Trust No Influencer - Bitcoin Theft

I am sure you will remember seeing influencers do giveaways and sometimes walk into random shops (while being filmed) and promise to pay for everyone's item. With this, they presented themselves as a force for good and positivity, while in reality, they were just building sham trust that they would take advantage of later.
That was the case with Jebara Igbara, aka Jay Mazini. The Instagram influencer who presented himself as a philanthropist while using it as a cover for his huge scam project Let's visit him briefly.

Jebara Igbara aka Jay Mazini & His Doings

Who doesn't like free stuff and some random acts of generosity? That was the public face of Jay Mazini; however, behind the scenes, he is something else.

Using his popularity as a tool—at the time of his prime, he had over a million Instagram followers—he preyed on people, and with one fraudulent scheme after another, he succeeded stealing up to 8 million dollars from unsuspecting victims across the world.

He made his scam a global thing as he utilised global tools such as Wire transfers and cryptocurrencies. His basic bait was to make promises, and leveraging on his history of public displays of wealth and generosity, it was easy to trust him.

His Ponzi scheme was funded through Wire transfers, while his crypto scams were made through traditional crypto transfers.

All the victims in this case were promised something that was too good to be true. Those in the Ponzi scheme were all assured a high rate of return in a short amount of time, while the victims of the Bitcoin advance fee scheme were guaranteed above current market value for their bitcoin.
US Attorney's Office

To fulfil his investment promises, it was found that he forged Wire transfer receipts and sent them to his investors, but his days were numbered, and a few hours ago, it was announced that he could probably spend up to 20 years in prison for his crime.

Trust No Influencer

Influencers are basically there to make some money, and they will do whatever it takes to bag as much cash as possible. Being an influencer is purely business, and not a charity, so see every action by one or more of them as a way to make more money, whether directly or indirectly. The level of popularity/number of followers does not exempt one from shady practices, so be on guard. Let me close with the words of the IRS-CI Special Agent-in-Charge of Igbara's case, Fattorusso:

Be sceptical of any investments with promises larger than life because if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is

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