After gaining control of an account, the hacker typically live streams an interview with the likes of Bill Gates and runs information about the fake cryptocurrency giveaway alongside it. The alleged scam has been used with video interviews of the Winklevoss twins (who founded popular cryptocurrency exchange Gemini), and Vitalik Buterin, the creator of the Ethereum cryptocurrency.
In June, cybersecurity blog BleepingComputer reported three YouTube accounts were hijacked to run a crypto giveaway scam, this time live streaming an interview with Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk next to fake information about the scam. In this instance, the perpetrator raked in more than $150,000.
The live streams tend to attract a large audience for the alleged scams before they’re detected by YouTube. In some instances, the perpetrators skip stealing an account altogether and simply purchase YouTube ads promoting the alleged scam.
The cryptocurrency company Ripple Labs Inc. filed a lawsuit in April against YouTube over the so-called “giveaway” swindle. “For every scam, giveaway, fake conspiracy that is taken down, multiple more pop up nearly immediately,” the company wrote in a blog post. “The reality is that big technology and media companies need to take responsibility and be held accountable for protecting consumers.”
In one case, a YouTube user with 282,000 subscribers was hacked and had his account edited to appear as if it was representing the “Ripple Foundation,” according to the lawsuit. The attackers then began posting videos from the hacked account promoting the cryptocurrency scam. The user, Mesa Sean, who makes videos of himself playing videogames, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
According to the lawsuit, YouTube accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers are targeted with email phishing attacks, where hackers trick the account owner into giving up their password. Ripple estimates that hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Ripple cryptocurrency have been stolen as part of the illicit operations.
The string of high-profile scams makes it harder for cryptocurrency companies to persuade consumers that their operations are secure.
”Last week’s Twitter hack is just the latest dramatic example of an ongoing and widespread problem with social media platforms – malicious scams on Twitter, YouTube, Medium, Instagram and others have proliferated for years with no real solution,” Ripple Chief Executive Officer Brad Garlinghouse said in a statement.
In a motion to dismiss Ripple’s lawsuit filed on Monday, lawyers for YouTube said it’s not liable for the scams under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields platforms from potentially illegal activity by users.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.