Wednesday, December 20, 2017

CORRECTION—"No, a Guy Didn't Scam $1 Million by Selling Chuck E. Cheese Tokens as Bitcoins"

Following up on Monday's Today in Crypto: "Man Arrested After Making Over $1 Million Selling Chuck E. Cheese Tokens As 'Bitcoins'":

You Trusted Me and I Failed You
When a journalist accidently misquotes a source

Regret the error.
 
From Gizmodo:
Social media users are praising a “hero” who was supposedly arrested in New York City for selling altered Chuck E. Cheese tokens as bitcoins. A report claims that he raked in $1.1 million with the scam. Sadly, there is no hero, and this story is phonier than Monopoly money.

Scroll through Twitter and you’ll find numerous screenshots of a story titled “Bitcoin Scam: Man Arrested After Making Over $1 Million Selling Chuck E. Cheese Tokens as Bitcoins” from a website called “Huzlers” (please don’t give the article clicks). People are dying laughing at the “idiots” who would fall for this scam and are applauding the man for giving people who jump on the Bitcoin bandwagon just what they deserve. In reality, the only people being scammed are the ones who believe this article is real.

Huzlers, which identifies itself as “the most infamous fauxtire & satire entertainment website in the world,” is just another fake news site. In this case, the article almost qualifies as satire. It’s funny, you can’t be mad it, but it’s just a little too believable to fully tip into the absurd. And honestly, there’s a solid chance that a lot of people sharing the article don’t fully believe it deep down, they just want it to be true. Don’t be one of those people....MORE
HT: Matt Levine who obviously has sources on Rikers Island.