As Elon Musk played host on SNL, Doge giveaway schemes flooded social media

The Dogecoin website on a smartphone. The Dogecoin giveaway scam preyed on Musk’s followers who had believed he would make an announcement related to Dogecoin after he tweeted ‘Let’s find out just how live Saturday Night Live really is’ and ‘The Dogefather SNL May 8’. — Bloomberg

At the time Elon Musk was trying his hand at comedy as host of Saturday Night Live, his image and likeness were being used to promote Dogecoin giveaways on social media that left unsuspecting people with what could have been more than US$5mil (RM20.57mil) in losses.

In one of the oldest tricks in the cryptocurrency book, people were lured into sending coins to previously unknown accounts with the promise that they’d be paid back multiple times what they sent.