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Over $2 million in cryptocurrency was sent to Elon Musk impersonators in the last 6 months

18 May 2021
Dan Ackermann
Reproduced from FTC; Chart: Axios Visuals

The cryptocurrency hype is real. New numbers show how scammers are benefiting.

Driving the news: Reported losses tied to crypto scams spiked 1,000% in the past year, the Federal Trade Commission said Monday. That includes over $2 million that people have sent to Elon Musk impersonators. (Yes, really.)

Why it matters: Crypto trading has exploded alongside an unprecedented spike in retail investing. Online communities drive the activity, but they're also where investors are lured into scams.

By the numbers: Since October 2020, about 7,000 people have reported total losses of more than $80 million on crypto-related scams.

  • The median loss was $1,900.

Among the lines of attack are "Giveaways" that claim to be sponsored by celebs — like the Elon Musk ruse — that promise to multiply the crypto that a victim sends.

  • Online chat groups — and online dating— are where scammers appear friendly and share "tips" or ask people to invest in schemes.
  • Scammers also pose as exchanges like Coinbase, or as government officials from agencies like the Social Security Administration.

What's next: Government agencies are trying to understand the full scope of illicit activity in the largely unregulated cryptocurrency markets.

  • Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, is being probed by the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service, Bloomberg reported.

The bottom line: Scammers are cashing in on the "cryptocurrency FOMO" that's gripped swaths of the country.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.