David ‘Kochie’ Koch said it is ‘heartbreaking’ that people are being scammed out of thousands of dollars from a cryptocurrency scam that claimed he was dead.
The Sunrise host, 67, announced that he is ‘alive and well’ after he was bombarded with ‘tributes’ over the weekend when a Twitter post announcing his death went viral.
‘I am alive and well and having a break in beautiful Palm Cove at the moment, [the tweet] is certainly far from the truth,’ the financial journalist told Bed Fordham on 2GB on Tuesday.
Originating from a hacked account, the tweet included a link redirecting users to a cryptocurrency scam featuring fraudulent celebrity endorsements purporting to be from the likes of Koch, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates and others.
‘Although saying goodbye is never easy, we take comfort in knowing that Kochie lived a full and meaningful life, leaving behind a legacy of kindness, warmth and compassion,’ the scam tweet read.
The Channel Seven presenter was bombarded with ‘tributes’ over the weekend when a Twitter post announcing his death went viral
The message was accompanied by a black and white photo of Koch looking distraught with his hands over his face.
The TV presenter said the cruel death hoax is ‘bloody annoying’ and that he has been dealing with scammers using his picture with fake quotes for years.
‘I’ve been to the authorities, I’ve talked to the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission), and they’ve told me the only reason these scams keep going is because people are falling for it and losing money, otherwise they wouldn’t use me,’ he continued on 2GB.
‘My issue is that I get emails from people caught in this thinking they are real and blaming me for it, so what do I do to protect myself from this let alone the Australians losing their hard earned cash?’
The TV host said a year ago, a pensioner contacted him after falling victims to one of these scams that used his name and photo, and he lost $10,000.
The TV host said a year ago a pensioner contacted him after falling victims to one of these scams that used his name and photo, and he lost $10,000
‘This is real people, real money, and it’s heart breaking,’ he said.
After being left distraught by the cruel and viral death hoax, Koch is calling on social media platforms to put a stop to these scam advertisements.
He said: ‘[In] traditional media it is our responsibility to do the due diligence to not run these scams, so what is the responsibility of these social media platforms that say they are the new media and bigger than traditional media? They should have the same responsibility.
‘I was reporting to Facebook about every week with different scams and they would say “yes, we have blocked that server” but then they would pop up everywhere else.’
Last Friday, Koch retweeted the viral tweet that claimed he was dead, and assured his followers that this was not the case.
Sunrise host David ‘Kochie’ Koch has been targeted by a cruel death hoax with criminals using his image and fake news of his passing to scam people out of thousands of dollars
‘Just for clarity, I’m alive and well and enjoying AFL’s Gather Round in Adelaide with all my family. This stuff is really giving me the s**ts,’ he wrote.
The owner of the Twitter account, Kimberly Ramirez, told Crikey she ‘had no idea’ her hacked account was spreading a crypto scam under the guise of a tribute to Koch.
‘I had no idea this was happening. I had deleted the app off my phone for a while and forgot about it,’ the New York-based advertising worker said.
She went on to say she had received an email from Twitter alerting her to a login attempt on her account. The email stated the hacker could have accessed her account from Lake Forest, Illinois.
After they successfully hacked into her account, they changed the password and began spamming her profile with links to the cryptocurrency scam.
‘This a**hole left me a debt of over $1,000 on ads,’ Ms Ramirez said.
Originating from a hacked account, the tweet included a link redirecting users to a crypto scam featuring fraudulent celebrity endorsements purporting to be from the likes of Koch
Koch’s death hoax was viewed 140,000 times and more than 6,000 Twitter users clicked on the advertisement, which led them to a website pushing Immediate Edge.
The ‘get-rich-quick’ scam boasts fake endorsements from celebrities such as Jeremy Clarkson, Piers Morgan and Justin Trudeau.
People who have fallen victim to the scam claim they signed up to the service expecting ‘great returns’ from cryptocurrency investments but were locked out of their accounts after depositing hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Koch retweeted the post and assured his followers that despite taking a week off work, he was ‘alive and well’
‘Just for clarity, I’m alive and well and enjoying AFL’s Gather Round in Adelaide with all my family. This stuff is really giving me the s**ts,’ said Koch (pictured at an AFL game in June 2018)
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