YouTube entrepreneur MrBeast has stepped up to help after entrepreneur and philanthropist Erik Bergman was defrauded of $1.25 million in a well organised cryptocurrency scam. The Youtube icon has pledged a $100,000 reward for information that could lead to the arrest of the parties responsible.
The co-founder of Catena Media Bergman and founder of the nonprofit project Great.com has revealed that he had become a victim to a “pig butchering” scam which is a scheme where fraudsters spend a period of time gaining a victim’s trust before tricking them into investing in fake crypto opportunities.
The scammers impersonated several online figures which included MrBeast, engineer and YouTuber Mark Rober, billionaire Ed Craven, and streamer Adin Ross. They encouraged Bergman into a fake investment group just after he had made headlines for donating $1 million to clean water projects in collaboration with MrBeast.
“I feel so stupid, and so ashamed,” Bergman spoke honestly. “But it feels important to share my story so that others don’t fall into the same trap.”
He has since published all the evidence he has including chat logs, phone numbers and blockchain transaction details. He lives in hope that the culprits can be identified and anyone with leads can submit them via Great.com to claim the $100,000 reward offered.
The scam was well organised. In one example, a fake “Ed Craven” was first rejected from the investment group but only to later be accepted at a higher buy-in. This example convinced Bergman to reinvest as he believed he was missing out on an exclusive opportunity.
At first, Bergman said he was overwhelmed with shame and embarrassment, but the huge response to his post on social media platform X which was formerly Twitter. The post received over 5 million views, encouraging him to turn the experience into a campaign against similar fraud of that nature.
He has since received messages from others who have been victims of similar scams, one man confessed he had attempted ending his life twice due to the shame of being ripped off. “The scammers live off our shame,” Bergman said. “The silence keeps us quiet and that’s where they thrive.”
Despite the seriousness of the crime, Bergman expressed disappointment in the Swedish policing sector, claiming they showed little interest in investigating even though over a million dollars was stolen. Crypto firm Coinbase’s security team offered support after the scammers misused its name.
The evidence Bergman released included six mobile numbers linked to the fraud, full group chats which were fake as well as blockchain records of two payments made of $750,000 and $500,000. Alongside MrBeast’s public support, he hopes the publicity will make it harder for scams to be made in future with more people aware.
“The more people who read about this, the harder it is for scammers to succeed,” Bergman said.