Monday, August 13, 2018
Posted by Denny Hatch
Is Amazon Involved in a 2018 Bitcoin Marketing Scam?
FAKE FOTO: There is no such thing as a bitcoin per se. It is virtual money,
existing only as digital blips in iClouds, servers, and virtual wallets.
"The freewheeling world of virtual currencies is about to get less free. Just this week, prosecutors claimed to have exposed a $6 billion money-laundering ring that allegedly relied on them.
"'Virtual" currencies can be used just like dollars among people who agree to accept them. One big difference is that they aren't backed by a government. Instead, bitcoin enthusiasts say, the currency derives its value from its limited supply and the support of the people using it." Since then, my private dossier on the Bitcoin totals 91 stories. I did not understand Bitcoins when this nutsy-fagan scheme of digital dough was first introduced.
I still don’t.
12 Indicted Russian Conspirators Used Bitcoins
On July 13, 2018 Special Counsel Bob Mueller Indicted 12 Ruskie Gov't GRU cyber criminal hackers who tilted the 2016 election to Donald Trump. From the indictment:
45. [a.] The Conspirators conducted operations as Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks… used the same pool of bitcoin funds to purchase a virtual private network (“VPN.") account and to lease a server in Malaysia.
That Same Day I Received These Five Bitcoin Offers.
This Is a Classic Pump-'n'-Dump Scam.
Here's How One of These Things Works:
1. Find a cockamamie, cheap-o (penny) stock and buy a gazillion shares.
2. Spend a ton of money on a huge (below-the-radar) media campaign (Internet and direct mail, which are secret) to hype (“pump up.") the price of this stock.
3. Poor Greedy, Gullible Bastards (PGGBs) buy like crazy and send the price through the Redwood Forest treetops.
4. Sell ("dump") your low-cost load into the middle of this buying frenzy.
5. You get obscenely rich. PGGBs lose their collective arsses.
Okay, How Is Amazon Involved?
• A Poor Greedy, Gullible Bastard (PGGB) gets 5 bitcoin emails in one day.
• PGGB does doo-doo diligence by reading through the first 4 emails replete with photos of handsome studs cavorting with bikini-clad dollies lolling on yachts, swilling Lafite Rothschild, surrounded by guarantees of "$13,000 in Exactly 24 hours."
“HO-LEE SHEE-IT!." PGGB exclaims. “Amazon is behind this! I love Amazon. I spend a lot of money with Amazon! Bezos is the richest man in the world. He’s offering me a chance to get rich too!."
Takeaway to Consider
• If bitcoin is virtual currency, an Amazon ad amidst this promotional blitz bestows legitimacy, a virtual testimonial and tacit endorsement by Amazon and—by association—the high-profile Jeff Bezos himself.
• “Never invest in any idea you can't illustrate with a crayon.."
—Peter Lynch, Fidelity’s Magellan Guru, Wizard, Legend
Further Reading for Your Amusement
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Word Count: 499
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