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Helping newer people: Identifying social media "influencers" (read: scammers) that should be avoided

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>In my view, the worst aspect of this amazing crypto space is all the scammers that prey on retail and steal people's money. For those who are new here, it is very difficult to identify these scammers, even more so because many of them still have a really large following on social media and because their opinions get covered on news websites making them seem like legit analysists. Hence, I want to initiate an effort to help out newer people in this space by providing a list of key figures to avoid. Please help me complete this list because I am sure I missed some scammers.</p> <p>​</p> <p><strong>(1) The S-tier scam category</strong></p> <p>The scammers in this category are responsible for other people (retail) losing millions of Dollars. Two of them are even responsible for a billion dollar loss and wanted by the police. These people should be avoided at all costs. Do not buy their products and do not follow them on social media. I believe that Bitboin, Lark, and Carl will all end up in jail or at least heavily fined at some point, mostly due to undisclosed shilling of securities. Do Kwon and Ruji Ignatova are of course on a different level and already wanted by Interpol/FBI.</p> <p>​</p> <table><thead> <tr> <th align="left">Name</th> <th align="left">Reason</th> <th align="left">Source</th> </tr> </thead><tbody> <tr> <td align="left">1. <strong>Ben Armstrong</strong> (@Bitboy_Crypto)</td> <td align="left">Undisclosed shilling (e.g. $ETHY) + pump and dump + sueing other YouTuber out of revenge</td> <td align="left"><a href="https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1478082010807742468">1</a> <a href="https://cryptobriefing.com/king-of-the-shill-bitboy-crypto/">2</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">2. <strong>Lark Davis</strong> (@thecryptolark)</td> <td align="left">Undisclosed shilling (e.g. $SHOPX) + pump and dump</td> <td align="left"><a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/i-ve-done-nothing-wrong-lark-davis-denies-pump-and-dump-allegations">1</a> <a href="https://cryptoslate.com/zachxbt-alleges-crypto-influencer-lark-davis-made-over-1m-dumping-crypto-projects/">2</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">3. <strong>Carl Runefelt</strong> (@TheMoonCarl)</td> <td align="left">Pump and pump (e.g. $KASTA)</td> <td align="left"><a href="https://www.technewsfix.com/2022/07/03/100000000-crypto-fraud-exposed-carl-runefelts-kasta-scam/">1</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1466802406424039425">2</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">4. <strong>Do Kwon</strong> (@Stablekwon)</td> <td align="left">Luna and UST meltdown, wanted by Interpol</td> <td align="left"><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/06/luna-founder-do-kwon-faces-passport-freeze-after-crypto-collapse-.html">1</a> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63033262">2</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">5. <strong>Ruja Ignatova</strong></td> <td align="left">Undisclosed shilling ($OneCoin), wanted criminal</td> <td align="left"><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62005066">1</a> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-50435014">2</a></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>​</p> <p><strong>(2) The A-tier scam category</strong></p> <p>The scammers in this category have all done very shady things but are now trying to present themselves as legit, hoping that people did not notice or will forget their past actions. A lot of these people were caught for undisclosed shilling by the wonderful <strong>ZachXBT</strong>, who I would strongly advice to follow.</p> <p>​</p> <table><thead> <tr> <th align="left">Name</th> <th align="left">Reason</th> <th align="left">Source</th> </tr> </thead><tbody> <tr> <td align="left">6. <strong>Aiden Pleterski</strong> (CrypoKing)</td> <td align="left">Ponzi scheme</td> <td align="left"><a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/new-details-reveal-how-the-alleged-crypto-king-scheme-left-investors-out-millions-1.6123840">1</a> <a href="https://www.iheartradio.ca/ctv-news-content/crypto-king-nearly-arrested-twice-after-refusing-to-hand-over-diamond-studded-rolex-audi-in-bankruptcy-proceeding-1.18689595">2</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">7. <strong>Ran Neuner</strong> (@cryptomanran) and <strong>Crypto Banter</strong> (@Cryptobanter)</td> <td align="left">Undisclosed shilling (e.g. $TFT) + pump and dump</td> <td align="left"><a href="https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1462803454838063105">1</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1524351742690971650">2</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">8. <strong>Scott Melker</strong> (@Scottmelker)</td> <td align="left">Undisclosed shilling (e.g. $MINT)</td> <td align="left"><a href="https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1397706289707376648">1</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">9. <strong>Lady of Crypto</strong> (@ladyofcrypto1)</td> <td align="left">Starting own scam firm + undisclosed shilling (e.g. $PYR)</td> <td align="left"><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/x7zmbb/lady_of_crypto_starting_her_own_trading_firm_dont/">1</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left">10. <strong>Various celebrities</strong> (Jake Paul, Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather, Paul Pierce, Dj Khaled, etc.)</td> <td align="left">Undisclosed shilling (e.g. $EMAX)</td> <td align="left"><a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/five-social-media-influencers-dealt-192658005.html">1</a> <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/the-worst-influencer-and-celebrity-nft-cash-grabs-of-2021">2</a> <a href="https://www.businessofbusiness.com/articles/celebrities-facing-backlash-for-touting-crypto-kardashian-damon-witherspoon-gwyneth-mayweather/">3</a></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p>To be honest, there's a lot of people who belong in this category, like ALL the influencers that owners of shitty projects can pay to promote their stuff on social media, most of which goes undisclosed and is therefore illegal. If you have social media and follow people in the crypto space, I would propose that you study these pictures and remove anyone on the list:</p> <ul> <li>List from 2022: <a href="https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1516796726862045186/photo/1">Picture 1</a> <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQy-kq4WUAo5aIs?format=jpg&name=large">Picture 2</a> <a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQy-k2nXoAcKZ6q?format=jpg&name=large">Picture 3</a> - <a href="https://en.ethereumworldnews.com/how-much-twitter-influencers-get-paid-to-shill-crypto-projects/">Source</a>.</li> <li>List from 2011: <a href="https://i.redd.it/ue472wmgesz71.jpg">Picture</a></li> </ul> <p>Some notable Twitter accounts with a large following that do (undisclosed) shills: <strong>Crypto Tony, Crypto Eliz, Livercoin, Layah Heilpern, Wendy O, Don Crypto, JRNY, Satoshi Stacker, Altcoin Daily, MMCrypto, CryptoWizardd, Crypto_Scofield, and many more</strong>.</p> <p>​</p> <p><strong>(3) The others category</strong></p> <p>Truth be told, there are many people in this space that use retail in many different ways to make money. Whether it is:</p> <ul> <li>Setting unreasonable moon targets for engagement that gets retail to buy high such as <strong>Michael van de Poppe</strong> (@CryptoMichNL). <a href="https://beincrypto.com/how-many-times-was-renowned-analyst-crypto-capo-wrong-bitcoin/"><strong>il Capo Of Crypto</strong></a> (@cryptocapo_) is another prime example. He is overly bullish during bull times for engagement and overly bearish during bear times for engagement.</li> <li>Having a model without any predictive value with moon targets for engagement while shilling ref links like <strong>Plan B</strong> (@100trillionUSD).</li> <li>Shilling a project and deleting the tweets and videos afterwards while denying doing that, like <strong>James Altucher</strong> (@Investanswers) did with Luna.</li> </ul> <p>Dont take the tiers too seriously, they are a little arbitrary. Please help me complete the list! Then I can provide a more updated one next time after some extra research.</p> <p>--</p> <p><strong>PS. Can we please avoid the "dont follow anyone on social media" circlejerk?</strong> I want this post to be about identifying the worst apples. There is good information on social media but one has to be very careful to avoid the scammers.</p> </div><!-- SC_ON -->   submitted by   <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Beyonderr"> /u/Beyonderr </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/yfomqd/helping_newer_people_identifying_social_media/">[link]</a></span>   <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/yfomqd/helping_newer_people_identifying_social_media/">[comments]</a></span>