How to Expose Scammers Online And Get Them Out Of Business: The "CryptoGuru" Chronicles
Happy New Year, everyone.
Holidays are a time to relax, have some family moments and perhaps drink some more. Thus, in wars or invasions, enemies will see holidays as a weakness and the best time to strike on the battlefield.
Who is our enemy, though? In this case, these are scammers.
Scammers have multiplied since the pandemic, and even though they have limited intellectual capabilities, they still push their scams and may trap someone in a vulnerable state.
This is the case of CryptoGuru, a user active on noise.app, read.cash, and all social media as well.
He is a dumb scammer who lacks morals and intelligence. That's also @CGuru on read.cash .
Luckily we found this worthless scammer early, and hopefully, he didn't do any damage. I spotted his Facebook website on the first day he brought it up, although, he was operating this scam for one or two weeks more on other networks.
So, crypto swindler CryptoGuru is running a fake charity.
A despicable scam since CryptoGuru has lost his moral compass and decided to steal Bitcoin Cash that could have ended in people with real needs instead.
The Scammer: CryptoGuru
Luckily, friends of Bitcoin Cash immediately spotted the fake images used in his campaign and reported his accounts.
It could have taken me a longer time than that to find proof otherwise.
The images seemed bad, he was an anon supposedly running a global charity, and the whole ordeal looked sketchy. But, I didn't have evidence and had limited time during New Year's Eve with guests at the house celebrating and drinking.
Scammers target honest people during holidays for this reason.
We drink more, and drinking lowers our perception. We also have less time for the internet as social interactions in real life are increased.
So @CGuru knows all of that and has figured out that he stood better chances during holidays.
He was active on Bitcoin Cash websites for several months, and in December he created his Twitter, initiating the final phase of his scam:
CryptoGuru private messaged me on noise.app on Christmas.
He was following me (stalking apparently) for months and was giving likes to all my posts.
I didn't know him, but on that day, I followed a couple of guys just to observe if they will behave or spam irrelevant comments on my noise posts.
It seems scammers don't waste any time.
On Christmas eve, I received this dm from CryptoGuru that clearly was out of line, since this is from a person I never interacted with before:
This is clearly suspicious, although his second response was entirely out of line.
I responded as I wanted to see what he was planning, and we immediately discover the first red flags.
There was no doubt in my mind this person was up to something after I read all this fake engagement and watched him instantly change attitude, from being a caring and loving person into someone that immediately felt insulted, while there was actually no reason to.
I've seen this all before, though, and not just online. I responded with this:
Blocked CryptoGuru and cut all communications having limited time to spare with spammers during Christmas.
I've seen way worse scumbags in real life to recognize this response was yet another lowlife acting insulted. Frankly, where I live this is a new norm. Having idiots turning into scammers and thinking they wouldn't get noticed.
So, it is New Year's eve (yesterday), and as I was scrolling on noise, I checked my blocklist and unblocked CryptoGuru.
I decided to give it a go, as this guy was too foolish and perhaps would reveal some more intel regarding his plans.
It didn't even take 10 minutes, and CryptoGuru discovered he was unblocked and messaged me again.
So, I had about an hour to examine in detail what this guy was up to as clearly he was pursuing something.
It didn't take long, as he has links all over the place about his scam charity event.
Which is this (Help With BCH):
(source: facebook)
CryptoGuru runs a fake charity on facebook and promotes it on all social media including noise:
(source)
I warned a few communities I follow, and some BCH friends immediately spotted the scam.
Still, there was someone from read.cash that FAILED TO PERFORM DUE DILIGENCE and vouched for this guy on Facebook, giving him a positive review. I messaged this person on noise, and HOPEFULLY, he isn't involved in this scam, which I truly believe he isn't, and was just victimized or lured to support CryptoGuru.
I won't mention the name of this user, because he has brought some interesting content to read.cash, BUT, I am still deeply disappointed to see how often these scammers can manipulate newcomers or lure them into promoting anything with the promise of a small reward.
Anyway, I also reported on all the social media this guy uses, but he is still active everywhere. I'm not sure why it takes so long for an admin to take down a scammer from promoting a scam.
This should be instant and there should be a better system to recognize the detail of reporting.
This is a clear scam, but concrete evidence was also needed and I didn't have the time available. I tried to reverse-search the images for a while but reached no match, and my guests were calling me in the living room.
So I messaged a few friends on Twitter about the possibility of this guy running a scam charity, and some of them immediately spotted the AI-generated images. (I don't know if this person wants his name published though, so I skip it).
Anyway, it wasn't me that noticed the fake AI-generated images. I thought it was real images photoshopped and was looking to find the source.
CryptoGuru painted the faces, to hide more irregularities, not out of respect for privacy.
These are all AI-generated images from some services I wasn't aware of what they do.
Regarding my communications with this scammer I've seen this idiotic reaction before.
And I've seen it not just online but face to face with some of these low lives.
It is always the same sheer stupidity, they tell fairy tales with various inconsistencies and gaps they can't cover.
They fail to make a convincing argument and move on with a "trust me bro" attitude but also try to play with emotions by immediately claiming that they are insulted we don't trust them.
The address he posted seems to be increasing in BCH, but this could even be noise and read.cash tips entering. Donations like this one are always extra shady. There's basically no doubt this is a scam.
I've noticed plenty of irregularities with other donations as well but I wouldn't name them at this point.
In Conclusion
I doubt he is Russian, or Japanese as he claims. I don't have access to IPs but I can easily assume where he comes from after reading some of his comments. Still, this part doesn't matter.
Crypto Guru is an unsuccessful manipulative scammer, and just like 99,99% of the rest of them, he lacks the brain process to realize there are billions of people with more intelligence than him, that can expose him.
He should have been working as a plumber or digging holes in a field with a shovel, but he probably sucks even at the simplest tasks, so he decided to scam people for a living.
Yet, he is equally bad in this as well.
We all know this is also how he behaves in his normal life. And we all know how this path will end. I've met and dealt with idiots like CryptoGuru all day for years. It never ends well for them.
Yet, no matter if you are incompetent at anything and your brain can't function properly, you still get a chance to change. Can you change your habits, though? I highly doubt you will. I bet you will always be a low-life scammer and end up in jail several times.
Scammer's links in social media to block and avoid:
Platforms:
● read.cash ● noise.cash ● noise.app ● Medium ● Hive ● Steemit ●Vocal
● Minds ● Publish0x ● Twitter ● CashRain
Also visit my second Medium profile: Ex Cathedra and delve into the unknown!
Also Read:
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I really loathe those scammers. For someone like me, who've once a victim of a scam, it always rings back in my head how stupid I was back then to fall into the trap of a scammer. up to this day, I still feel embarrassed for being such a foolish kid way back. Those scammers will surely reap their own karma someday. A big thanks for posting something like this, it brings more awareness.