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QAnon cryptocurrency scam defrauds victims of millions

Senior Journalist

Updated on: 21 June 2022

QAnon-affiliated Telegram channels were reportedly used to swindle followers out of millions of dollars via cryptocurrency scams.

QAnon influencers WhipLash347 and PatriotQakes coaxed some of their thousands of followers into investing in fraudulent cryptocurrency tokens, an investigation by a fact-checking firm Logically revealed.

Insisting they knew which assets would succeed by claiming access to secret military intelligence, they capitalized on distrust in mainstream institutions among the adherents of the conspiracist theory, the report said.

According to Logically, WhipLash347, an anonymous personality, has built a subscriber base of 277,000 Telegram users over the years, while PatriotQakes – whose real name is Emily Tang and who runs a Quantum Stellar Initiative (QSI) channel – has 30,000.

The report said that one of the scam victims died of suicide after being defrauded of more than $100,000.

QAnon is a big tent conspiracy theory with roots in the American far-right. It centers on baseless claims that a global cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles conspired against former US President Donald Trump while he was in office.