Metallica scams net thousands in crypto as band teases new album
US heavy metal giants Metallica have warned fans to steer clear of crypto giveaway scams looking to piggyback on the news of the band’s upcoming new album and tour.
Despite the warnings, more than $7,000 worth of bitcoin and ether has been sent to crypto addresses linked to the con.
The scams, which an official statement from Metallica called “the ugly side of social media,” saw imposters posing as the band on YouTube live streams, Twitter, and websites to run fake crypto giveaways tied to Metallica’s much-anticipated 11th studio album, 72 Seasons.
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Metallica, but with an L and an I
A YouTube livestream, called @usmetalIica (incorrectly spelled with an upper-case ‘i’ replacing the second ‘l’), plays interview footage of the band on loop. As it plays, a live chat tells viewers that they can double their bitcoin and ether by simply sending either crypto to a linked wallet address on a fake Metallica site.
A tweet impersonating the band inserted over the interview also claims “you’ll regret it BIG” if you don’t scan the QR code displayed and claims that the offer is “worth much more than a link to download our full album.”
At the time of writing, 4,700 people are subscribed to the channel with roughly 2,000 people watching the stream.
Read more: Not even Sir David Attenborough is safe from Twitter crypto scams
In a post to its official Instagram account, Metallica said, “Please remember — all of our official social media channels are verified. Always look for official verification before believing something wild and crazy to be true,” before asking fans to report any spotted scams.
Metallica then listed Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter with the shared handle @metallica as its official online profiles while also listing metallica.com and livemetallica.com as its official websites.
Impersonating celebrities in crypto scams has become a reoccurring event. Only last month, naturalist David Attenborough was featured in a fake article promoting a shady crypto trading platform. You may also have spotted a deepfake of the frizzy-haired former billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried promoting a crypto giveaway from a verified Twitter account.
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