Hackers Are Breaking Into YouTube Channels To Spread Crypto Scams

Hackers are breaking into YouTube channels to spread crypto scams according to a Google Threat Analysis Group so let’s read more in our latest crypto news today.

Google’s Threat Analyst Group said that the group of hackers is entering into YouTube channels and rebranding them to spread crypto scams, by mirroring the branding of other well-known crypto or tech companies.

“The channel name, profile picture, and content were all replaced with cryptocurrency branding to impersonate large tech or cryptocurrency exchange firms,” the group said, adding that these hackers will live stream videos that promise huge crypto giveaways in exchange for initial contributions. If they don’t execute the rebranding strategy they will have to sell it to the highest bidder. Depending on how many subscribers the channel has, the market for these channels offers somewhere from $3 to $4,000 per channel. The group added:

“The actors behind this campaign, which we attribute to a group of hackers recruited in a Russian-speaking forum, lure their target with fake collaboration opportunities.”

This is not the first time these bad actors tried to orchestrate a crypto scam on YouTube. Last year, the crypto exchange Gemini exposed two fake YouTube channels which were pretending to be from Gemini. Immediately right after, the exchange warned that the scams accounts were not a part of the company and they reported the scammers to YouTube. However, this was not the first time that Gemini had a similar problem of impersonating the social media accounts as it addressed back in 2020 another scam alert that said the exchange had been getting DMs about the fake exchange profiles on different media platforms.

YouTube has quite a history of banning crypto-related content. On the contrary, the UK financial services regulator or the financial conduct authority launched a campaign on TikTok and YouTube warning young investors about the crypto risks. Sarah Pritchard who is the FCA director said:

“We want to create confident consumers. This campaign is about empowering younger investors, not inhibiting them.”

The hackers are breaking into YouTube accounts but they have become even savvier and now enter all kinds of accounts on different social media platforms.