Crypto doesn't exactly have the best public image and it has only been getting worse this week, as YouTube channels appear to have been hijacked by scammers making crypto price 'predictions' and setting fans up for further scams. It's a mess that seems to have caught an unfortunate amount of people.
As reported on by Ars Technica, a handful of YouTubers in the fighting game community have been hacked, deleting all previous videos and replacing them with a livestream impersonating Ripple, a blockchain payment company. The livestreams in question are making predictions on cryptocurrency and using the platform of that Youtuber (with all its subscribers) to encourage people to send money to their crypto wallet.
The hack in question impersonated brands looking to 'sponsor' YouTubers, which would then expose them to a link, that would then grant them access to their accounts. Rooflemonger released a video detailing their correspondence with YouTube and what it's like to get the channel back. However, not all affected were so lucky.
Shyway, otherwise known as Alex, recently fell for the same scam and lost his channel for a few days. The channel was then taken down due to 'trademarks'. Though we don't know exactly what that means, it could have something to do with the scammers pretending to be Ripple. Even after clearing up the problem with YouTube support, Alex's channel has remained deleted and supposedly cannot be retrieved.
He was given access again to his Google account, but the YouTube account associated with it remains deleted. The YouTube X account confirmed the channel will stay deleted due to its violation of "community guidelines"
Without access to his YouTube channel to air why this happened, Alex posted a video on X, explaining it all. He claims he was reached out to by a scammer pretending to be SteelSeries. When he clicked on the NDA to check the details of this deal, he "lost everything in 30 seconds".
Surprisingly, he claims that this method also managed to entirely bypass two-factor authentication, though we don't quite know how. If everything here is as is remembered, this suggests 2FA is no longer the last bastion of security for people's accounts and is probably a good reminder to keep up-to-date with the latest internet security advice.
Being sceptical of things sent to you is very important and vetting links is perhaps the most vital part. Hopefully, there's some recourse here around these big channels but, as a viewer, it's also important to stay vigilant of what's on your YouTube feed. Now is as good a time as any to brush up on your cybersecurity skills.
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