Summary: The ARP44K cryptocurrency scam tricks investors by using YouTube comments made by bots and a fraudulent website, promoting fake cryptocurrencies with fake associations to Amazon.
Rip-Off Rating: 5 “snake oils” out of 5
What We Recommend Instead:
If you want a 1000x opportunity, and you’re willing to take risk, best bet is to ignore altcoin presales – because many of them are fake – and try your luck trading on leverage. Sign up to Binance or Bybit, get their free promos, and hope you get lucky trading.
How the ARP44K Scam Works
First, it starts with a YouTube comment:
All of the thousands of upvotes are from bot accounts.
You’ll see these comments pop up on all kinds of videos, but they especially target newly released, mega-popular videos — ESPECIALLY videos from content creators in the financial niche or cryptocurrency niche.
Again, the comments are by bots, and the upvotes are from bots. They aren’t from real people.
When you google search or search on YouTube for the phrase “ARP44K” only one result comes up. This post from a fake “news” YouTube channel “CoinMarketCap -News”
The video directs you to a website. I won’t link the website here, because it’s a 100% scam site, and I don’t want anyone accidentally clicking on it and buying from it. But this is what it looks like:
You may be surprised that the coin “ARP44K” is not mentioned on this website. This is because every day the bots create a new ticker for the fake token. Here are more of them:
AZT44R
APC44T
ZRA55T
AMR90X
AMC953
WEA44T
ZTA33X
etc, etc.
Every few days, these scammers spin up about a dozen new fake crypto names and videos. After a few weeks, they’ll take the videos down and replace them with new ones.
Look, these were all spun up in the last few weeks:
They are all using the name “Amazon” to convince you that it’s a great opportunity. Imagine if Amazon launched their own token, and you could buy it for cheap! Of course, Amazon has nothing to do with this; it’s a complete scam.
So what happens if you actually try to buy ARP44K?
Nothing happens.
You lose ALL of your money.
You don’t even get a worthless token. You just sent your money to someone else and received nothing in return.
And because you sent cryptocurrency to their wallet, there’s nothing you can do to get the money back.
After purchasing, they will try to get you to purchase more and more, offering bonuses or discounts. It’s all fake. Any money you send them will be gone.
Again, sending ANY cryptocurrency to this address will just throw your money away.
Also, if you enter in your email anywhere on their website, they will continue to harass you to buy more and try to scam you out of even more money. They’ll also sell your email to other scammers in order to make more money. Just don’t do it!
Just so we’re clear:
- Do not send any money or crypto
- Do not connect any crypto wallet to any of their websites
- Do not enter in any personal info or your email address
Are there any 1000x opportunities out there in crypto?
Yes, but you’re better off ignoring them.
The best way to invest in cryptocurrencies is to buy a large, well-established cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum. You have the highest likelihood of keeping your money rather than losing it.
Some people hear this advice, and they ignore it. They want to risk their money and chase larger returns. Bitcoin and Ethereum won’t multiply by 1000x — their marketcaps are already too large. They are addicted to the idea of buying something for $1,000 and it going to $1,000,000.
The only 1000x gains I’ve seen in crypto today have been through buying a one-in-a-million alt coin early (which is incredibly difficult, since most new coins go to zero) and through leveraged trading (also incredibly difficult.)
With both of these strategies, you have a chance to lose everything. It’s high risk, high reward. You have to make the right play and get the timing correct, and sell at the right time.
Trade with leverage instead. You’ll at least have a chance of making money.
We think leveraged trading is the better of these two options. Yes, you still risk it going to zero, but if you get lucky and anticipate where the market is going, you can get huge gains. You also don’t need insider info about altcoins, because by the time you hear about an altcoin, it’s too late.
There are legitimate exchanges out there like Binance and Bybit that allow leveraged trading and will give you bonuses when you sign up. Better to risk it trading, and hopefully make some money, than just give your money away to scammers.
