In crypto, the most dangerous scams don’t always hide in code. They hide in trust. Swedish entrepreneur Erik Bergman, Founder of Great.com, learned this lesson in the most brutal way possible.
In a gripping thread on X, he revealed how fraudsters manipulated him into giving away $1.25 million. This was not done through a hack, but via a carefully staged play on human trust, featuring the biggest names in online culture.
The Trap: Belonging Before Betrayal
The story begins with a call that seemed impossible to refuse. Bergman was approached for a virtual meeting on a water project, featuring none other than YouTube stars MrBeast and Mark Rober. The project was to build wells in Africa and aid people in getting access to clean water.
Both YouTubers have built reputations on philanthropy and bold charitable campaigns. So for Bergman, who has committed much of his own wealth to social impact causes, the meeting felt like a natural fit.
“It started with MrBeast and Mark Rober on a call about water,” Bergman wrote. The presence of these names disarmed him immediately. He was convinced he was stepping into a legitimate circle of philanthropists.
But the call was only the first step in an elaborate social engineering scheme. Soon after, Bergman was added to what looked like an exclusive donor group on WhatsApp. Inside this digital circle, he saw names like Adin Ross, Eddie (the Co-Founder of Stake), Shopify’s Tobi Lütke, and even a Norwegian billionaire. The design was intentional: to make him feel like part of a rarefied community of wealthy do-gooders.
From there, the trust gap only widened. A “Coinbase representative” appeared in the group, offering members early access to a new token. The opportunity was presented as insider access to a major exchange rollout, exactly the kind of exclusive deal one might expect among big-ticket philanthropists.
Bergman, already softened by the names around him, didn’t really question the offer and transferred nearly $1 million.
The money was gone in minutes.
A Scam Built on Belonging
What happened to Bergman is a clear case of social engineering in crypto. This was not a hack of codes or systems. It was a hack of trust. The scammers built an environment where he believed he was among people like him. Once that sense of belonging was created, his skepticism faded. That is when the fraudsters struck.
Bergman himself admitted this vulnerability. He said he had always thought of himself as “too smart” to fall for a scam. But intelligence wasn’t the deciding factor. The fraudsters weren’t testing his knowledge of blockchains; they were testing his capacity for trust.
“I was vulnerable because I wanted to be part of the group,” he confessed in his thread.
This is the uncomfortable truth of such scams: they don’t work because people are uninformed. They work because people are human.
The First Transaction
At first, the buy-in looked small compared to what was promised. Bergman sent $500,000 in crypto to what he believed was an official wallet. The chat, filled with supposed billionaires and creators, lit up with excitement.
Even when one “billionaire” appeared to be rejected for being late, Bergman felt reassured. If they could reject someone of that stature, surely the process was genuine.
The following day, the scammers raised the stakes. The price of the coin had doubled, and the maximum buy-in was now $750,000. Eager not to be left out, Bergman wired the amount without hesitation. That brought his total loss to $1.25 million in just 48 hours.
Raising the Stakes
By the third day, the pitch escalated again. The price had climbed to $0.45 per coin, and Bergman got prepared to invest once more. But this time, something made him pause. Looking closer, he spotted inconsistencies: a supposed American influencer using a UK number, details that did not add up. When he finally called the real MrBeast, also known as Jimmy, the truth hit him with devastating clarity.
Everything was fake. The WhatsApp group, the banter, the plans of a trip to Africa, even the Coinbase tie-up. In all, Bergman had lost $1.25 million across three staged investment rounds and had narrowly avoided sending even more.
Not the First, Not the Last
Bergman’s ordeal may sound extraordinary, but social engineering has quietly siphoned billions from the crypto economy. It is one of many striking cases that show just how devastating and varied these attacks can be.
In 2022, the Ronin Network, which powers the play-to-earn game Axie Infinity, suffered one of the largest breaches in crypto history. Hackers didn’t storm its systems; instead, they tricked employees into downloading a fake PDF job offer, which gave attackers control of the network. The result? More than $600 million was stolen, and the exploit wasn’t discovered for nearly a week!
In 2024, DMM Bitcoin, a Japanese exchange, lost over $300 million in what investigators say was most likely a social engineering attack. Though details remain under wraps, early findings suggest attackers infiltrated through stolen operator credentials rather than direct technical flaws.
Both cases underline what Bergman’s story makes painfully clear: the weakest link in crypto is rarely the blockchain itself. It’s the person holding the keys.
Erik’s Brother Steps In
The aftermath of Bergman’s revelation carried a layer of humanity. His brother, who works alongside him, stepped in with a sober response to the flood of sympathy and criticism the X posts received.
“My brother is brave for sharing this,” he wrote. But he also cautioned followers not to romanticize the story. Scammers hadn’t just stolen money; they had shaken Bergman’s sense of judgment, self-image, and trust in himself.
That distinction mattered. Losing money is devastating, but in Bergman’s case, it wasn’t the millions alone that cut deepest. It was the humiliation of realizing he had been fooled despite thinking he was immune.
A Warning Wrapped in a Confession
By making his experience public, Bergman did more than tell a personal story. He issued a warning to the wider crypto community, especially those who assume they are too sophisticated to fall victim. The most sophisticated scams are tailored to exactly that confidence.
The choice of MrBeast and Mark Rober was deliberate. The scammers understood which names carried Bergman’s trust. By invoking figures known for generosity and credibility, they created an aura of legitimacy.
The scheme was carefully constructed: a supposed Coinbase representative, the promise of an insider token, and a network of alleged philanthropists. None of it existed. Every element was crafted to exploit his trust rather than breach technology.
Bergman’s experience is also a cautionary tale for influencers, creators, and institutions whose reputations hold influence online. When scammers misuse those identities, the harm extends far beyond financial loss. It weakens public confidence in communities that are built on trust.
Social Engineering: A Growing Threat
Social engineering is not a new tactic, but in the world of crypto it is becoming more widespread. Chainalysis estimates that scammers stole more than $1.7 billion in 2023, with a large part of that linked to social engineering.
Its real danger is in how flexible it is. Criminals do not need to attack the blockchain itself when they can attack something more fragile: human trust.
Experts have warned that as crypto adoption widens, these scams will only evolve. From fake customer support chats to fraudulent airdrops, from compromised Discord servers to deepfake calls, the toolbox is growing. Bergman’s story may look unusual, but the mechanics, impersonation, trust, and exclusivity are already common across the industry.
Lessons in Trust
For Bergman, the $1.25 million loss is now public record. He chose transparency, despite the personal cost of embarrassment, in hopes others might avoid the same fate. His candor has turned his misfortune into a cautionary tale, one that should echo far beyond crypto circles.
The broader lesson? In a world obsessed with decentralization and code, trust remains the most fragile currency of all. And when it breaks, the damage spreads further than any ledger can show.
As Bergman himself admitted, “I thought I was too smart to be scammed.” His story proves no one is.
Also Read: Crypto Investor Loses 783 Bitcoin ($91M) to Social Engineering Scam
