Sunrise host David Koch furious at a Bitcoin crypto scam claiming his endorsement

By William On Nov 7, 2022

Sunrise host David Koch has lashed out at online fraudsters who used his image and fake quotes of him to steal $30,000 from a viewer and demanded they be stopped.

Koch said he was approached by the victim who was fooled by an online ad with a false endorsement for an untrustworthy crypto investment platform.

“I had a guy contact me on Facebook over the weekend who abused me for losing $30,000 on a scam that used my photo and dodgy comments of mine,” he said.

Sunrise host David Koch (pictured left) has revealed that a viewer has been caught by scammers using his image and fake quotes

Koch said online scammers often used him as bait because of his public profile and asked his guest, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, what the government was going to do about it.

“Scammers have been using my photo and dodgy quotes of me for years to defraud people,” he said Monday morning.

“They show up on Facebook, they show up on LinkedIn, they show up on that Taboola feed on major mainstream websites and I can’t help it.”

Koch demanded that Mr. Jones explain what could be done about this.

“Here at Channel Seven, we’ll be sued by you and the ACCC if we run an untrustworthy ad,” he said.

Why can’t Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn take the same responsibility as mainstream media groups?

“It’s just heartbreaking for our viewers who get sucked into this sort of thing.”

Koch says scammers have been using his image for years and making up quotes from him

Mr Jones admitted that the government was unable to act because the laws were lagging behind the technology.

“We are adamant that the law needs to change,” said Mr Jones.

“We have to drag it into the 21st century. Social media platforms should be responsible for the material they publish.

“If they’re told you have untrustworthy stuff online and or illegal stuff online, enabling criminals and they don’t take it, there will be fines and penalties.

“We also want to work with the banks and make sure the wallet is locked at the end of the scam as well.”

Mr Jones said there was a… specialized scam detection unit created within the corporate watchdog the ACCC.

“As soon as we detect something in motion, shut it down as soon as possible and go to the social media platforms as you suggested, and make sure they have a legal obligation to shut these things down at the source,” Mr Jones said. .

“That sounds like music to my ears, because not only are people losing thousands of dollars, it also hurts my reputation,” Koch replied.

“I’ve seen a photo online with things I’ve never said about Bitcoin or anything, and people are losing money because they think it’s me.”

Koch revealed that a viewer contacted him via Facebook to say they had lost $30,000 to a scam featuring his image and fake quotes

Scammers impersonate family members and send text messages pretending to have lost their previous phone

Mr Jones continued: ‘Sports stars, TV stars, personalities are all having their identities used by these criminals, let’s call them what they are, because they are economic names that Australians rob.

“We want to tackle it at the source.”

Mr Jones said it was not just the popular online platforms that had to do their best to fight the “criminals and bastards” but also telecommunications companies because “a lot of it is done via email and SMS”.

The scam still continues with a link to a website called ‘Flippercash’ emailed to unsuspecting Australians on Sunday.

The link led to a page that was mocked to look like an ABC News article reporting on a fake The Morning Show segment fueling the crypto scam.

The headline read, “David James Koch’s latest investment has terrified awe and big bank experts.”

“Australian television host David James Koch has made a name for himself as a brash, candid talker who doesn’t mind being honest about how he makes his living,” it began.

The latest Koch scam took a random appearance from the Sunrise host on The Morning Show and photoshopped the title to look like he was talking about the fake product

A simulated depiction of Koch’s alleged earnings from the fake QuantumAI crypto trading app, which the scam claims uses AI to trade for you

The scam alleged that Koch declared a “wealth loophole” that would “turn anyone into a millionaire in 3-4 months” and that viewers had to get involved “before the big banks shut it down for good.”

“Yeah sure enough, minutes after the interview was over, the National Australia Bank called to prevent Koch’s interview from being broadcast – it was already too late,” it claimed.

The scam crypto investment platform is called QuantumAI and according to the fake article, Koch pulled out his phone to show Morning Show hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies how much money it made him.

The too good to be true scam claims that QuantumAI “uses artificial intelligence to automatically handle long and short selling for you so you can make money around the clock even while you sleep”.

Australians are predicted to lose $4 billion to scammers this year, double the total from last year.

One of the biggest scams is phishing, where a scammer tries to scam someone into revealing their identity and other personal information, including banking information.

Ten tips to stay safe online

Shara Evans is a technology futurist and online security expert. Here are her tips for protecting against hackers

1. Provide basic IT security on devices including antivirus, malware checkers, ransomware checkers, VPN, firewalls.

2. Use different passwords for each website and app. Make them long and complex – uppercase plus lowercase letters, numbers, special characters. Store your passwords in an encrypted password vault.

3. Use two-factor authentication whenever possible (ie: logging into a secure banking portal requires you to provide an authentication code sent to you via SMS or email or requires a SecureID token number)

4. Use multiple email addresses. If you own a domain, it’s easy to set up an email alias (“forwarder”) that names a specific site or type of activity. If compromised, you can disable an email alias address without affecting everything you do. And it will help you identify the source of the leak.

5. Check your credit reports for signs of fraudulent activity – or misinformation.

6. Sign up for a credit/ID protection plan and enter a credit report ban if you have reason to suspect that your ID has been compromised.

7. NEVER click on text or email hyperlinks that you are not absolutely sure are legitimate. Many people get into trouble this way. You can check a compressed link by copying it and entering it in the search bar to see what is displayed. If it is malware, you may see a notification. At the very least check if the source domain looks suspicious, in that case don’t click on it!

8. When uploading sensitive information to a website portal, check for the lock icon (https) – this means that your data is encrypted ‘in transit’ when uploaded to the website. The cybersecurity practices of companies vary widely.

9. If someone calls you saying they are from company X, NEVER give them any information unless you know them and are already expecting a call from a specific phone number or person.

10. NEVER publish your date of birth online! If you have it on social media, REMOVE it now. Unless you’re making an official financial transaction, there are very few good reasons for any party to know your real date of birth, let alone record it.

Australians are also increasingly falling victim to fake text messages and phone calls, according to comparison website Finder.

Finder money expert Sarah Megginson said Australians have been inundated with fraudulent text messages and phone calls in recent years and should ignore contact with unknown numbers.

“Let the caller go to voicemail. If they leave a number, you can check online to see if it matches a real company,” she said Monday.

Never reply to or click links in text messages. These can link to viruses and other nasties, or fake sites that want to steal your personal information.’

A giveaway is if the text message has bad spelling or grammar.

“Be especially careful if you receive a message in WhatsApp or on Facebook that claims to be from a family member who has lost their phone and now needs help,” Megginson said.

“This is the so-called ‘mother scam’ and is responsible for $2.6 million in losses in the first seven months of the year.”