During a recent X Takeover event, Tesla CEO and Twitter owner Elon Musk exhorted audiences not to take any projects bearing his visage seriously - they were liable to be scams peddling crypto, which he was not in the business of promoting.

"I'm not going to be promoting crypto — at most, in a joking way,” the billionaire said. "If you see me pumping crypto, it's not me. I do think there's merit in Bitcoin and maybe some other cryptos, and I've sort of got a soft spot for Dogecoin, because I like dogs and memes."

Over the past year, there has been a surge in scams involving crypto on social media platforms, including on Musk-owned Twitter, now known as X.

Despite pledging to unleash "the full force of the law to bear upon [spam bots],” Musk has not reined in their growth or limited their spread on the platform.

During the speech, Musk urged audiences to be "cautious" about projects claiming to be tied to the tech tycoon. “I would double check whether that [crypto project] is real,” Musk warned about projects using his name or countenance.

The volume of scams on Twitter/X continues to be a major concern for security experts, however.

Musk's previous social media posts have made frequent allusions to Dogecoin, a popular meme coin with a market capitalization of more than $18 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

In the past, Musk has faced a lawsuit about his promotion of Dogecoin on Twitter, with investors categorizing his social media content "transparent cryptocurrency market manipulation.” Legal teams for Musk, however, have denied the billionaire's participation in pump-and-dump schemes for Dogecoin. "There is nothing unlawful about tweeting words of support for, or funny pictures about, a legitimate cryptocurrency," they argued.