A Fraudster is Impersonating “Wolf Richter” via Email to Rip People Off: If You Get that Email, Do NOT Reply to it. It’s a Scam

I’ve Arrived. My name is finally big enough in finance to be used by a fraudster. But the brain-dead garbage in the email is funny and obviously fake to those who’ve been reading my stuff.

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.

Two readers have forwarded me emails that were “From: Wolf Richter,” with the subject line, “Thanks for your Support.” The email address was close to the email address published under the “Contact us” tab and elsewhere on my site, which any bot can scoop up. But two letters were missing.

That’s the fraudster’s email: howlwolfstreet@gmail.com

And this is one version of what the fraudster wrote; the second version was slightly different:

Super thankful to you all for the supportive comments, for hitting the LIKE button and for always engaging my channel.

I would also like to share with you a completely free exceptional investing resource that I have found to be very helpful and powerful when investing in cryptocurrency. You get to make up to 1% daily for HODLing your coins. There’s also provision for trading Gold with Bitcoins.

If you are interested in Cryptocurrency Investments and want to know more, you can simply indicate by a reply. Keep studying my videos, stay informed, and carry out your personal research.

I hope you have a really great day.

All the best.

Wolf Richter.

The email may have been sent to people who have never read my stuff. And if they Google my name, they might fall for the promises in the email and reply.

But anyone who regularly reads my stuff, instantly knows that this is fake and brain-dead laughable garbage. So I’m preaching to the choir here.

Here is what to do if you get the fraudster’s:

  1. Do NOT reply or click on anything in the email.
  2. Report it to Gmail (Google) or whatever email provider you’re using as “spam” or “phishing.”
  3. Let me know in the comments below if you’ve received something like this.

It’s funny, actually, that some fraudster, or their bot, thinks that my name and brand is big enough in finance to be impersonated for fraudulent purposes.

Be careful in the world of email where fraud is a big currency. Thank you!

Enjoy reading WOLF STREET and want to support it? You can donate. I appreciate it immensely. Click on the beer and iced-tea mug to find out how:

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  80 comments for “A Fraudster is Impersonating “Wolf Richter” via Email to Rip People Off: If You Get that Email, Do NOT Reply to it. It’s a Scam

  1. YuShan says:

    Great news! :)
    You are becoming a household name now.

  2. jon says:

    Jerry Po be aware: WR has finally arrived :-)

  3. fred flintstone says:

    Why is the fed getting involved in Wolf’s column. Is he too credible? Needs to be knocked down for saying all those truthful things. Sorry….its sounds nuts but…..our government can do anything…..just look back into the 50’s to see some of the nutso things they were up to.

  4. Senator Blutarsky says:

    The Next one will see us $12 Calls on Game Stop…LOL

  5. HB Guy says:

    Sorry to see that your good name is being besmirched by another crypto fraudster, Wolf. It confirms my decision to remain in physical PMs.

    • Frederick says:

      Yeah I’m seeing these crypto fraudsters on nearly every site I visit now It’s really gotten stupidly obvious that somebody is pushing Cryptos on the sheeple I agree with you to keep your metals I’m doing the same thing

  6. Micheal Engel says:

    1) SPY daily A is Mar 4 low@ 370.67. // B is Mar 17 high @396.82. //
    C is Mar 25 low @383.90.
    Targets:
    2) C + AC = gone.
    3) C + AB = 410.05 ==> just done.
    4) B + BC = 409.74 ==> just done.
    5) B + AB = 422.97.
    6) C + 2x AB = 436.20.
    7) Option #1 : it’s over.
    8) Option #2 : there is still fuel left in the tank, after taking a rest, to fill the
    the tank and go for #1.

  7. Cobalt Programmer says:

    (In the police station)

    Lady in the window: Who are you

    Wolf…Wolf Richter

    Lady: What do you do?

    I write about the macroeconomic situation in the current world and their on impact stock market, interest rates, dollar values and discuss them with my commenters…

    Lady: Stop right there. You are a BS artist…You are telling me there is another one?

  8. kam says:

    Well, at least they’re not claiming to be Rich Wolfster.
    Most internet cheats are clumsy, but after changing my email account to Microsoft’s Outlook, I am constantly amazed to find how Bill Gate’s allows so many to mimic them.
    I constantly get Microsoft sounding names with outlook.com addresses wanting me to click on their krap, always threatening to cancel my email address if I do not.

  9. JR Hill says:

    But, but, does no one give the fraudster an ‘E’ for effort? This is typical of entrepreneurship these days. The time of working hard with a good idea is too time consuming and reaching that five year mark is tough.

    • 91B20 1stCav (AUS) says:

      JR-you made my day with this observation of our current world…

      may we all find a better day.

  10. Micheal Engel says:

    1) The cryptos are fake leeches !
    2) The IRS hate the cryptos, for stealing money from the gov.
    3) Turkey cancelled the cryptos, but the cryptos protected Istanbul from becoming Constantinople, in WWI.

    • Joel c Johnson says:

      Govt thieves hate the other thieves

    • Jack says:

      Micheal Engel

      Mate!

      I want to take issue on your number 3!

      Not that I understand what blabber you’re generally entertaining us with ??

      I know you’re fixated on cryptic lines!

      But the best drug dealers don’t usually use the crap they sell!!

      ??

      PS just finished my second Yamasaki long ??

  11. dave says:

    Report to Google…

  12. Yort says:

    Bernie Madoff died today, yet fraudster Jeremy Powell is doing a great job impersonating his mentoring Ponzi mastermind…

    • Harrold says:

      Or Bernie wants you to think he’s dead…

      • Frederick says:

        Yeah right He’s probably on a beach somewhere having a beer with Epstein and Gizz-lane

    • Mark says:

      They said Bernie Madoff operated the biggest Ponzi scheme ever ….

      Not even close ! Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen, and now Jerome Powell have run the biggest Ponzi/ counterfeiting scam in history.

      Jail time for them too ? Ah we can dream, right?

    • nodecentrepublicansleft says:

      Check the casket!! I said the same thing about Kenneth Lay.

      • Jack says:

        Mark

        Keep talking like that and you’re gonna get us all and Wolf Street banned from the the entire internet!

        Pull your head in my friend, after all you got your $1400 Cheque!

        Powell have been very generous to all of us ?

  13. Micheal Engel says:

    1) Zi, Silver Futures daily : the most important lines are the Sept 21/22 2020 Harami open/ close.
    2) As long as ZI inside, SPY didn’t collapse.

    • David Hall says:

      The Import Price Index rose 6.9% YOY and more than 1% in a month.

      One estimate is bitcoin will use 60 – 120 terawatt hours of electricity. Etherium, bitcoin and others will release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and drive up our electric bills, reducing competitive industrial use of energy.

      No sign

  14. DawnsEarlyLight says:

    Cryptos go Heck on wolfstreet.com!

  15. JWB says:

    Identity theft is the sincerest form of flattery.

  16. Xavier Caveat says:

    The Wolf: Just because you are a character doesn’t mean that you have character.

  17. Dano says:

    Obviously someone watching your YouTube channel. They have a much easier market to sucker there. Most viewers wouldn’t read the entire column. They want it read to them.

  18. nick kelly says:

    A WR puff bit for a crypto is kind of funny. At least the con should focus on a BC fan with a media presence.
    Cramer?

  19. SpencerG says:

    Thanks for the warning but I don’t think they can get my email from your website can they? Unless they are like the NSA or something?

    • Benjamin says:

      They can just send this to any old email list they have access to – your email may very well be on one of the current gigantic lists that hackers sell…

  20. Anthony A. says:

    Darn, I wish I was lucky enough to get “Wolf spam” emails. All I seem to get these days are the ones that advertise “Russian beauties” for possible marriage. I don’t have enough time (or money) left to handle a 20 year old Russian wife, and I don’t need another divorce

    • roddy6667 says:

      Those mail order Russian brides look good, but they are mostly alcoholic gold diggers. By age 30, they look like a 50 year old Siberian cabbage farmer.

      • joe2 says:

        Whatever. At least you get some eye candy. I get pitches for warrantees on my 18 year old car. Number to call for a claim is 1-800-TUF-LUCK.

      • Gomp says:

        I like cabbage

      • 91B20 1stCav (AUS) says:

        roddy-so what do 20-year old Siberian cabbage farmers look like (either gender)?

        may we all find a better day.

  21. MonkeyBusiness says:

    All hail the new Nigerian Crypto Prince.

    • budaatum says:

      I knew I’d not get to the end before someone blames “Nigerian”. Thing is, if such sloppy research and assessment is all you do when deciding to invest your money a prince likely cleaned you out already.

      Wolf never said it was me who sent the emails so unless you got evidence I did, perhaps ease up on the “Nigerian” done it please. Thank you.

  22. stan6565 says:

    Ha Wolf!

    If I get such an email, I will do what I do when people send lawyers to harass me. Send stupid comments to their ‘very serious threats’ they make and make them waste enormous amounts of time and their clients money in the process. Years back, it was assembling PCs for my staff that provided relaxation, now it’s eroding the parasites’ cash flow.

    The other day, we sued someone for our fees, to the amount of X. The dumb person went on to spend 3X on her solicitors to achieve a settlement with us of 0.75X. That’s what I call ruining the enemy with asymmetric warfare.

  23. Tony says:

    What an honor. I’m surprised you use gmail though. If you’re this popular, why not have your own domain email?

    • Wolf Richter says:

      I have, but it’s not public. The Gmail address is my public throw-away email. If it gets too spammy, I’ll replace it. You can see it right here:

      https://wolfstreet.com/contact-us/

      • rich says:

        “HODL as Strategy and Philosophy

        HODL soon became a byword for an approach to cryptocurrency investing that shuns trading based on short-term price moves. This approach mirrors GameKyuubi’s rationale: novice traders are likely to botch their attempts to time the market and lose money or make less than they would simply holding onto their coin.”

  24. c1ue says:

    To be clear, this doesn’t look like a fraudster because the callout isn’t asking for money.
    It looks more like a clumsily done pump and dump marketing operation: search for websites with X or greater site score *and* mentions bitcoin/cryptocurrency.
    What is more concerning is how they are targeting your readers. I would check to see if those readers have posted links to themselves in comments – the operative question being how did the marketeer get their contact info and know that they’re WolfStreet readers?
    I have seen a few readers with linked descriptions – that might be one way to a bot to scrape contact info.

    • Wolf Richter says:

      c1ue,

      It doesn’t look like they targeted WOLF STREET readers, as you can see here in the comments: I have 10s of thousands of readers every day. And only two readers have said they have received these emails. This may be a large email campaign that by coincidence included some of my readers, and two let me know. One of those two readers never posted a comment.

  25. Thistlebreath says:

    Coincidence: James McMurtry, singer/songwriter and son of recently deceased author Larry McMurtry (“Lonesome Dove” and a bunch of others) did a riff during his most recent Sunday online concert about imposters.

    He’s got one. His now deceased father has one. James’ tip was that his late dad’s signature was bordering on the illegible, the imposter’s is not.

    And the idea of your own domain for email is timely. You deserve it.

    • Wolf Richter says:

      I have an email with my domain, but it’s not a public email. I don’t publish that email. But the Gmail address is published on my site under the “Contact us” tab. The idea is that I can abandon it when I get too much spam in it (it’s attracting a lot of crap already).

      And my “Updates” (the free subscription you can sign up for at the bottom of the article) are sent from my second domain email, and you can even reply to them.

  26. Boomer says:

    You mean that $10,000 check I just sent to the Wolfstreet WolfPack SPAC is fake? … just kidding :)

  27. Yort says:

    Is the Alanta Fed “Sticky-Price CPI” a frauster impersonating real inflation….hmmmm….”Got Inflation???”

    Alanta Fed “Sticky-Price CPI” showing 3.5% on April 13, 2021 (scroll down to 10-year chart):

    https://www.atlantafed.org/research/inflationproject/stickyprice.aspx?utm_medium=email&utm_source=mailchimp&utm_campaign=inflation-project

  28. Tom Stone says:

    Not only does it pay off at 1% a day, I can assure you that there is NO RISK.

    Nope, none at all.

    Where there is a certainty, there’s no risk.

    “And two to take him” comes to mind.

  29. Engin-ear says:

    This scam attests your notoriety and reputation.

    Respect!

    So more scams to come.

    Coming soon : “Beware of fake beer mugs that enhance your capacity of charts reading and statistics understanding”.

    :)

  30. Artem says:

    It’s the guy whose comments you deleted, Wolf.

  31. polistra says:

    The fraudsters are getting smarter. The message is in proper native English with no recognizable Filipino or Indian grammar habits.

    If they really wanted to confuse Wolfsters, they’d include a wonderfully informative GRAPH of Bitcoin “values”.

    Oops, shouldn’t help them.

  32. MCH says:

    Congrats Wolf, you know, now that you have people impersonating you, the next step will be the inevitable SEC investigation. Then the FTC investigation, followed by someone from the FCC. Before long, you’ll have all of the alphabet soup come after you. What do they have to do with anything you do, does it really matter?

    The obvious reason is that Wolfstreet has arrived, and it is garnering all the wrong kinds of attention, and since you aren’t in line with the current “narrative,” you must be brought in line.

    :) The perils of being on Marketwatch more than twice.

    P.S. how is someone getting your reader email address?

    • Wolf Richter says:

      MCH,

      So far, only two of the WOLF STREET readers have gotten them. So it looks like a large mail-out to addresses on some purchased list, and two readers happened to be on that list.

  33. Volvo P-1800 says:

    Ha ha. The day that Wolf recommends me to buy crypto currencies guaranteeing 1% per day will be the last time I visit Wolfstreet. That is a promise, not a threat.

    In the meantime you can add Peter Gabriel’s “Big Time” to the Wolf Street playlist.

    Best regards from Sweden.

  34. Winston says:

    Looks like it was your cryptocurrency expose’ that caused that. I relish the day those tulip bulbs come crashing down as they always have and always will… but people never learn. Greed overcomes…

    Last time I read, 80% of crypto mining is done by the Chinese, and that’s certainly a plus for the world, no? (sarcasm) Add to that fact that the whales own large enough amounts to pump and dump.

    • rhodium says:

      I may go buy some tulip bulbs and plant them in honor of the current moment. Just this morning I randomly saw a video on reddit with clips of various money ballers talking crap about bitcoin while Jerome was in the background blowing money out of his printer. At the end a bitcoin rocket was taking off into space. Many of the comments amounted to how the video made them feel very confident that bitcoin was the best investment out there right now, because if old people hate it, you know it’s good. Brilliant logic out there fueling this whole thing.

      • Winston says:

        I’ll take the abused fiat currencies over tulip bulbs for now. When governments like China fully implement their government approved and controlled electronic currencies and crack down on cryptocurrencies, it’s all over for CCs, paper money, the ability to avoid negative interest rates by putting money in cash, and worst of all, the ability to live without the approval of government.

  35. gorbachev says:

    Why do some people want to mess with
    a good thing

  36. Depth Charge says:

    In pretty much every Youtube channel with high traffic, there are crypto spammers in the comments section who are using the channel owner’s likeness as their ID. This entire crypto space should have been shut down years ago. But Wall St. loves a good scam so it is allowed to go on.

    • Frederick says:

      Exactly what I’m seeing and how I feel about this crypto mania The FOMO is powerful but so far I’ve been able to resist it

  37. aqius says:

    today its email. tomorrow its “Wolf, from Card Services” calling . . . !

  38. Sam says:

    Senor Wolf,

    You have ascended to the “Penalty of Leadership” position…
    ie mascola.com/insights/retro-ad-of-the-week-cadillac-1915-the-penalty-of-leadership/

    All The Best…..

    • 91B20 1stCav (AUS) says:

      Sam-in the long, mostly dishonorable, history of advertising, Cadillac’s “The Penalty of Leadership” stands as one of few shining exceptions (note this was in 1915, an age far different in so many details to our current one).

      (time to again reread Pirsig…).

      may we all find a better day.

  39. Yaun says:

    If you were to disclose, that you are a prince who needs to siphon 100Million out of the country with my help, I may take it, but pushing crypto? They picked the wrong guy!

  40. California Bob says:

    You know, if I got an email with ‘Nothing Goes to Heck in a Straight Line’ in the Subject line I might be fooled.

  41. Michael Gorback says:

    I’ve been introducing myself to people in bars as Wolf von Richter for about 5 years. So far I’ve sold about $10MM in wolfcoins.

    • Wolf Richter says:

      So you were that guy that sold that non-thing to me. It’s totally worthless now. I can’t even find it anymore. It disappeared with an old computer. I got ripped off. Where can I go complain?

      • Michael Gorback says:

        Our customer service rep is Helen Wait. If you wish to file a complaint you can go to Helen Wait for it.

        Since inception, wolfcoins have appreciated from one tulip bulb to 15 tulip bulbs!

  42. dithers says:

    congratulations ?

    Soon you’ll have your face on money.

  43. Mira says:

    You poor thing.
    Do you think that someone is taking the piss ??
    Suffice to say you are THE MAN unto yourself & now you are made out there.

  44. Pete in Toronto says:

    Wolf: “…the brain-dead garbage in the email is funny and obviously fake to those who’ve been reading my stuff.”

    Fraudsters: “Challenge accepted.”

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