Linus Tech Tips’ YouTube channel has been hacked by Crypto Scammers
The Linus Tech Tips team has been working quickly to re-establish control of the channel
Published: March 23, 2023 | Source: YouTube |
Hackers had gained control of Linus Tech Tips’ YouTube channel to promote a cryptocurrency scam
Update 1 – 12.07 GMT – Based on new information, it appears that the hacking of Linus Media Group’s YouTube channels is still ongoing, and while the organization appeared to temporarily regain control of their Linus Tech Tips channel, the channel now appears to have disappeared from YouTube. At the moment, the account appears to have been removed, so we can expect the channel to return at some point in the future.
It now appears that Linus Media Group’s Tech Quickie channel has also been hacked, with the channel hosting a live stream also promoting a cryptocurrency scam.
Update 2 – Linus Sebastian has released a statement following today’s series of Linus Media Group YouTube hacks.
Earlier today, hackers gained control of the Linus Tech Tips YouTube channel and used it to promote a fake crypto giveaway that falsely used the name Elon Musk and the Tesla brand (without the permission of either party, of course). Fortunately, the Linus Tech Tips team quickly worked to regain control of the channel, but not before the channel had started two live streams to promote AI, chat GPT, Bitcoin and their aforementioned (fake) crypto giveaway.
At this time, it is unknown how the Linus Tech Tips channel was hacked, but the good news is that it didn’t take long for the channel to be reclaimed by its rightful owners. All links to the hacker’s fake crypto gift have now been removed from the channel, and soon all evidence of the hack will be removed from YouTube.
Like any crypto scam, hackers had asked users to send crypto to the hackers with the promise that a large amount of crypto would be sent back. As is typical of these scammers, Elon Musk, a well-known cryptocurrency investor, was used as the face of this scam (without his permission, of course). Scammers had claimed that Elon Musk was participating in the “Biggest Giveaway Crypto of $100,000,000”. Given the site’s poor grammar, it’s clear the site was created by foreign scammers, not Musk.
It is clear that the real Elon Musk and Tesla have nothing to do with this scam, and we are happy to report that Linus Media Group has already regained control of the Linus Tech Tips YouTube channel. Currently, this YouTube channel has over 15.3 million subscribers, which explains why the channel was targeted by hackers in the first place.
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