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Faux Web3 Company's Rug Pull Scam Exposes Oversight in Bloomberg's Advertising

BlockGPT Deceives Investors, Raising Concerns About Exploitation in the AI Revolution

Mon, 05 Jun 2023, 02:53 am UTC

The AI revolution, spearheaded by OpenAI's impressive language model, ChatGPT, has sparked a global wave of excitement and activity. However, this growing enthusiasm has also attracted unscrupulous actors seeking to exploit unsuspecting users through deceptive advertising and scams. The latest incident involves BlockGPT, a fraudulent Web3 company that executed a 'rug pull' scam, resulting in the loss of $256,000 raised in a pre-sale.

Bloomberg finds itself under scrutiny for what appears to be a negligent oversight after inadvertently hosting a paid press release for this fraudulent scheme without clear indications that it was a paid announcement. Blockchain security specialist CertiK has verified that BlockGPT is a fake program, a confirmation supported by PeckShield, which revealed that over 800 BNB from the pre-sale agreement had been transferred to Tornado Cash.

Earlier this month, BlockGPT issued a press release outlining its plan to develop a blockchain-based AI system similar to ChatGPT. Unfortunately, this press release, originally distributed via Globenewswire, was automatically scraped and published on Bloomberg.

It is essential to highlight that the Bloomberg article provided minimal clues to help readers distinguish it as a paid press release rather than a news story. There were no clear disclaimers or any marking indicating that it was "Paid" content.

In addition, BlockGPT introduced two tokens associated with its purported project. The first, BGPT, served as the governance token for BlockGPT, rewarding those who contributed valuable questions and data. The second token, AIBGPT, was designed for community-oriented governance and created by BlockGPT's AI using the Solidity contract, launched on the Binance Smart Chain network.

OpenAI's ChatGPT has ignited investor fascination with generative AI technology. As this chatbot becomes one of the fastest-growing consumer applications in history, it also attracts opportunists eager to exploit its success. These individuals employ similar language and domain names, causing confusion and misleading users.

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