Dick Smith bitcoin scam

[Dick Smith]

Advertisements using my name and image have been circulated on websites and social media claiming that I support investment in bitcoin. This is a complete scam. I do not endorse or promote any bitcoin schemes and have never invested in bitcoin.

My name is being used by these scammers without my consent and I am taking every possible action to have the ads removed. I do not support any website publishing these ads as they are assisting criminals to take money from innocent victims.

The ads have been reported to the ACCC's Scamwatch, Facebook, media outlets, the Federal and State Police and the Australian Cybersecurity Centre. The matter is under investigation by the police.

[JustinHeywood]

Thanks Dick. Those Scam ads featuring you seem to pop up every time I’m on this site.

[SOPS]

They are on here as I type this.

[Car RAMROD]

Maybe you shouldn’t have used your real name on Pprune! :}

[kellykelpie]

Now you tell me 🤨.

[tail wheel]

Thanks Dick. Users need to understand not to believe every advert on this and other sites.

[George Glass]

So, tail wheel are you saying that you have no proprietary responsibility for the contents of this sight ?
Who gets the advertising revenue ?
And why aren’t they responsible ?
Isnt this just the Facebook “I’m just putting it on the back of a truck” excuse ?

[seafury45]

These ads pop up in a lot of celebrity names. If you have a media profile, not just social media, you will appear. I have seen them for Kochie, Bill Gates, Robert Kiyosaki etc.

[ozbiggles]

So, tail wheel are you saying that you have no proprietary responsibility for the contents of this sight ?
Who gets the advertising revenue ?
And why aren’t they responsible ?
Isnt this just the Facebook “I’m just putting it on the back of a truck” excuse ?

Just leave the site if you don’t like it.

The classic ‘Doctor, it hurts when I do this’.
The Doctor ‘Then stop doing it’.

[Capn Bloggs]

Just leave the site if you don’t like it.
Don't be ridiculous, Biggles. How about a company that makes money from people using the site engaging in a bit of corporate responsibility and blocking what is obviously designed to rip people off and smear the names of Dick et al? Fair enough if it was a porn site but really? Don't visit Prune because of scam ads?

[ozbiggles]

I’m sure the Pprune ‘corporation’ doesn’t have a 24/7 security department. Things will get through until bought to their attention and then probably removed post haste.
As the multi millionaire Tailwheel who has made his personal fortune from moderating this site and hasn’t slept since 2002 to stand on the wall to protect people from nonsense scams we will hold the trial for him under rule 303 to appeases those who might fall for these adds. Meanwhile I request from now you refer to me as Lord Ozbiggles as I bought a square foot of land in Scotland off facebook and rightly deserve my title.

[Memetic]

Modern internet advertising is highly automated. When you start loading a page I the seconds that takes many things happen. The information held on you in cookies, browser configuration, location, device type etc. Are sent to the advert serving companies, these details identify you (by profile not name, user is etc.).

For example in this case being say an Australian male over 45 interested in aviation and investments who has regularly visited PPRuNe (and hence more likely to trust Dick Smith a long term high profile member.)

This profile is made available to the advertising buyers system. That system looks at the profile compares it with the type of profile they want to reach.

If there is a good match the buying system bids for the right to display its chosen advert. Other advertisers bid against them, the auction closes after a few hundred milliseconds and the winning advert is served.

PPRuNe will never see the advert, let alone have time to act to stop it appearing.

These need to be stopped at the advertising market or source.

As site users we can help by clicking the small report button embedded in the advert and possibly by sending Dick a PM with a screen shot and time stamp to provide evidence - although I doubt much more is needed.

[George Glass]

Just leave the site if you don’t like it.

The classic ‘Doctor, it hurts when I do this’.
The Doctor ‘Then stop doing it’.

Yeah , right Oz . Brilliant .What’s next ? I’m just following orders ?
This issue is nuclear across social media.
What cant go on forever, won’t.

[George Glass]

Modern internet advertising is highly automated. When you start loading a page I the seconds that takes many things happen. The information held on you in cookies, browser configuration, location, device type etc. Are sent to the advert serving companies, these details identify you (by profile not name, user is etc.).

For example in this case being say an Australian male over 45 interested in aviation and investments who has regularly visited PPRuNe (and hence more likely to trust Dick Smith a long term high profile member.)

This profile is made available to the advertising buyers system. That system looks at the profile compares it with the type of profile they want to reach.

If there is a good match the buying system bids for the right to display its chosen advert. Other advertisers bid against them, the auction closes after a few hundred milliseconds and the winning advert is served.

PPRuNe will never see the advert, let alone have time to act to stop it appearing.

These need to be stopped at the advertising market or source.

As site users we can help by clicking the small report button embedded in the advert and possibly by sending Dick a PM with a screen shot and time stamp to provide evidence - although I doubt much more is needed.

Yup, in a nutshell.
George Orwell was right.

[Manwell]

It's good to see Dick telling us about this, and disappointing to see the reaction by some. Edmund Burke said, "All it takes for evil to flourish is for men of good will to do nothing". The state of the world is a reflection of the thoughts of the people in it, and most of the thoughts displayed here are part of the problem, not the solution.

[PDR1]

The same thing happened to Martin Lewis (google "money saving expert"). He sued the website and they settled for a few gazzilion quid when it became clear that the law regarded the website platform as the "publisher".

PDR

[jonkster]

So, tail wheel are you saying that you have no proprietary responsibility for the contents of this sight ?
Who gets the advertising revenue ?
And why aren’t they responsible ?
Isnt this just the Facebook “I’m just putting it on the back of a truck” excuse ?

I would say it is important to report scam ads etc to the moderators so they can act,

(I would guess all the volunteer moderators, who I assume are drawn from the users on this site, are just as annoyed by unwanted ads as everyone else).

[Square Bear]

Ozbiggles

I may have purchased my retirement acreage on the Moon surface from the same site you purchased you square foot in Scotland.

I am more simpler...The Man on the Moon is OK for me.

As for tail wheel...banished to the “naughty corner”.

[Bodie1]

Don't be ridiculous, Biggles. How about a company that makes money from people using the site engaging in a bit of corporate responsibility and blocking what is obviously designed to rip people off and smear the names of Dick et al? Fair enough if it was a porn site but really? Don't visit Prune because of scam ads?

Snap, common ground.

[Ascend Charlie]

Have none of you heard of Adblocker? Sure, some sites you visit will detect you using it and stop you from seeing their content unless you disable it.

Those sites aren't worth visiting, if that is the case. Never seen an ad on Proon, don't expect to either.

[cattletruck]

Mr Smith's face was being used in false advertising on Facebook a couple of months ago. I can't recall what they were flogging in the ad but it was obviously a bit suss and fortunately Facebook pulled the ad within a week.

I use AdBlock and don't see ads however some web sites have them embedded into their system like Facebook and they can't be blocked.

With the hosting of web sites, most small time players that want to recover some of their hosting costs wil use a third party ad provider. Often they only have limited control on what ads that third party will throw up on their site. The problem with these third party companies is that they can get brought out, run out of money, hacked, etc and you and your web site will not hear a word about it until the aftermath.

The resolution of this issue rest solely with the web site owner (is it still Internet Brands?) who should be able to put an end to it quickly. However, as I have seen a similar style of ad on Facebook I think the issue is bigger than Pprune and Mr Smith and is a foreign campaign trying to rip off Australians by using "house hold" names illegally to bait the unaware.

Unfortunately PPrune is not hosted in Australia so our feds can't do much about it.

[V-Jet]

But I bought Bitcoin because of you!!!!

Yes it sure would piss me off in the same position but you could possibly view it as stopping people betting on racing sand??

All the best with the legal approach - it shouldn’t be, but unfortunately it’s far easier being tough on crime convicting criminals for doing 62km/hr in a 60 zone than anything approaching fraud...

[Dave Gittins]

Doesn't anybody have any common sense any more ? Feel sorry for Dick having to explain that it's a scam. Isn't it bindingly obvious ? Recent UK victims of apparently advertising bit coin include Bear Grylls, Piers Morgan and Philip Schofield. I wouldn't buy a second hand car off any of them just because it was in the media

[Winemaker]

Have none of you heard of Adblocker? Sure, some sites you visit will detect you using it and stop you from seeing their content unless you disable it.

Those sites aren't worth visiting, if that is the case. Never seen an ad on Proon, don't expect to either.
Exactly. I use Adblocker and never see ads. I have exactly zero ads on this site when viewing; give it a try. Also, in your browser settings never remember history and use private browsing (Firefox).

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1920x1056/screen_shot_c4cc62b87a4884e305aae231b50acd51d178d104.jpg

[Awol57]

Have none of you heard of Adblocker? Sure, some sites you visit will detect you using it and stop you from seeing their content unless you disable it.

Those sites aren't worth visiting, if that is the case. Never seen an ad on Proon, don't expect to either.
I was thinking the same thing, I didn't even know there were ads on here??

[Bodie1]

SBS won't play with an adblocker. It's a site worth visiting.

[exfocx]

Dick, those ads have been around for at least 2-3 months.

[peterc005]

Scammers like this are usually overseas, so reporting to Scam Watch or the ACCC will have no effect.

Google are slack with filtering scam adverts, so there is not much to do about it.

Irony is that the adverts are usually paid for with stolen credit cards, so eventually Google will be the victim after being hit with a charge-back by their bank.

[Winemaker]

SBS won't play with an adblocker. It's a site worth visiting.
You can always turn the adblocker off or allow ads.

[mcoates]

I have used ad blocker for years and didn't even though there were advertisements on this site...... I have opened up adblocker and it tells me that it has blocked 15 advertisements on this page alone. I didn't even know the site ran advertising

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/410x340/untitled1_ba05b71b093dc3025eadb6b8c58f26c378074638.jpg

[Styx75]

Has some words to say about NZ banks too.... :rolleyes:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1080x901/screenshot_2020_07_15_11_46_55_363_com_android_chrome_b545b5 7e3b22bcd050bcb81fb619e2de27ecbe92.jpg

[tail wheel]

cattletruck

I can't recall what they were flogging in the ad but it was obviously a bit suss and fortunately Facebook pulled the ad within a week.

I get daily Bitcoin adverts on Facebook, many allegedly "sponsored" by Dick, Twiggy Forrest etc. Facebook has done nothing to remove Scam and Fraudulent adverts.

Unfortunately PPRuNe is not hosted in Australia so our feds can't do much about it.

Incorrect - ask Google or Facebook:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-29/google-faces-accc-federal-court-misleading-use-of-data/11649356

https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/09/australia-sues-facebook-over-cambridge-analytica-fine-could-scale-to-529bn/#:~:text=Australia's%20privacy%20watchdog%20is%20suing,a%20% 245BN%20FTC%20fine?renderMode=ie11

And Dick knows it from previous experience a decade ago.

[Dick Smith]

This is an interesting ABC article which explains the issue.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-10/warning-over-bitcoin-scam-using-celebrities-to-promote-product/12441920

[Bodie1]

You can always turn the adblocker off or allow ad

That's not the point I was making knackers, read through the thread.

[cattletruck]

Thanks Tailey, as Styx75's post has prompted my brain cell, the Facebook fake ads I saw were a packaged as some lefty slag against the banks. I haven't seen them for a while on Facebook.

Google and Facebook have bricks and mortar offices in Australia, not sure if Pprune does. Another case against these social media giants is that they have gained both financial benefit and value add to their services by displaying news articles from other outlets without paying for it. After a stink was kicked up by the Australian media groups they initialially agreed to pay the journalists a lousy stipend of a few million dollars to share out, but the journalists hit back saying the value add generated, which is reflected in their mega profits, was actually worth many more tens of millions of dollars. Hope the journalists win this one.

[Styx75]

And another... While reading this thread...

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1000x2000/screenshot_2020_07_15_22_07_30_636_com_android_chrome_1a1ddb 1477d7d994df0ad013aebcad62356b9640.jpg

[MarcK]

Dick is not alone:Twitter (TWTR (https://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=TWTR&source=story_quote_link)) accounts belonging to Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Apple, among other prominent handles, were compromised on Wednesday and posted tweets that appeared to promote a cryptocurrency scam.
The accounts, along with those of former President Barack Obama, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian West, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and Mike Bloomberg, posted similar tweets soliciting donations via Bitcoin to their verified profiles on Wednesday.

[jolihokistix]

Top news on the BBC.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53425822

[Dave Gittins]

What staggers me is how many of the gullible actually sent money ...amounting to over 100,000 bucks.

What happened to "if it sounds too good to true it most likely isn't" ?????

:ugh:

[kingRB]

What staggers me is how many of the gullible actually sent money ...amounting to over 100,000 bucks.

What happened to "if it sounds too good to true it most likely isn't" ?????

:ugh:

it's identical to any stranger saying "send me $1000 cash and i'll send you back $2000 cash". I'm not sure why anyone would think it's different just because it's Bitcoin.

[JustinHeywood]

What staggers me is how many of the gullible actually sent money ...amounting to over 100,000 bucks.

What happened to "if it sounds too good to true it most likely isn't" ?????

:ugh:
That’s the thing that makes these scum bags the lowest of the low.

With these unsophisticated, obvious scams, they aren’t targeting normal, reasonably sceptical people; they want the oldies, the ESL, or people who are not too clever. Soft, easy targets for them but usually people who can least afford it. They are shameless.

[Cornish Jack]

This bitcoin rubbish has been going on for years. It is a scam just like any unsolicited offers to make money for you. There is a common denominator, whether it's bitcoin or pension investments or timeshare or any of the similar 'entrepreneurial ventures' which infest the 'honest and truthful etc.' world of advertising, - an appeal to ...greed. The 'something for nothing' appeal of all such schemes. And the greedy fall for it every time and then complain that they were duped!! There is no such thing as a free lunch!! and a recognition of the role of, and more frequent allocation of greed as the driving force might act as a 'wake-up' call!

[Kelly Slater]

Whenever I see Dick Smiths face come up on an internet add, I report it. Unfortunately Google only give you the following choices for the reporting;
"Not interested in this ad'
"Seen this ad multiple times"
"Ad was inappropriate"
"Ad covered content"
Because of me and others reporting these ads, the face of Dick Smith is now probably considered inappropriate by some computer bot.
There is no choice labeling the ad as false or a lie or misleading with the intent to steal money by falsely associating the product with a respected and well known businessman.
There have now been quite a few successful cases brought against internet companies for allowing these scams to go unchecked, perhaps it is Dicks turn to challenge them.