Steve Wozniak suing YouTube over Bitcoin scams

Apple founder Steve Wozniak is hitting back at YouTube for allowing scammers to use his likeness to promote fake bitcoin giveaway scams.

Cryptocurrency scams are becoming increasingly common these days, with many widely-known tech figures being targeted to help promote them. In mid-July, Twitter suffered a security breach that allowed a malicious actor the ability to tweet from verified accounts, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and even the official Apple twitter account. The tweet suggested that users who sent bitcoin to a wallet address would be sent double the amount.

According to a lawsuit seen by Bloomberg, Wozniak, along with 17 other alleged victims, are suing YouTube over a similar scam. Scammers have been using Wozniak's likeness, through both images and video, to promote fake cryptocurrency giveaways.

The suit, filed on July 21 in San Mateo County, California, asks the court to order YouTube to immediately remove the videos and warn users about bitcoin giveaway scams. The victims are also seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

YouTube has historically relied upon the communications decency act to defend itself against similar suits. Under the communications decency act, platforms have no liability for content posted by users, assuming that there is at least some moderation efforts to combat problematic content.

8 Comments

melgross 33605 comments · 20 Years

About 4 years ago

I’ll tell you though, you have to be pretty stupid to fall for those scams. Send $100 in Bitcoin to a wallet, and they’ll send you $200 back in Bitcoin. What moron would do that? If they do, they deserve to get scammed.

Beats 3073 comments · 4 Years

melgross said:

I’ll tell you though, you have to be pretty stupid to fall for those scams. Send $100 in Bitcoin to a wallet, and they’ll send you $200 back in Bitcoin. What moron would do that? If they do, they deserve to get scammed.

Most people and the vulnerable don't know how Bitcoin works.

Some sites are tying him to Apple directly. Headlines like "Apple's Steve Wozniak suing YouTube" instead of calling him "Apple founder" etc. I think they're trying to spin this into an anti-Apple story.

darkvader 1146 comments · 15 Years

Beats said:

melgross said:

I’ll tell you though, you have to be pretty stupid to fall for those scams. Send $100 in Bitcoin to a wallet, and they’ll send you $200 back in Bitcoin. What moron would do that? If they do, they deserve to get scammed.

Most people and the vulnerable don't know how Bitcoin works.

Some sites are tying him to Apple directly. Headlines like "Apple's Steve Wozniak suing YouTube" instead of calling him "Apple founder" etc. I think they're trying to spin this into an anti-Apple story.

He's still an Apple employee.

Beats said:

melgross said:

I’ll tell you though, you have to be pretty stupid to fall for those scams. Send $100 in Bitcoin to a wallet, and they’ll send you $200 back in Bitcoin. What moron would do that? If they do, they deserve to get scammed.

Most people and the vulnerable don't know how Bitcoin works.

Some sites are tying him to Apple directly. Headlines like "Apple's Steve Wozniak suing YouTube" instead of calling him "Apple founder" etc. I think they're trying to spin this into an anti-Apple story.

Many people are just dumb. There’s no getting around that. They see $100 going in and $200 coming back, and they think it’s a great deal, and that they’ll have to do it RIGHT NOW before the deal ends. They may even think those giving the deal are stupid. You don't have to know how anything works, just that people aren’t going to give you twice what you gave them for no reason at all. It doesn’t matter what name they attach to it. People should be suspicious.

jdb8167 626 comments · 16 Years

melgross said:

Beats said:

melgross said:

I’ll tell you though, you have to be pretty stupid to fall for those scams. Send $100 in Bitcoin to a wallet, and they’ll send you $200 back in Bitcoin. What moron would do that? If they do, they deserve to get scammed.

Most people and the vulnerable don't know how Bitcoin works.

Some sites are tying him to Apple directly. Headlines like "Apple's Steve Wozniak suing YouTube" instead of calling him "Apple founder" etc. I think they're trying to spin this into an anti-Apple story.

Many people are just dumb. There’s no getting around that. They see $100 going in and $200 coming back, and they think it’s a great deal, and that they’ll have to do it RIGHT NOW before the deal ends. They may even think those giving the deal are stupid. You don't have to know how anything works, just that people aren’t going to give you twice what you gave them for no reason at all. It doesn’t matter what name they attach to it. People should be suspicious.

Except people know that Woz has been ridiculously generous in the past. The scammers are playing on that. Sure, it is still a dumb thing to believe but a lot more believable with Woz rather than Bezos or Gates.