Philippines richest man warns of fake endorsement from crypto scam site

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Cryptocurrency scams are still a problem, and in the Philippines in particular. While many can be small scale schemes, others aspire to rope in even more victims, using fake endorsements to do so. Manny Villar, the richest man in the country, has called out Bitcoin Revolution for doing just that.

In a statement reported by local news outlet Manila Standard, Villar swears he has nothing to do with the trading program. “I wish to warn the public about a false social media posting claiming that I endorsed a cryptocurrency trading program,” Villar said.

To make matters perfectly clear, Villar notes that he’s not involved with Bitcoin Revolution, or any Bitcoin investments at all. “I have never made any such endorsement nor I have engaged in the said bitcoin program. This is obviously a scam and I ask the public to protect themselves from such unscrupulous act,” he said.

Villar, estimated to be worth $6.6 billion by Forbes as of September 2019, would be a compelling spokesperson for any investment company. Him calling the company out for falsely using his endorsement is important for Filipinos who may be susceptible to such a scam.

Is Bitcoin Revolution a sham?

But is Bitcoin Revolution a total sham? Signs point to yes. As of press time, the site has the following message at the very top of its page:

“Warning, Due to extremely high media demand, we will close registration as of 16/1/2020. – HURRY”

It also counts down from 6 minutes and change every time the page is loaded, possibly inducing potential investors to make a rash decision.

Other signs don’t point to it being much more legitimate either. The site offers testimonials from four winning traders. The images used for these traders are easily found stock images, and their testimonials are too good to be true; a sure sign of a scam:

“I have been trading for 4 years now and only after I signed up with Bitcoin Revolution, did I start making insane profits. The software is so easy to use and I no longer need to spend hours analyzing the markets. Great work!”

While the page would appear to be focused on Philippine investors if one is based in the Philippines, noting to users “Exclusive offer for traders in Philippines,” logging in from other parts of the world will immediately change the wording of that part of the page to whatever country your IP would suggest. We were able to trick the page into suggesting it was exclusive for the Philippines, the United States, Vietnam and Ukraine.

All of this would seem to suggest that Villar is right, and Bitcoin Revolution is indeed a scam, or at the very least, highly unethical. Best to stay away from the site entirely, and advise anyone you know to be diligent before they use any service like it.