A scammer pretending to be David Burt, the Premier of Bermuda, has set up a fake account on X to promote a scam token called “Bermuda National Coin.” Since the fake account started posting, several tokens with the same name have popped up on pump.fun, a Solana-based memecoin launch platform.
Premier David Burt’s real account pictured left and the scam account posing as Burt pictured on the right Source Premier David Burt
The fake profile looks convincing at first look because it has a grey verification badge, which is usually given to government officials. However, a closer look reveals some red flags. The scam account only has 45 posts, with the oldest one dated February 2, 2025. On the other hand, Burt’s official account has a blue verification badge, over 6,000 posts, 12,200 followers, and has been active since July 2014.
On February 14, Premier Burt took to X to warn the public about the scam account. In his post, he alerted users about the impersonator and tagged both the platform and Elon Musk, demanding action. He questioned how the scammer managed to obtain a grey verification badge, writing:
“Not sure how they got a grey verification badge, but people will get scammed due to the lack of controls on this app. Please fix.”
Despite that Burt already gave a public warning, the fake profile is still active at the time of writing. This is one of a series of cases where scammers make up social media profiles of well-known personalities or government representatives to advertise fraudulent crypto schemes.
As the memecoin frenzy rages on, such scams appear to be on the rise, and such incidents are a reminder of the necessity of robust verification procedures and enhanced user protection on social media platforms.
