I got scammed out of $1.25 million
The scam happened in a chat group with Youtube superstars MrBeast and Mark Rober, streamer giant Adin Ross, and billionaires Tobi Lütke and Ed Craven
And I feel both ashamed and stupid telling this story, but I’ll do it anyway, and I’ll show you exactly how I got manipulated, with lots of print screens.
Everything starts a few weeks ago with me getting a phone call from an unknown number.
I pick up, and it’s MrBeast.
I’m totally taken aback…
I met Jimmy a few years ago when I donated $1.2 million to Team Seas, but we have haven’t spoken since.
In the background is Mark Rober, and together they ask me, if I want to donate money to build wells in Africa and help people get clean water.
I tell them that I will think about it, and Jimmy sets up a group chat with me, himself and Mark.
I take a few days to think and then I’m write them again:
Ok guys, I’m in!
Jimmy asks what number I’m thinking?
And I tell him that I’ll donate a million.
And the reply is legendary:
And then adding this:
And that gif is just amazing 😀
The day after he posts on twitter that I just donated one million years of clean water.
About a week later, I get a message on my personal phone number. This time it’s on WhatsApp and it says:
They wrote a lot more than this. If you want to see the full chat logs, we have posted them right on the homepage of Great.com.
They continue:
And I’m added to this group called “Team Water TopG’s”, and I’m laughing to myself because it feels like such a “Jimmy” name to put on a chat group with the biggest donors.
I’m entering in the middle of the conversations, and the first thing I hear is this voice message from Jimmy.
Where he talks about being sick and some other things.
Mark chimes in:
And then I see “Adin Ross”.
Seeing Adin in the chat is cool. He is this superstar streamer and I’ve seen him interviewing Donald Trump.
And then Tobi Lutke writes:
And if you don’t know Tobi, it’s this guy:
The founder of Shopify, with $12.6 billion in net worth.
And then Ed Craven adds:
And he is this old:
And has this much money:
Just imagine what it feels like to be in this group?
I can’t believe I’m in this group.
They are all chatting and have a good banter going on. Messing with each other.
I’m just reading…
I find myself writing a message… then deleting what I wrote because it didn’t feel cool enough.
I write the exact same thing once again… then delete it.
I just keep looking at my phone with this excited and nervous feeling in my body.
And I realise looking back, that I feel just like a 13-year-old boy, just wanting to fit in with the cool kids.
There has been a lot of banter going on in the chat, but now Jimmy shifts the energy:
And then he goes on to tell us about the purpose of this group chat and some of their upcoming charity projects.
And then, he invites us to an opening ceremony of the new wells in Malawi.
And I get super excited about this. I’ve been dreaming about going to Africa and see wells like this being built, and to do it together with these guys is just bonkers.
I jump on this opportunity and then I talk with Jimmy’s assistant about the details.
And then the next day MrBeast writes this in the group chat, that he has exciting news, and then he continues:
And then he goes on to tell us, that as a thank you, anyone that donated over $1 million can take part in this.
And the billionaire Ed Craven gets excited about this
– and I know he’s a huge crypto guy.
Personally, I don’t know much about crypto, so I’m not that excited.
And the other billionaire, Tobi Lutke, is a bit more hesitant like me,
But Mark comes in with a convincing tone,
Basically, saying that it’s a very good investment.
Then MrBeast says,
What all of this means is that one of the biggest crypto sites, would launch their own coin, like Bitcoin.
We would be able to buy it early with a huge discount thanks to MrBeast marketing deal.
I’ve only really done crypto once before. It was back in 2018, and I ended up losing about one million dollars.
So, parts of me don’t want to do this at all. I’m scared of crypto. I don’t know anything about how coins like this works.
Another parts of me wants revenge from the losses I took back then.
And then, and I think this is the biggest part of me making decisions right now, which is crazy – It’s the13-year-old boy – who can’t believe that I am in this group chat, and that just wants to belong to the cool kids.
If they are excited. I want to be excited.
The price is $750 000 per person.
Mark Rober is in,
Putting $750 000 on the table.
Adin Ross joins well,
That’s another $750k
And so does billionaire Tobi Lutke,
And billionaire Ed Craven,
That’s a total of $3 million so far.
Like I said, I don’t know crypto.
But, I trust Jimmy, I trust Mark – and I believe the rest of the guys knows what they are doing.
And I don’t t want to go on this trip to Africa, being the only one who didn’t join in on the investment.
But I don’t have this kind of money in crypto, and they said it all needs to be transferred in the next few days.
To get this kind of money into crypto would take too long. I would miss it.
So, I call a friend. The only one I know that could get me $750k in crypto within a few days – let’s call him Bobby.
I tell him about the group chat.
I tell him about the trip and how excited I am
And I tell him about this crypto project.
He says:
“Wow, if MrBeast is backing this, and all these guys are in it, this can be an amazing!”
He asks if he can join in, and I offer him a part of my share.
And then he has lots of questions that he is asking Jimmy’s assistant.
I’m skipping a lot of details here, but it’s all posted on Great.com.
After a while Bobby calls me back and we decide to go for it. We trust the judgement of the group.
Bobby gets address to a crypto wallet, and a few hours later he sends $750 000.
All of this has gone fast. I’ve barely stopped to think. Honestly, I’m still very star struck.
The next day something crazy happens.
The assistant writes in the group chat that there was an issue with Ed’s transaction at that the money had been returned to his wallet.
Ed gets frustrated and asks if it can be fixed.
But he is told no and that it’s too late. The first round is already closed.
I’m shocked that they turn down a guy like him.
Then Jimmy writes once again,
And then he says that Ed can be in on this one.
This time to price is $500 000 – and Ed is fast to join.
Once again, the chat goes hot.
Mark is in,
And Adin,
That’s already $1.5 million.
I call Bobby again.
I tell him about how they turned down the billionaire for being too late.
How he didn’t get the chance to invest at 15 cents, but they opened a new round at 30, and he jumped on it
I tell him that the rest of the group is also joining, and that it’s selling out fast.
Once again, we fall for it.
It takes a few hours and Bobby sends the money. This time it’s $500 000.
And the day after Jimmy writes,
Once again, the chat goes hot and everyone jumps on it.
And I talk to Bobby again and we decide to join as well.
But just as we are about to send the money.
I get this weird feeling.
And then I look at Adin Ross’s phone number in the chat.
That’s a British phone number.
But he’s American.
Weird…
Is this fake?
But I’ve been about this with Jimmy, so it should be real.
Then I check the phone number he has been using on WhatsApp, and I realise it’s not the same number that he used when he called me a few weeks ago.
So, I text him with a print screen on the first phone number.
And he replies:
So, I call him,
Please say that you’re fucking kidding me?!
But he’s not…
It was all a scam.
The first phone call, and the fundraiser for clean water. That was the real Jimmy.
But then, someone must have seen his tweet about the donation. Somehow gotten hold of my private phone number and then created a scam targeted directly at me.
Everything after Jimmy’s tweet about my donation, was a scam. No one, in the group chat was real.
I feel so stupid.
So ashamed.
I’ve been to the police, but unfortunately, they haven’t made much progress. So, I don’t have much hope for justice.
But then I wrote about this on twitter, and Jimmy replied this:
So now I turn to the internet.
Right on the homepage of Great.com, we have added all the chat logs, phone numbers, and crypto transactions. There is also a form where you can upload evidence or things you might know.
And finally. The more people that hear this story. The harder it will be for scams like this to succeed.
So please, if you are a writer, write about this story, and please, mention the reward and link to the page with the evidence – or if you know someone that can write about this, please tag them.
Thank you for reading <3
