You’re a fool if you think you’re too smart to be scammed online. Con artists are everywhere online, and while you might scoff at the ludicrous and obvious scams from Nigerian princes in your spam folder, those are only designed to ensnare the extremely gullible.
The best online con artists are master manipulators: using psychological techniques to bypass their marks’ common sense, forcing them to feel under pressure at all times, and come pre-armed with your personal data in advance.
Such is the case of betting entrepreneur Erik Bergman, who founded online casino Catena Media in 2007. In 2016, it went public, netting him around $50 million. Since then, he founded Great.com, a casino that puts its profits into environmental charities. And, as he detailed online, that clearly made him a target for scammers.
In a lengthy post, he explains he received a genuine phone call from the real MrBeast seeking a donation for their project to build wells in Africa. This is perfectly in line with this philanthropy so he agreed, with MrBeast going on to publicly praise Bergman online.
I just got scammed for $1.25 million.
— Erik Bergman (@smilingerik) August 29, 2025
I feel ashamed and stupid.
This story starts with me getting a phone call from @MrBeast and @MarkRober .
They ask me to donate money @teamwater. To build wells in Africa and help people get clean water.
I'm surprised by their call. We've… pic.twitter.com/ZQkTSovtqz
That must have caught the attention of the scammers, who promptly sent Bergman an invitation to a fake WhatsApp group in which scammers pretended to be MrBeast, several billionaires, and streaming stars like Adin Ross. Bergman was starstruck:
“I can’t believe I’m in this group. I feel like a 13-year-old boy wanting to fit in. They are all chatting and have a good banter going on. I find myself writing a message… then deleting what I wrote because it didn’t feel cool enough. I write it again… then delete it.”
After a week of casual chat, the conversation turned to a new crypto opportunity, with the fake MrBeast offering Bergman the ‘privilege’ of buying in early. All too soon, Bergman had wired first $500,000, then $750,000 to a random crypto wallet. Then, finally, Bergman gets a bad vibe and decides to actually call MrBeast:
“For the first time since this chat started, I call Jimmy just to confirm everything. And he says “What are you talking about?” And that’s a punch to my stomach. I say “Please say that you are f**king kidding me?!” and I send him a print screen of the chat. He looks at it and says: “Wow, I don’t know what to say… please tell me you didn’t send them any money…” And I reply “1.25 million…”
It’s brave to admit to this
Honestly? Full credit to Bergman for going public on this. Being scammed is a humiliating experience as you are, essentially, admitting you’ve been outsmarted. Though, in this case, this really was a long-term precision-engineered con clearly run by seasoned professionals – most people wouldn’t stand a chance.
Most people would also simply keep quiet about this for fear of mockery and embarrassment. And believe me, Bergman is upset and ashamed:
I feel the shame inside of me. The regret. The sadness. The anger. I’ve been fooled. … I’ve also cried. I’ve screamed. I’ve punched. Then done it all over again.”
But going public these stories is the only way to expose the scammers’ methods and maybe save other people from losing their life savings. For Bergman, losing $1.25 million doesn’t sound like the end of the world (though it’s still a colossal amount of money), but for others, this could wreck their entire future and tear their life apart.
It’s sad that the safest position is not to trust anyone you meet online, but doubting everything and being innately skeptical might save your financial life. Once again, admiration to Bergman for sharing his story: it takes some serious guts to come out with this.
