The social network formerly known as Twitter has been inundated lately with fake ads for ‘AppleCoin’ …

While it may be laughably obvious to us that the claimed cryptocurrency is as fake as a three dollar bill, the vague resemblance between the non-existing coin and AirTag may lend it a sense of familiarity for non-techy folk, so you might want to warn your non-techy friends.

It’s of course not the first time that we’ve seen fake Apple ads used in this way. Back in 2022, scammers created an ‘Apple Crypto Event’ video stream on YouTube, and managed to attract 70,000 viewers.

The stream was titled “Apple Event Live. Ceo of Apple Tim Cook: Apple & Metaverse in 2022.” In actuality, the video was ripped from an interview Cook did with CNN back in 2018. The host of the stream simply added logos for Bitcoin and Ethereum to the video and covered the CNN logo with the “URGENT NEWS” banner […]

Clicking any of the links in the video’s description took you to some scammy cryptocurrency websites where users were encouraged to “buy” things like Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

A similar scam the previous year attracted 30k views.

These frauds are made more convincing for the technically naive by the fact that the accounts promoting the ads are ‘verified’ X accounts. Even more than a year after the company started selling the blue checkmark to anyone with eight bucks in their pocket, that can still lend an air of credibility to those who aren’t in the know.

If you’re looking for a safe way to buy cryptocurrency, check out our guide, updated at the end of last year.