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Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Is Suing YouTube Over Bitcoin Scams

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is suing Google’s YouTube for allowing scammers to use him in a bitcoin scam. The scam used the name and likeness of the American engineer to obtain millions of dollars from people around the world.

 

Wozniak made his frustration and anger known in a video conference held to explain why he is suing the tech giant. The suit filed in a California state court also represents 17 alleged victims of the bitcoin scam. 10 of which live outside the US.

 

The scam videos advertised “5,000-BTC” and “10,000-BTC” giveaways from the Apple co-founder, including images of Wozniak. The videos spread on YouTube encouraging viewers to send their bitcoins to an anonymous digital address, with the promise of doubling the amount they send.

 

The 47-page complaint alleges that other tech founders and CEOs were also used in perpetuating the scam. It contained screenshots that the videos also used Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk in tricking people out of their bitcoin.

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“The allegations paint a picture of an algorithm-driven tech giant that does not respond to victims and that YouTube has allowed scammers to use me, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and others to defraud innocent people out of their cryptocurrency,” Wozniak said in a statement.

 

Wozniak says he has been trying to get Google to take down the scams since May 2020 with no success.

 

“It’s like Whack-A-Mole. You can never reach a human who would easily understand the situation and get it rectified by some method. Anybody would look at that and say it’s a crime. We never got to a human. Maybe I could pull some strings, but I don’t believe in pulling strings,” Wozniak said.

 

YouTube says it takes abuse seriously. The company claims to have removed 2.2 million videos and terminated 1.7 million accounts in the first three months of 2020 for violating its policies against deceptive practices. However, YouTube did not comment on the suit from Wozniak.

 

“We take abuse of our platform seriously, and take action quickly when we detect violations of our policies,” the company said in a statement.

 

The situation is similar to the bitcoin scam that happened on the microblogging site, Twitter. Accounts of high profile users like Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and others were compromised and tweeting bogus giveaways to defraud unsuspecting users. The fraudsters made away with over $100,000 from their victims.

 

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