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Cryptocurrency influencer FatManTerra claims to have raised more than $100,000 in Bitcoin (BTC) from investors in a Ponzi scheme he created to teach people a lesson about blindly following influencers’ investment advice.
The Twitter account, which has about 101,100 followers, is known as a former Terra proponent who is now actively speaking out against the project and founder Do Kwon after Terra’s collapse caused $40 billion in damages in May.
In a tweet on September 5, FatManTerra said that he had access to the high-yield BTC “farm” by an unnamed fund and said that people could message him if they wanted to cooperate.
“I’ve made the most of what I can, so there’s some allocation left and I think I’m going to move it, priority will be given to the victims of UST.”
Although the post received a lot of negative feedback, FatMan said he still raised more than $100,000 in BTC from his first post on Twitter and on Discord within two hours.
In a tweet on September 6, FatManTerra revealed the investment plan was completely fake (Ponzi), describing it as an awareness campaign to show how easy it is to defraud people in cryptocurrencies by promising appointment of large investment returns.
“I want to send a clear, strong message to everyone in the crypto world – anyone who offers to give you free money is lying and simply doesn’t exist. Your favorite influencer calling for a quick trade or offering a gold investment opportunity is scamming you.”
We live in unfortunate times – brazen (and doxed!) grifters like Do Kwon roam free scamming people constantly. 99% of crypto projects are scams designed to enrich their founders. And, bless their hearts, crypto bros are far too gullible & trusting for their own good.
— FatMan (@FatManTerra) September 5, 2022
FatManTerra claims to have now refunded all the money and reiterated that “no free lunch exists”.
The concept of alleged influencers scam ads has emerged, with YouTuber Ben Armstrong (BitBoy Crypto) suing content creator Atozy last month for accusing him of promoting suspicious tokens to his audience, though the YouTuber later withdrew the lawsuit.
FatManTerra also claimed that his fake fund post was inspired by the Lady of Crypto Twitter account, which has been accused of scamming suspicious investment plans for its 257,500 followers.
On September 5, the Lady of Crypto opened a whitelist for the trading company and received an 80/20 profit share.
