Crypto scam took one of the biggest YouTube channels offline
Several YouTube channels under the Linus Media Group (LMG) brand have been taken offline after being hijacked by crypto scammers. The main Linus Tech Tip YouTube channel, which has amassed over 15 million subscribers, is offline, as are the TechQuickie and TechLinked channels. It appears that all three were affected by the same hackers.
The channels went live briefly early Thursday morning, promoting fake live streams that included pre-recorded footage of tech personalities like Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey talking about cryptocurrency. The streams redirect to websites embedded with cryptocurrency scams.
Although the accounts have been suspended for now, the hackers also revealed several videos on the channel that were set up Private, including approval video drafts for sponsors and test clips. It is not clear when the account will be restored or how many videos will return, however LMG is aware of the situation.
LMG is not the first to experience this type of hack. In the past year, several fake VEVO channels have popped up around major album releases promoting the same fake live stream. Some of the artists include Kendrick Lamar and Drake.
These types of scams can spread quickly because of how they are designed. If you subscribe to a channel, YouTube will notify you when the channel starts a live stream, as opposed to when the channel just uploads a video. The scammers usually change the name and icon of the channel and due to bypassing popular verified channels, they display a badge indicating that they are a legitimate channel.
That was the case for LMG. The main Linus Tech Tips YouTube channel kept the logo and branding, but the other smaller channels had their logo changed to a Tesla logo. The channels are usually renamed “teslaliveonline” or something similar.
YouTube has seen an increase in hacking by crypto scammers over the past year, and the company has yet to implement any features to mitigate the problem. Given the far-reaching nature of the hacks and the high-profile channels they can target, it’s clear that the platform needs features to mitigate the potentially devastating impact of a hack like this.
The affected LMG YouTube channels remain offline until further notice. We will update this article when they are restored.
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