Bitcoin Trading Scam Claims to Involve Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Published at: April 9, 2020

A Bitcoin (BTC) trading scam has claimed the involvement of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry Charles Albert David and his wife Meghan Markle.

According to an April 9 report by the Mirror, the royal couple was featured in a fake BBC article where they praised a Bitcoin trading scheme.

The fake news piece claimed that the pair talked during a television show about a “wealth loophole” that can “transform anyone into a millionaire within three to four months.” 

According to the fake article, the scheme would play a role in the couple's very real intentions to step back as senior Royal Family members and become financially independent. The report praises the well-known Bitcoin scam Bitcoin Evolution:

“What's made us successful is jumping into new opportunities quickly and without hesitation, and right now our number one money-make is a new cryptocurrency auto-trading program called Bitcoin Evolution. [...] It's the single biggest opportunity we've seen in our entire lifetimes to build a small fortune fast. [...] We urge everyone to check this out before the banks shut it down.”

Too good to be true

The article leads potential victims to the scam's website, which features a red banner and a countdown clock, warning that registration will close soon because of high demand. As the Mirror explains, this is a strategy meant to motivate potential investors to fall for the scam. The website also claimed that members usually earn at least $1,300 daily while working an average of 20 minutes per day, adding:

“Your profits are unlimited within The Bitcoin Evolution. Some members earned their first million within just 61 days.”

Bitcoin scam impersonations

In order to gain credibility, promoters of cryptocurrency scams often claim to involve well-known public figures. As Cointelegraph reported in late March, Janet Jackson’s billionaire ex-husband, Wissam Al Mana, was also featured in such a scam promotion on Facebook. He later demanded that the social media platform reveal the identity of the promoter.

Also in March, the cryptocurrency community spotted a bogus YouTube account impersonating Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of the firm behind XRP Ripple.

Tags
Related Posts
AMFEIX Threatens Users Who Share Coverage That Criticizes the Company
Last week Cointelegraph published a story about investors having difficulty getting their money back from a crypto fund called AMFEIX, which promised high-yield profits for investors who sent them Bitcoin (BTC). Our story described more than 500 pending withdrawals from users trying to get their money back, and AMFEIX’s unsatisfactory communication with those users. The company addressed its users via its official Telegram channel after the story was published, suggesting that the withdrawal delays were due to technical difficulties that had been an issue since May. It also stated that “members who show loyalty to AMFEIX will have priority” in …
Bitcoin / July 28, 2020
UK Crackdown Pulls Thousands of Crypto Scams Offline
Over the past four months, the National Cyber Security Centre, or NCSC, removed over 300,000 URLs pertaining to fake celebrity-endorsed investment opportunities. More than a half of these sites belonged to fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes. Per an announcement published by the NCSC on August 14, an increasing number of these scams utilized fake endorsements from national celebrities, such as Ed Sheeran and Richard Branson. This raised red flags for authorities, prompting the launch of a massive retaliatory campaign. Ciaran Martin, CEO of the NCSC, commented: “These investment scams are a striking example of the kind of methods cyber criminals are …
Bitcoin / Aug. 14, 2020
New Email Extortion Scam Targets Google’s AdSense, Demands Bitcoin
A new extortion scam targeting website owners serving banner ads through Google's AdSense program has begun circulating the Internet. The malicious scheme demands Bitcoin (BTC) in exchange for preventing an attack, which would purportedly lead to the users’ AdSense account suspension. The email-based extortion scheme was reported by security news and investigation blog KrebsOnSecurity, on Feb. 17. The blog post detailed that some site owners received a message as their site had been spotted by the malicious program as one seeking revenue from publishing an ad. The message ostensibly read: “Very soon the warning notice from above will appear at …
Bitcoin / Feb. 17, 2020
South Korea: Crypto Crimes Cost $2.28B Since July 2017
The South Korean Justice Ministry estimates that cryptocurrency-related crimes have caused 2.69 trillion won (about $2.28 billion) of financial damage between July 2017 and June 2019. According to a July 21 report by English-language local media The Korea Herald, the ministry claimed that 132 cryptocurrency-related criminals and fraudsters had been indicted and detained, with another 288 indicted without physical detention during the aforementioned time frame. The report states that, while Justice Minister Park Sang-kim has ordered stern measures against cryptocurrency criminals, a lack of clear regulations on cryptocurrency exchanges has led to an increase in the use of quasi-anonymous or …
Altcoin / July 21, 2019
International Police Collaboration Leads to Arrest of Suspect in $11 Million IOTA Theft
Following international police collaboration, a 36-year-old individual suspected of the theft of over $11 million in IOTA, as well as fraud and money laundering, has been arrested on Jan. 24. Europol published a statement detailing the investigation on the day of the arrest. The suspect was reportedly arrested by United Kingdom’s South East Regional Organised Crime Unit, together with the Hessen State Police in Germany, the UK’s National Crime Agency and Europol, following a search warrant carried out in Oxford, U.K. The operation that lead to the man’s arrest — and the seizure of several of his electronic devices — …
Altcoin / Jan. 24, 2019