How I Got $19,322.4443 Worth of Bitcoin and Why I’ll Never See a Dime of It
Unless I do this one thing.
By now, you must have at least seen an ape JPEG on your Twitter feed, and you must have noticed a lot of Twitter PFP (profile pictures) not of themselves but pixel art of apes, cats, and cyberpunk.
A badge of honor for them, their proof of ownership, and because it is worth a fortune to own one today, it makes their Twitter profile stand out.
And if you don’t own one like myself, you missed the boat in investing in what they call NFT art. So I’m trying to catch up by selling my own AI art collection, bored apes, anyone?
All of this new money comes as derivatives of what we all call cryptocurrency and blockchain. And I’m not about to explain what they are as I’m not an expert and this story isn’t to be taken as a piece of financial advice in any way.
Many have become instant millionaires from investing their savings to buy meme coins, digital coins that started from a meme. A meme is anything that we find to be funny and becomes viral on the Internet.
And all it takes is one tweet from Elon Musk, and its price would skyrocket, like what happened to the dogecoin.
And this story is about what happens next when one becomes vulnerable after immersing himself in the cryptocurrency world.
I have always been in love with tech and had come across bitcoin when it started to make its way on the Internet. But, like many, I didn’t see past my initial judgment that it was all a scam.
Today, while trying to understand more about NFT collecting, I now see the value of blockchain in IRL (in real life).
And how it can create value and veer away from the speculative nature of cryptocurrency. To know more about this community, I need to be where they are, and that is how I ended up joining Discord.
What is Discord?
Discord is the easiest way to talk over voice, video, and text. Talk, chat, hang out, and stay close with your friends and communities. It started with gamers, but now has become a de facto home for anything NFT, and like any other platform it will always have bad actors.
I joined Discord servers of NFT communities, but since I still don’t know how to navigate the many features on Discord, I decided I would be a lurker, be quiet and try to get as much information.
Until one day, someone added me as a “friend” and left me a message about the Black Friday giveaway of a crypto exchange company.
Cоngrаtulations!
You are the winner of our epic BLACK FRIDAY Raffle!
Top giveаwаy of the 2021 from 0.001 tо 0.1 bitcоin , 5 super prizes from 0.25 to 0.35 and 2 megа prizes frоm 0.5 tо 1 Bitcоin.
To help people in this difficult time, ********.com and our partners decided to hold a mass action and distribute cryptocurrency to random users of some Discord servers.
Black Friday has come, it’s time to take care of yourself and your loved ones, we help people feel the smell of the approaching holidays and give prizes for the lucky ones!
If yоu rесeived this mеssаgе
Yоu аre onе of the winners in our GIVEАWAY
Yоu wоn: 0.001–0.5 BTC
Yоur рromo соde: ********
How уou cаn cоllесt уour winnings?
1.Rеgistеr аn аccount оn the exсhangеr http://xxxxxx.com/
2.Go tо Settings
3.Entеr yоur cоdе in «Promo code» sеction
4.Activate уour address BTC
5.Withdrаw BТC tо уour address
6.Donе!
Giveаwaу rules:
Do not givе thе рromо code tо anоther реrsоn⛔️
You havе any questiоns аbout your winnings, уou cаn usе the onlinе сhаt with suppоrt оn thе mаin pаgе of the site. To do this, click the “Supрort” buttоn and writе tо us in the сhаt.
Next Giveаwaу will be even bigger, but only for those who actively trade and exchange cryptocurrencies on the best trading platform xxxxxx.com
Best regаrds xxxxxxx Tеam ©
I knew it was too good to be true, but like many, when we are vulnerable, we can quickly come up with a thousand reasons why we can at least try it and see what happens. And besides, a free bitcoin wouldn’t hurt, I told myself as I followed the instructions to the letter.
And behold, I thought I would probably get the least of the prizes, and yet when I looked at my digital wallet, it said my wallet balance was 0.33030 BTC which at that time was worth $19,322.4443. Woohoo!
Show me the money?
It could be my lucky day.
Almost $20,000 for doing nothing but in believing, because that is what cryptocurrency is all about, believing in it,
as only those who believe will inherit the earth or the crypto earth.
I can almost feel the warm sensation of what is happening to my body. That money will be more than enough to tide me over for months to come. Talking to myself, now I need not worry about where to get my next meal, or I could take a very long break from writing.
Besides, lately, I don’t get read as much, and my earnings are down no matter how much I try.
Maybe this is where everything is leading me to, the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency where anything is possible.
I didn’t want to share the good news yet with any of my family or friends. I want to surprise them. So, after the initial feeling of euphoria subsided, I researched how to convert the bitcoin into real cash.
And because I know a little already about bitcoin, that all it will take is to transfer the bitcoin into a digital wallet that I can use on a website that converts digital currency into cash, I was a few steps away from getting my lucky prize, my happy money,
my $19,322.4443.
Reality bites.
What I thought was a simple transfer turned out to be the one thing that brought me back to reality.
Before I can make a transfer, I need to have my account verified. And for that to happen, I need to deposit bitcoin into my account.
Remember years ago, or every year we hear of the same story, just a variation of it, the email scam, where someone will email you that you will own a fortune because you are trustworthy, and the only way for you to take ownership of that fortune is to give that person who sent you the email, some money?
And while you would think, only the stupid will fall for that scam, and yet many people did.
Not because they are stupid, but because when you are vulnerable, your judgment can be clouded by many reasons, including the thought of money being the key to changing your life.
To be honest, I’m in that position, and if I had the money or the bitcoin needed to verify my account, I probably would have gotten myself in a lot of trouble.
I only needed to deposit 0.01 BTC or less than $600, but I don’t have that kind of money right now.
It was like being thrown a bucket of ice-cold water, knowing that I “have” close to $20,000 in the digital world, and I can’t spend a dime of it.
Final thoughts.
From this experience, I hope others will learn from it because the best way to learn is by not repeating the same mistakes of other people.
I didn’t lose money, but I’m still embarrassed even to share this with the world.
A lot of it is self-introspection of why I even bothered to do it. Was it because I was craving money?
Money doesn t fall from trees.
Easy money, easy goes.
And while I’m still looking at the possibility of being involved in the NFT marketspace as an artist, I learned a lot from this experience that because the space is still relatively new, many bad actors will try to scam people with their hard-earned money.
The best way not to fall victim is to remind yourself, constantly:
if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
If you happen to like this story, you can have more of these stories by subscribing here.
I earn a few dollars as an affiliate, which will help me continue to write stories for many years to come.
