Coffeezilla exposes UK YouTuber Ben Phillips for $12m crypto scam

Jacob Hale
ben phillips youtuber and coffeezilla

Notorious internet and crypto detective Coffeezilla has exposed UK YouTuber Ben Phillips for a repeated crypto “pump and dump” scam that could have made the influencer around $12m.

Ben Phillips has over 4 million subscribers on YouTube and, like many other influencers, has involved himself deeply in the world of cryptocurrency and NFTs.

One token that Phillips has regularly shared with followers and spoken about a lot is Safemoon — but this could be exactly where all the problems have come from.

According to Coffeezilla’s investigation, Phillips was consistently selling his Safemoon for millions after pumping it through his social channels and watching the price rise up.

ben phillips rolls royce
Ben Phillips spent the millions he earned on a brand new Rolls Royce.

Starting out as a prankster on Vine, Ben went on to become hugely successful in the YouTube world, amassing millions of followers.

As Coffeezilla explained in his YouTube investigation, Ben Phillips became involved with Safemoon back in March 2021, as part of their marketing team. He also once tweeted out his wallet, which was the key for Coffeezilla to conduct his research.

Phillips was regularly receiving millions of dollars worth of Safemoon from the deployer, then promoting Safemoon before quickly dumping for thousands of dollars at a time.

Coffee found a regular pattern of Phillips posting about holding Safemoon and commending ‘diamond hands’ before turning a quick profit by dumping large amounts from his wallet.

He even suggested that whoever was dumping the token should be “hit by a bus” while, per Coffee’s investigations, profiting handsomely off of dumping his own wallet.

According to Coffee’s research, Ben Phillips sold over $16m worth of Safemoon since March 2021, with profits at around $12.15m — enough to buy himself a “top of the fleet” Rolls Royce and charter private jets to Scotland with his girlfriend.

Dexerto has reached out to Ben Phillips for comment. We have not received a response at the time of writing.

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About The Author

Jacob is Dexerto’s UK Editor and Call of Duty esports specialist. With a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Creative Writing, he previously worked as an Editor at Ginx TV. Jacob was nominated for Journalist of the Year at the 2023 Esports Awards. Contact: jacob.hale@dexerto.com.