Tesla Giveaway Scam (2024)

What is "Tesla Giveaway" scam?

Scammers often use fake giveaways to trick people into transferring cryptocurrency to them. They impersonate famous personalities (or companies) and offer to match or sometimes even double any crypto sent to their account. Our article is about scammers who use fake Twitter accounts supposedly belonging to Elon Musk to extract cryptocurrency.

"Tesla Giveaway" scam in detail

We have found multiple fake Twitter accounts impersonating Elon Musk and offering to participate in Doge, Ethereum, and Bitcoin giveaways. Scammers claim that people double the cryptocurrency amount sent to the provided wallet address. They attempt to trick people into believing that they can receive up to 20,000,000 in Doge, 400 in ETH, or 40 in BTC cryptocurrencies.

Almost all crypto giveaways are scams - people who send cryptocurrency hoping to get the same amount (or more) for free get scammed. Since crypto transactions are irreversible, victims who fall for giveaway scams cannot get their funds back.

Threat Summary:
Name	Tesla fake crypto giveaway
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Participants will receive twice the amount of the cryptocurrency transferred to the provided wallet
Disguise	Legitimate Tesla crypto giveaway
Related Domain	4peace[.]net, tesla-inv[.]net, davechappelle2x[.]com, teslasummer[.]io, teslabonusx[.]com, musk-gives[.]pro, teslaevent2x[.]com, chappellemusk[.]com, teslaliveceo[.]com, 2xtesla[.]net, pepemusk[.]live, elontesla[.]io, x2tesla[.]net, teslabtc2x[.]net, musk[.]gives, x2bitcoin[.]net, teslaxgiveaway[.]com, teslayx2[.]com, x2elon[.]org, teslax-2023[.]info, x2teslaevent[.]com, teslacars[.]live, up-musk[.]net, musk2x[.]io, elonxgift[.]net, ts2em[.]com, 2xem[.]us, digital-month[.]net, muskevent[.]org, tsla23[.]com, tesla-ltt[.]com, tesla-trucks[.]com, em4tsl[.]com, em2x[.]com, teslaowners[.]io, teslafree[.]live, muskcoins[.]org, spacexlive[.]net, eventmusk[.]net, teslatruck[.]io, teslatrust2x[.]com, teslamusk[.]net, teslawallet[.]pro, teslagiveaway[.]gift, givestesla[.]io, x2tesla[.]io
Detection Names (4peace[.]net)	Avira (Phishing), CyRadar (Malicious), ESET (Suspicious), Kaspersky (Phishing), Netcraft (Malicious), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal)
Symptoms	Fake error messages, fake system warnings, pop-up errors, hoax computer scan.
Distribution methods	Compromised websites, rogue online pop-up ads, potentially unwanted applications.
Damage	Loss of sensitive private information, monetary loss, identity theft, possible malware infections.
Malware Removal (Mac)	To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your Mac with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. ▼ Download Combo Cleaner for Mac To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. Limited seven days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Crypto giveaway scams in general

Examples of similar scams are "BTC Giveaway Scam", "Ethereum Giveaway Scam", "Doge Giveaway Scam" (two of them share virtually identical website design). Most scammers behind fake crypto giveaways claim that it is possible to participate only once to trick people into sending more cryptocurrency.

How did I open a scam website

It is known that this scam website is promoted on Twitter using fake Elon Musk's accounts. Although, scammers may also use search engine poisoning techniques, other deceptive sites, shady advertisem*nts, and similar methods to promote their scam. Sometimes, scam websites are promoted via questionable applications that users often install unintentionally.

How to avoid visiting scam pages?

Do not allow shady websites to show notifications or click ads (and fake buttons) displayed on websites of this kind. Download applications and files from legitimate sources such as official sites and direct links. Do not complete downloads and installations until any unwanted apps are deselected (it can be achieved by changing the provided settings).

If your computer is already infected with unwanted apps, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for macOS to automatically eliminate them.

Text presented in "Tesla Giveaway" scam website:

Elon 5,000 BTC & 100,000 ETH & 100,000,000 DOGE Airdrop!
Elon Musk
Tesla has come a long way in the past year and we couldn’t do it without you.
See Also
Tax credit for EV 2023: Get up to $7,500 back on Tesla models, other energy efficient cars How Tesla Makes Money: Most Revenue Comes From Electric Car Sales Tesla shareholders approve $56 billion payout for Elon Musk 7 Free EV Charging Options
We here at Tesla HQ came up with a nice idea: to hold a special airdrop event of 5000 BTC, 100000 ETH and 10000000 DOGE for all crypto fans!
If you want to participate, it is simple to do. Just navigate to the BTC/ETH/DOGE airdrop portal below to learn more:

Click this — official link to get free BTC
Click this — official link to get free ETH
Click this — official link to get free DOGE
Note: Everyone can participate, including those in the United States. You don't need a special account to partipate: all wallets and exchanges are eligible! The competition will last until the entirety of the 5,000 BTC, 100,000 ETH and 100,000,000 DOGE held in the airdrop-funds have been released. If you are late, your BTC/ETH/DOGE will be instantly refunded. IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT YOU! THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Best wishes,
Elon Musk

Screenshot of the Bitcoin giveaway scam:

Screenshot of the Ethereum giveaway scam:

Screenshot of the Doge giveaway scam:

How to identify a pop-up scam?

Pop-up windows with various fake messages are a common type of lures cybercriminals use. They collect sensitive personal data, trick Internet users into calling fake tech support numbers, subscribe to useless online services, invest in shady cryptocurrency schemes, etc.

While in the majority of cases these pop-ups don't infect users' devices with malware, they can cause direct monetary loss or could result in identity theft.

Cybercriminals strive to create their rogue pop-up windows to look trustworthy, however, scams typically have the following characteristics:

Spelling mistakes and non-professional images - Closely inspect the information displayed in a pop-up. Spelling mistakes and unprofessional images could be a sign of a scam.
Sense of urgency - Countdown timer with a couple of minutes on it, asking you to enter your personal information or subscribe to some online service.
Statements that you won something - If you haven't participated in a lottery, online competition, etc., and you see a pop-up window stating that you won.
Computer or mobile device scan - A pop-up window that scans your device and informs of detected issues - is undoubtedly a scam; webpages cannot perform such actions.
Exclusivity - Pop-up windows stating that only you are given secret access to a financial scheme that can quickly make you rich.

Example of a pop-up scam:

How do pop-up scams work?

Cybercriminals and deceptive marketers usually use various advertising networks, search engine poisoning techniques, and shady websites to generate traffic to their pop-ups. Users land on their online lures after clicking on fake download buttons, using a torrent website, or simply clicking on an Internet search engine result.

Based on users' location and device information, they are presented with a scam pop-up. Lures presented in such pop-ups range from get-rich-quick schemes to fake virus scans.

How to remove fake pop-ups?

In most cases, pop-up scams do not infect users' devices with malware. If you encountered a scam pop-up, simply closing it should be enough. In some cases scam, pop-ups may be hard to close; in such cases - close your Internet browser and restart it.

In extremely rare cases, you might need to reset your Internet browser. For this, use our instructions explaining how to reset Internet browser settings.

How to prevent fake pop-ups?

To prevent seeing pop-up scams, you should visit only reputable websites. Torrent, Crack, free online movie streaming, YouTube video download, and other websites of similar reputation commonly redirect Internet users to pop-up scams.

To minimize the risk of encountering pop-up scams, you should keep your Internet browsers up-to-date and use reputable anti-malware application. For this purpose, we recommend Combo Cleaner Antivirus for macOS.

What to do if you fell for a pop-up scam?

This depends on the type of scam that you fell for. Most commonly, pop-up scams try to trick users into sending money, giving away personal information, or giving access to one's device.

If you sent money to scammers: You should contact your financial institution and explain that you were scammed. If informed promptly, there's a chance to get your money back.
If you gave away your personal information: You should change your passwords and enable two-factor authentication in all online services that you use. Visit Federal Trade Commission to report identity theft and get personalized recovery steps.
If you let scammers connect to your device: You should scan your computer with reputable anti-malware (we recommend Combo Cleaner Antivirus for macOS) - cyber criminals could have planted trojans, keyloggers, and other malware, don't use your computer until removing possible threats.
Help other Internet users: report Internet scams to Federal Trade Commission.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is a crypto giveaway scam?

A crypto giveaway scam is a type of scam offering to receive the same or higher amount of cryptocurrency sent to the wallet owned by scammers. Typically, scammers behind such scams pretend to be legitimate companies or famous personalities.

How scammers promote crypto giveaway scams?

Most scammers find their victims through Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms. In other cases, scam sites are promoted using search engine poisoning techniques, deceptive ads, websites that use rogue advertising networks, questionable ads, website notifications.

Will Combo Cleaner protect me from scams?

Combo Cleaner is designed to scan visited websites and detect untrustworthy ones. Thus, it will warn you immediately and restrict access to an untrustworthy website.

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