YouTube Being Targeted By Russian Crypto Scammers

Google researchers have warned about Youtube being targeted by Russian crypto scammers

Google-owned video sharing app YouTube is riddled with phishing and crypto scammers, researchers from the search engine giant’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) have lately discovered. Cyber criminals are using cookie-theft malware to hijack YouTube channels to promote phishing and scams, the researchers said.

Google has related the activities to a group discovered active on Russian forums. With the malware, hackers can get entry to people’s passwords or even YouTube channel credentials. Online games, anti-virus softwares, and photo-editing are a few methods using which cyber criminals are approaching YouTube users to rip-off them, a report by TAG has found out.

Crypto scammers have additionally been developing faux pages on social networking systems to direct their sufferers to and cause them to click on on infected hyperlinks. Researchers in addition warned that those cyber criminals have been using breached YouTube channels for live streaming crypto content to rip-off investors.

“A huge number of hijacked channels have been rebranded for cryptocurrency rip-off live-streaming by the crypto scammers. The channel name, profile image and content material have been all changed with cryptocurrency branding to impersonate huge tech or cryptocurrency trade firms. The attacker live-streamed videos promising cryptocurrency giveaways in trade for an preliminary contribution,” Ashley Shen from Google’s TAG wrote in the report.

Deeper evaluation into the problem has discovered that hacked YouTube channels have been trading within the range of $3 (roughly Rs. 225) to $4,000 (roughly Rs. 3 lakh). In July 2020, well-known Indian YouTuber Ajay Nagar, who’s recognised by the name of CarryMinati, had reported that one of his YouTube channels have been compromised and was showing questionable Bitcoin hyperlinks to his followers.

Along with YouTube, crypto-scammers have additionally been misusing different systems like WhatsApp and Twitter amongst others, to unlawfully extract advantages from unsuspecting crypto enthusiasts. Last year, the confirmed accounts of numerous famous people which includes Barack Obama, Kim Kardashian West and, Elon Musk had been hacked by crypto-criminals, who published infected Bitcoin hyperlinks to trap their sufferers right into a rip-off.

Amid the growth of the crypto-culture on a worldwide level, scammers have been looking for more opportunities to use this development in their favour. Earlier in April, a report had discovered that the total crypto crime in 2020 has amounted to around $10.52 billion (roughly Rs. 79,194 crore). Analyst firm Chainalysis in a latest report had additionally discovered that at least $815 million (roughly Rs. 6,135 crore) was sent in crypto to rip-off projects from Eastern European countries between July 2020 and June 2021.

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