Erik Bergman speaks out about the $1.25M crypto scam

Erik Bergman, the founder of Catena Media and co-founder of Great.com, released a YouTube video with details of the cryptocurrency scam that cost him $1.25 million. The scheme featured impersonations of well-known figures like MrBeast and Mark Rober and was designed to resemble an exclusive donor network, drawing Bergman into a fraudulent investment. The scam 

Erik Bergman, the founder of Catena Media and co-founder of Great.com, released a YouTube video with details of the cryptocurrency scam that cost him $1.25 million.

The scheme featured impersonations of well-known figures like MrBeast and Mark Rober and was designed to resemble an exclusive donor network, drawing Bergman into a fraudulent investment.

The scam was initated after Bergman was publicly thanked by MrBeast for donating $1 million to Team Water, a project building clean water wells in Africa. Not long after, he started receiving WhatsApp messages from people claiming to represent Team Water, inviting him into what looked like an exclusive donor group chat.

Inside the group were what appeared to be MrBeast, Mark Rober, streamer Aiden Ross, Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke, and Stake co-founder Ed Craven. Over several weeks, the group kept up casual, believable conversations before leading things toward a supposed crypto investment connected to Coinbase.

Bergman admitted:

“Looking back, I realize I felt like a 13-year-old kid who just wanted to be part of the cool group.”

Trusting the setup, Bergman and a friend first sent $750,000 in crypto, followed later by another $500,000. Only when they started spotting inconsistencies did Bergman reach out to the real MrBeast, which is when he realized the entire operation, including the group chat, the Africa trip, and the investment, had all been faked.

The fraud has been reported to police, but Bergman says progress has been slow so far. In the meantime, MrBeast has stepped in, offering a $100,000 reward for information that could lead to the scammers being caught.

To make the case public and harder to replicate, Bergman has also shared the full chat logs, phone numbers, and transaction records on the Great.com website, encouraging others to spread the word, saying:

“The more people that hear about this, the tougher it gets for scams like this to work.”

Even after losing $1.25 million, Bergman says he doesn’t regret donating $1 million to Team Water in the first place.