaway." date: "2020-06-09" modified: "2020-06-09" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/fake-spacex-stream-scamming-bitcoins" categories: - "Bitcoin" - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" - "Space" - "SpaceX" tags: - "cryptocurrency" - "elon musk" - "online scam" - "scam" - "SpaceX" --- # A Fake SpaceX Stream That’s Scamming Bitcoins Has 16,000 Viewers ![A fake livestream on YouTube with 10,000 viewers is playing SpaceX footage, accompanied by a QR code that sends users to a fake Bitcoin giveaway.]() *\Image: Victor Tangermann\* Cryptocurrency scammers have [long been drawn]() to Elon Musk's Twitter account. Almost every time he tweets, a slew of fake Elon Musk accounts try to coax unsuspecting fans into handing over hard-to-trace cryptocurrency — and they're getting pretty crafty. Right now, a [fake livestream]() on YouTube is playing NASA footage of the press conferences leading up to SpaceX's recent historic launch — which already happened more than a week ago, to be clear — accompanied by a QR code that sends users to a fake Bitcoin giveaway. There's even a lengthy, never ending feed of bots spewing out messages to support the scam like "I can't thank you enough," and "connect my btc faster please." It's possible that many of the 16,000 apparent viewers are also bots. Text on the livestream claims that Bitcoin donations will get you a 200 percent payback — essentially a pyramid scheme where suckers are lured in by the promise of great returns, only to have the scammers run off with their cash. The YouTube account, named "SpaceX," has over 130,000 subscribers. The account's YouTube Community page, however, doesn't pass muster — if the fact that the NASA footage was flipped to not trigger YouTube's copyright bots doesn't give it away. The most recent posts there are all written out in Cyrillic, with the earliest post being a picture of a barbequed set of ribs, with the caption "#bbq." Crypto scams have been around for many years. In 2018, for instance, security software developers accidentally came across a network of at least [15,000 Twitter bots]() working together to perpetuate a similar crypto scam. **More on crypto scams:** *[Fake Elon Musks Clutter Twitter with Crypto Scams]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()