A Redditor went into blockchain detective mode to out alleged social media scammers conning others out of their Bitcoin.
In a long post last night calling out two Instagram users, Redditor Lemmekickyourealhard accused them of orchestrating a crypto investment scam in which people transfer funds to a wallet address that doesn’t appear to be returning anything.
“Not sure if she is a mule or not, but I have strong confidence innocent people are getting scammed out of their money,” the Redditor wrote in the Singapore subreddit, describing the perpetrator as a “fake microinfluencer.” “The reason i am confident is that even though she is showing that she is getting money, there is no proof on the blockchain that she has sent any money out. Only received.”
The anonymous Redditor leveled the accusations against the people behind Instagram accounts Av.drey and _Xminnx_, neither of whom were identified by name, _Xminnx_ also uses the name Minyi online.
The Redditor described recently coming across Av.drey, who has more than 7,500 followers, promoting a Bitcoin investment scheme promising earnings of US$1,000 (S$1,350) daily.
In Instagram stories promoting the purported investment, Av.drey included a testimonial from Minyi, who said she made US$4,500 (S$6,060) in less than a day. However, the transaction could not be found recorded in the online ledger that notes them for all to see.
Called the blockchain, it stores every cryptocurrency transaction along with the unique addresses of the digital “wallets” involved.
The Redditor was “confident” that the offer was a scam as there were no outgoing transactions listed in the amounts claimed by the users.
Dubious but curious, the Redditor decided to test it out without actually sending any money.
In a series of screenshots of their conversation, Av.drey sent a unique Bitcoin wallet address and advised the Redditor to put in more than US$200 (S$269). She was persistent after the Redditor said he would finish the transaction later due to a lack of funds.
“I guess this is a good opportunity for you to earn big,” Av.drey wrote. “You can just put in 1k and get 10k in less than 24 hours.”
The Redditor then reached out to Minyi and found out that she sent money to the same wallet address given. She also said that she had reinvested another US$2,000 (S$2,700) and gotten back US$20,000 (S$27,000). That transaction also could not be found on the blockchain.
When Coconuts this afternoon checked the wallet address Av.drey provided, there were 56 transactions in total. None of which matched the amounts that Av.drey claimed had been returned to investors. Its first transaction was made last Wednesday.
Both Instagram accounts have since been set to private. Neither Av.drey and _Xminnx_ have responded to messages seeking comment.
Initially wanting to obtain more information about Av.drey, the Redditor decided to go public with his suspicions to keep others from falling victim to the scam.
“I was planning to string her on a while more to get more info about her accounts etc, but the number of people falling for this is saddening so I hope this message goes out to them,” the Redditor wrote, encouraging victims to file police reports, and the public to spread the news.
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