Btc earn

 This post was originally published in March 2020 and has been updated as of January 2024.

You may have seen them: the social media posts from scammers promoting Elon Musk cryptocurrency giveaway schemes, or President Joe Biden and other public figures promising free cryptocurrency. These posts include branding and profile pictures that look exactly like what the companies, individuals or government authorities use. It’s important to be able to spot which accounts are fake, and which posts are cryptocurrency scams.

Scams like these exploit high-profile social media accounts to trick followers, oftentimes in the form of sending funds to the crypto scammer via a digital wallet at the targets’ expense. Crypto scams can manifest in many forms, including: exit scam activities (when funds are pulled and projects are abandoned to profit from investors); crypto giveaway promises; fake job offers; phishing scam tactics like blackmail, emails, or text messages; rug pull scams for investors, and even online dating.

These scams are an unfortunate byproduct of the increasing popularity of cryptocurrency and are a very real concern with high-priced repercussions. According to TRM Labs, over $9 billion was sent to various forms of cryptocurrency fraud schemes in 2022 alone.

And while cryptocurrency scams and crypto crime more generally remain a small fraction of overall fraud, concerned regulators and law enforcement, industry players and advocates are taking proactive steps to help prevent surges in social media scams and aid in consumer protection, regardless if they use crypto or not.

Since its founding, Ripple and others in the industry have been monitoring and ensuring the removal of countless fake ads and posts that promise ways to earn free XRP—an open-source, decentralized cryptocurrency and the native digital asset of the XRP Ledger. As a trusted resource in a growing industry where trust is paramount, it’s important to Ripple to help educate consumers about these threats and how to avoid them. In support of this, here is a list of authentic social media handles of Ripple corporate accounts and some of Ripple’s executives: