An account on X called @Gwynneshotwell7 claiming to be Gwynne Shotwell followed me the other day. Out of curiosity, I followed it back. It then initiated a DM conversation with it as following:
Scammer: Hello this is Gwynne Shotwell president of SpaceX Yesterday, 6:10 PM
Me: It obviously is not. Yesterday, 9:24 PM
Scammer: Yeah it true this is my private account and SpaceX is giving new opportunities to everyoneSpaceX. Is giving investment opportunities Potential benefits include substantial monthly revenue, potentially reaching $50,000 per week or more, depending on your investment and agreement. You would also have opportunities to participate in government contracts and partnerships, and contribute to decision-making in pioneering U.S. technology. Furthermore, there’s the exciting prospect of lunar and Martian travel, offering the chance to be among the first to explore new frontiers developed by SpaceX. 4:14 AM
Me: I know Gwynne. You are not Gwynne. 8:49 AM
Scammer: Yeah of course this is me and this is my private account Have we meant before? 10:35 AM
Me: Gwynne is grammatical and knows how to spell.10:52 AM
Scammer: It was likely a typographical error, as previously stated. This is the best chance to build generational wealth; it’s an opportunity you might never see again. Throughout my career as a financial engineer and investor, I can confidently say that this represents the most significant investment return I have ever seen. And of course this is Gwynne Shotwell 11:15 AM
Me: Of course you’re a scam artist. Your account will be ended shortly.
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It doesn’t know that I emailed Gwynne this morning about it. I think she knows someone who can do something about this…
Yeah, I had a scammer trying to convince me he was Elon Musk…very convincing, until he started talking about a crypto opportunity!
Me wondering if bot or human.
FYI Rand:
https://fermatslibrary.com/s/accelerating-astrophysics-with-the-spacex-starship#email-newsletter
You and the board might find that interesting.
Iover the years I’ve been followed by numerous variations of “@elonmusk12345” accounts on X, I immediately report them as an impersonation scam and then block them. Pulling the string a bit might be fun though….
Elon Musk, his brother, his mom, so many random people who work at spacex and tesla, and more. I just remove follower. They aren’t fooling anyone and the system will scoop them up eventually.
On the other hand, it might be cool for Elon to name the first flights to Mars “Shotwell 7” in honor of her and the original Mercury missions.
I prefer the name of the first mission: “Shotwell and Softly Landed”. Elon has expressed similar sentiments…
“I hope to die on Mars, hopefully not on impact.”
– Elon Musk
It is a little surprising that they didn’t use ai to write their script. They have access to Grok.
Mrs Shotwell is surely well aware that this happens a million times a day.
I’ve gotten similar “communications” from entities posing as Gwynne, multiple attempts at similar under his brother’s name, his sister’s (! that was new). Most of the the multiple Elons are “subscribers” to my X account. There are times when someone posing as a young woman tries to tell me she likes me so much in the chat section of an app… they usually just created the account. If I feel like it I amuse myself with how long they take to get to the standard bitcoin script. (Very fast, and not creative any more)
My favorite is when I get email from myself! Also I get email from the “administrator” of my web page, which again is me, telling me my email password is about to expire and I won’t be able to log in!
Well if you can no longer log in you should send an email to the administrator right away!
Definitely.
There are a lot of scam accounts out there, which is why it is reassuring to be followed by someone entrusted with defending Elon Musk’s reputation against frauds and scammers by the Elon Musk himself.