“If It Can Happen to Him, It Can Happen to You”: Steve Wozniak’s Experience with Scams
I was reading an article the other day, and it made me think. Here was the co-founder of Apple, one of the true pioneers of the personal computer, reflecting on how the internet has changed and relating his personal experience with scams. We can all learn something from Steve.
Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple and a key architect of the personal computer revolution, stands as a symbol of technological innovation and trust. He’s a man who helped create the very digital world we live in. Yet, as this article reveals, even Wozniak isn’t immune to the darker side of that world: internet scams.
Wozniak’s journey from building the Apple I in his garage to witnessing the rise of a company that changed the world is a testament to his vision. But he points out that with the internet came “new business models, you know, ways to have power over other people.” For him, this “bad” became personal when his image and video clips were stolen and used in a fraudulent bitcoin scam on YouTube. The scam promised to double a victim’s cryptocurrency investment, a classic trick that tragically led some to lose their “life savings.”
Wozniak’s story is a powerful cautionary tale. It underscores that scammers don’t discriminate. They prey on trust, familiarity, and the promise of easy returns. The fact that an icon like Steve Wozniak—someone so closely associated with the positive aspects of technology—could be at the center of such a deception is a stark reminder for all of us. If a scam can ensnare his image and lead to real-world financial harm, it serves as a powerful warning that anyone, regardless of their tech savvy or status, can be a target.
Steve Wozniak on fighting internet scams
At the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley, the exhibits chart how technology got to where it is today. And there could be no better guide to this history than Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple.
In 1976, Wozniak built the Apple 1, and from that he and Steve Jobs built a company. “Incredible times,” said Wozniak. “Just came on down wanting to build a neat product.”
Wozniak was the inventor, Jobs was the master salesman; and when Wozniak created the Apple II, Jobs had something new to sell: the first personal computer to display color. “That was the machine that really made personal computers go, because it was so fun,” Wozniak said. “So many breakthroughs in there that are just so far out-of-the-box.”
I asked, “You helped start the computer revolution that brought us where we are today – good or bad?”
“Well, it was good,” Wozniak replied, “until the internet came and it offered new business models, you know, ways to have power over other people and control a lot of customers. That’s when some of the bad started happening.”
And some of that “bad” has happened to Steve Wozniak, when a scam on YouTube was using his image to steal bitcoin.
“Of course it’s fraud”Wozniak’s wife, Janet, learned of it from one of the victims. “I got an email on our web server, and it said, ‘When are you gonna send me my money?’ And I wrote back and I said, ‘What are you talking about?'”
The scammers had taken video of Wozniak talking about bitcoin. “And then, they put a nice frame around it with a Bitcoin address, [saying] that if you sent him any amount of bitcoin, he would send you double that back,” said Janet. “Of course it’s fraud.”
“Some people said they lost their life savings,” said Steve.
A scam video posted online using video of Steve Wozniak promised to double the amount of bitcoin people sent in. CBS News
You might think that YouTube, owned by Google, would be quick to take down a fraudulent video using the image of Apple’s co-founder, but you’d be wrong. “We never got to YouTube; our lawyer has gotten to their lawyer, that’s all,” said Steve.
Brian Danitz, Wozniak’s lawyer, said, “We’ve asked YouTube over and over, and it keeps happening.”
We hope you’ll take the time to read the rest of this fascinating and enlightening interview here.