Fact CheckedLast Updated on January 3, 2021 by Stephan Lindburg
Gordon Ramsay Bitcoin Scam- Is This Top UK Chef Really Making Millions Using A Secret Wealth Loophole?
Online scammers have brazenly misappropriated images of famous UK celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay in order to promote fraudulent Bitcoin trading websites. They are using a fake news story about Ramsay’s fictional earnings to link unsuspecting readers to a website claiming to offer Bitcoin investments. This story managed to gain so much media attention that it was even featured briefly in Microsoft’s automated news feed before their moderators removed it. With the recent rise of Bitcoin and the fact that it is back up to all-time highs, it’s no wonder that the scammers have chosen Bitcoin as the bait for their get-rich-quick schemes.
The actual Bitcoin website itself is just the first step in the elaborate scheme. Affiliate networks get their proceeds by referring unsuspecting users to register for these services. These affiliate networks are extremely crafty and understand how to use fake celebrity endorsements for promotional purposes. They plant phony news stories and spread them over social media and paid text links in search engines. These stories generally cover a made-up interview with the celebrity, discussing how they made millions investing with the scam Bitcoin website. Gordon Ramsay is a very well-known personality and the perfect choice for this nefarious tactic.
Gordon Ramsay Bitcoin Scam: Top UK Celebrity Chef’s Image Plastered on Fake News Stories
People know chef Gordon Ramsay from his reality television shows, his books, and his award-winning restaurants. He has worked as a head chef since 1993, opening the first restaurant of his own in 1998. Today he runs 35 restaurants around the world. His first television appearance was in the 1998 restaurant documentary Boiling Point. He quickly became a popular media presence. His growing popularity led to the chef creating two television series of his own in 2004. Hell’s Kitchen and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares both went on to be huge successes for Ramsay. He created American versions of both series as well and has launched or been involved with many other series to this day.
An alleged interview of Ramsay appears in a fake news article created to drive users towards Bitcoin scams. The report features real images from an actual interview on a different topic that Ramsay gave on the television program This Morning on ITV, the same network that aired Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. The article claims that the interview between Ramsay and ITV’s Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield highlighted Ramsay’s huge earnings from the Bitcoin scam. A featured image shows Ramsay standing in front of a new Ferrari, claiming that he just bought his 9th such vehicle with the money from a “controversial new investment.”
The article even goes so far as to exploit the ongoing COVID 19 crisis, saying that people stuck at home can all make millions through their system. They the scammers say that the fake interview included a segment where host Holly Willoughby invested £190 live on television, only to profit £593 during the interview. None of this actually happened, and there never was any such interview. Their fake news article explained that the profits come from an automated trading system that reaches an estimated 90 percent accuracy level, letting anyone make a profit with no effort at all.
The affiliate marketing networks that created the story used a fake celebrity endorsement to lend credibility to this outrageous claim. They tried to place a voice of authority behind it in order to make the narrative more believable. The use of fake celebrity endorsements isn’t limited to Bitcoin scams. Still, a massive proportion of the counterfeit ads you see today come from viral cryptocurrency scams like Bitcoin Evolution, Bitcoin Profit, and Bitcoin Era.
Victims Aren’t Getting What They Paid For
Of course, you can’t trust any of the information you find in ads featuring fake celebrity endorsements. They are there to mislead you into making investments that don’t deliver what they promise. These scammers aren’t selling Bitcoin, but instead, give their clients CFDs (contracts for differences) on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The people buying them never own any Bitcoin and don’t enjoy the digital coin’s security. Anyone who really owns Bitcoin has full control over what they do with it. With these types of CFDs, the scammers maintain control over the assets you buy and the money you deposit with them.
Gordon Ramsay Bitcoin Scam: The Dream of Easy Money Brings in Eager Customers
The fake articles that promote these get-rich-quick schemes don’t rely solely on celebrity endorsements. Their pitch also includes promises of complex automated trading systems that analyze the market and trade on your behalf. This could be possible in theory, but whoever manages to automate trading perfectly won’t be taking money from everyday citizens through fake news stories. A system like the one they advertise could quickly bag the inventors all the money in the world. Why would they be after your money if their system does nothing but make money?
If you have seen a fake news article promoting a bitcoin scam and would like to share your experience, please make sure to reach out and message us through our contact page or simply leave a message below.
