OREANDA-NEWS. «Musk wrote: «Dojo 4 Doge?» and I was wondering, what that would mean», Sebastian told the BBC about his mistake. «There was a link at the bottom, I clicked on it and saw, that he was distributing bitcoins!», the victim of fraud continued.

The contest looked as if it was arranged by the Tesla team under the leadership of Musk. Participants were asked to send any amount from 0.1 to 20 bitcoins (approximately from 6 thousand to one million 200 thousand dollars), and the team promised to double the payments on the bets.

Sebastian double-checked the identification logo next to Musk's name, and then decided to send bitcoins. «We need to make bets to the maximum, because this is a real game, I decided and sent 10 bitcoins», says Sebastian.

For the next 20 minutes, while the timer ticked, he sat at his home in Cologne and every 30 seconds updated the picture on the screen, waiting for the prize to fall into his electronic wallet. Then he saw another encrypted tweet from Musk, which convinced him, that the game was real. But when the timer on the screen went to zero, Sebastian realized, that this was a huge scam.

Researchers say, that 2021 has already become a record year for fraudsters in terms of profit. In the first three months they stole more than $18 million, while in the entire past year, their catch was $16 million. According to preliminary data, the number of deceived this year also promises to be a record. If in 2020, about 10,500 people became victims of fraudsters, then this year already 5,600 gullible people have parted with their money in this way.