Fact CheckedLast Updated on April 7, 2022 by Stephan Lindburg
Australia’s Network 10’s popular series Shark Tank wrapped up its final season back in 2018, but it’s still making news today. Unfortunately, that news is fake. In recent months, a series of fake stories have been circulating about the show’s stars, including Steve Baxter, Janine Allis, and Andrew Banks, endorsing online Bitcoin scams. With crypto investments once again becoming a topic of everyday discussion, these phony advertisements are reaching many victims by exploiting the sharks’ fame.
Bitcoin Shark Tank Scam Interview: Have They Really Found Their Next Great Investment?
The most important part of successfully pulling off a Bitcoin scam is reaching victims in the first place. The fake ads bearing the image of Shark Tank stars are appearing in a variety of highly visible online venues, websites, and social media. They look like legitimate news stories about a great opportunity at first, claiming that the sharks have found another great investment. However, anyone who follows these ads is in for an unpleasant surprise when they discover that opportunity to be a scam instead.
Bitcoin Shark Tank : Crypto Scammers Exploit Sharks’ Reputation to Find Victims
Shark Tank was a popular program running on Network Ten. It first debuted in 2015, running for four seasons until 2018. The show followed the same format as a variety of related international programs, where individuals and businesses brought forward their ideas and inventions for a chance to have the sharks invest.
The sharks themselves are successful Australian business magnates from a variety of backgrounds. They included Janine Allis (Boost Juice), Naomi Simson (RedBalloon), Andrew Banks (Talent2), John McGrath (McGrath Estate Agents), Steve Baxter (internet pioneer), Kevin O’Leary, and Glen Richards (Greencross Vets). Together, they represent the entrepreneurial spirit and seek to identify that spirit among contestants on the show.
Australia’s Shark Tank bore the same name as the American Shark Tank and was also accompanied by the UK Lion’s Den and Canadian Dragon’s Den. All of these programs trace their conception back to the original 2001 Japanese The Tigers of Money. The ensuing celebrity status of the program’s sharks made them the perfect choice for scammers and their fake ad campaigns.
The fake campaign is incredibly convincing at a glance. The counterfeit stories feature images taken from real interviews that the sharks have done in the past, making it look like they really had been featured on TV discussing the Bitcoin scam. However, these interviews were all completely unrelated and had nothing to do with the text of the fake story. To further deceive victims, the scammers plaster reputable news logos all over the story to make it look real.
If you read one of these fake stories, you’ll find that they’re about the sharks identifying a Bitcoin trading system that allows them make money automatically. The story will go on to list some made-up personal testimonials from regular people, saying that they can make hundreds or even thousands each day.
These same tactics are seen in use by a variety of other scams we exposed here on ScamCryptoRobots.com. The important thing to keep in mind is that these supposed stories are completely false.
Bitcoin Shark Tank: These Scammers Aren’t Really Selling What They Promise
The fake news stories themselves aren’t really a key component of how the scams themselves work. They’re just the best way to funnel victims to the scam website. Most of these scam operations rely on affiliate marketers to find victims, so whoever writes the fake news story gets a commission for every victim they send.
For victims who do reach the scam website, the scammers claim to be selling automated crypto trading. The idea is that you deposit a small amount of money and their system automatically makes crypto trades to make you rich. However, you aren’t actually buying Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. Instead, the scam platform is really selling CFDs (contracts for differences). These are a kind of derivative asset that isn’t the same as actually owning crypto at all. Instead of a secure investment, you’re buying one that is completely under the scammers’ control. It’s worth mentioning that if done with the help of genuine systems, CFD’s can be very lucrative.
Shark Tank Bitcoin: Victims Tempted by Unrealistic Trading Promises
These Bitcoin scams promise their victims access to a fantastic automated trading system, but no such system exists. Instead, victims are investing in unreliable assets with a shady platform that won’t ever let them take any money out. By the time they realize it’s a scam, it’s often too late, and their money is gone.
These kinds of scams are incredibly widespread today. If you’re aware of any similar scams or would like more information about existing scams, you can contact us today.
We would like to thank @simongillardLS for sharing this information on his Twitter account and in that way help our researchers obtain relevant information.
