Crypto Hackers Deleting YouTube Channels and Advertise False Giveaways

The hacked YouTube channels lure unsuspecting people by using images of crypto celebrities like the Ripple and Binance CEO.

Adam Jicha, a Czech YouTuber with over 300,000 subscribers, recently fell victim to fraud.

“Someone hacked my YouTube Channel with over 310,000 Subscribers and deleted all my videos. What to do? I cant contact anyone, please help,” he tweeted.

Soon after, the hacker changed the name and profile image to that of Changpeng Zhao, CEO of the Binance crypto exchange.

The hacker then ran a live stream called “BINANCELIVE: Interview with Binance CEO, Announcement of BTC Giveaway” that promised 5,000 BTC to traders. All you had to do was send cryptos to an address and the creators of the video promised even more in return. The video was, of course, a scam — the real CZ didn’t give away free Bitcoins.

Jicha had received an email to work with a bogus site that promised to offer a video game streaming service. The email contained a keylogger that recorded the passwords he entered on his computer. Finally, the perpetrators were able to hack into his YouTube account. A few days later, the YouTube account ended on the Dark Web, where it was sold for 0.45 Bitcoins (around $3,300). In the end, Jicha managed to get his account back, probably after YouTube stepped in.

More crypto scams on YouTube

The Czech YouTuber was not the only one whose account was hacked. Forbes recently reported about several hacked YouTube accounts, claiming to belong to the Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and promote XRP giveaways. One of them even managed to steal XRP worth $15,000 in a livestream.

A similar scammer managed to collect 309 LTC late last year when the YouTube channel pretended to be the Litecoin Foundation. However, it is unclear whether the hackers filled the giveaway wallets themselves to make it look real. In 2018, fraudsters used Twitter to steal verified accounts and advertise false giveaways.

Author: Marko Vidrih

Featured image credit: Pixabay