A teacher lost £9,000 that she had hoped to use as a house deposit after falling victim to a scam that promised would 'double her investment'.

Julie Bushnell, from Farnborough in Hampshire, lost thousands of pounds after visiting a fake  News website that said the billionaire was having a Bitcoin 'giveaway'.

The website, which is made to look like BBC News and is still active, advertised that Mr Musk had bought $1.5billion worth of Bitcoin and was doubling people's cryptocurrency investments.There is no suggestion Mr Musk was involved in the scam. 

An active trader herself, the Brighton teacher and mother thought to take advantage of the eccentric Tesla CEO's generosity, but quickly realised she had been a victim of fraud.

Con artists were able to swindle £9,000 out of Ms Bushnell, who has revealed the lasting effects the scam has had on her.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the incident, she said she was 'ashamed and embarrassed', biter bitcoin news suffered panic attacks and was constantly 'crying and shaking'. 

The news comes as cryptocurrency trading experts revealed blockchain 'giveaway scams' have skyrocketed in 2021, costing victims more than £13million globally.

Ms Bushnell, who invests in cryptocurrency herself, was lured in by the website that looked similar to BBC News - which claimed Mr Musk, chief of electric car firm Tesla, would deposits.

She handed over £9,000, which she had intended to use for a house deposit, but soon realised something was amiss when she did not receive anything in return.

The teacher frantically scurried to suspend her Lloyds account and any pending transactions, but it was already too late. 

She was left 'crying and shaking' and spent hours combing the web to see if there was a way she could reclaim her money. 

The science teacher insists she still thinks about her actions 'every day' and wants to raise awareness to ensure others don't fall victim to similar scams. 

After being conned by the fraudsters, Ms Bushnell decided to go public with her story in a warning to others.