It was only two weeks ago when several high-profile Twitter accounts had been hacked. The breach was massive and the accounts of various individuals, like Barack Obama, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates had been taken over by hackers who pushed bitcoin scams. The fraud promised users double the bitcoins if they send a specific amount to an anonymous crypto address. But the hackers only managed to take $121,000 in digital funds. It is nothing compared to the hacks that have occurred in crypto’s history. However, the hacking startled some Twitter users about using the said social media platform. This similar scenario is playing out on YouTube. Last week, YouTube users clicked on videos to view the historic return of SpaceX astronauts. Instead of watching the real video, they saw a video that promised to increase their digital money if they send bitcoins to specific addresses. It’s the same scam that Twitter users weeks ago had experienced.
Hackers Didn’t Compromise YouTube’s Internal Tools
Those who hacked Twitter weeks ago managed to access Twitter’s tools and systems. But it seemed that the hackers who compromised these YouTube channels didn’t get any internal access. Still, these hacked channels managed to promote Bitcoin scams and they’re widespread on the video-sharing platform. MarcoStyle reported that the same tactics that YouTube hackers are using since November 2019. MarcoStyle, a gaming YouTuber, stated that his channel was hijacked after he clicked a malicious phishing link found in his email. Hackers accessed his channel and reconfigured it as a brand channel allowing it to be managed by various Google accounts. The YouTuber said that the hack could have been prevented if the video-sharing platform had a two-factor authentication system to upload videos or log-ins. Some of the hacked YouTube channels are now disabled. YouTube has not responded to this matter yet. But we can expect that hackers will use other platforms to promote bitcoin scams. Social media companies must warn their users about these scams and they must also utilize another set of security tools to verify someone’s identity when logging in. On the other hand, crypto owners should be wary of these scams. If it’s too good to be true, then it probably isn’t true.
