Is the 'send crypto, get 2x back' giveaway real?

How to spot this scam

• You are asked to send crypto first, to receive more back. That inversion is the whole scam, and no legitimate giveaway works that way.
• A famous name or company is attached, often over a restreamed or looping video that gives the appearance of a live event.
• There is a countdown, and a claim that the pool is limited or nearly gone.
• The wallet address is presented as verified by the platform, which it is not; addresses are not endorsed by anyone.
• Comments and replies show apparent winners. Those accounts are controlled by the same operation.
• Payment is in cryptocurrency specifically, which the FTC lists among the methods scammers insist on because it cannot be reversed.
• You are told a small test transfer will unlock a larger payout, which simply repeats the loss.

What to do now

1. Send nothing. There is no version of this where money sent first comes back larger.
2. Verify a promotion only through the company or person's own verified channels, reached independently.
3. Report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the FBI's IC3 at ic3.gov, and report the account to the platform it appeared on.
4. If you already sent crypto, report it immediately with the transaction hashes, which are the only trail investigators can follow.
5. Do not engage anyone offering to recover lost crypto for a fee. That is the follow-up scam, and it targets people who already lost once.
6. Assume any wallet address received in a message is hostile until proven otherwise.