Cryptocurrency scams have stolen millions of dollars by replaying old videos of Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and Ark Invest on YouTube.
This is an old-fashioned investment doubling scam that promises to return twice the amount of cryptocurrency paid by the victim.
The scammers replayed edited videos of Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey and Catherine Wood discussing cryptocurrencies at Ark Invest's "The Word" conference, earning more than $1.3 million.
In the past, scammers have also used other videos related to Elon Musk, such as SpaceX launches and Tesla videos, to successfully promote fake giveaways and steal millions of dollars in the process.
Simple operation
Nearly 10 YouTube channels posted videos that included links to fraudulent crypto giveaway sites. This is just part of the whole plan. There are reports that the scam dates back to January, and the scammers have earned $400,000 in just seven hours.
Security researchers at McAfee, the world's largest professional security technology company, have also been monitoring the scam and released a report on Thursday that noted that 11 scam sites had been identified.
McAfee updated the post the day after the report was published, saying the number of these sites had increased to 26 in a 24-hour period.
YouTube's streaming ads promoted several similarly themed sites that claimed to be returning twice the value of the cryptocurrency they received. For example, if you send 1 BTC, you will receive a return of 2 BTC.
—McAfee
However, these sites appear every day, and scammers generate new wallets to get money from vulnerable cryptocurrency users. Here are some of the websites that researchers found:
Some of the sites in the preceding figure are still running. The list is incomplete as scammers continue to build new websites to stream edited cryptocurrency-related conversations on new streams.
The researchers said the website promoted in the video tricked visitors into thinking that someone else had been sending cryptocurrencies and had received twice as much money. In addition, the website displays a table of recent transactions as a basis.
To create a fake form, the crooks use JavaScript code to generate a random cryptocurrency wallet and a list of payment amounts.
Stolen funds
Here is a list of Ethereum and Bitcoin wallet addresses and amounts stolen by scammers using the Ark Invest cryptocurrency scam:
The amount of money obtained may not seem like much, but considering that the entire scam requires very little effort and skill, this is already a considerable asset. Once the video is edited and the website is up and running, the scammer just has to wait for the victim to transfer the digital currency.
McAfee said that wallets listed on malicious websites that have been discovered record a wide variety of transactions, with cryptocurrency trading reaching $280,000 on May 5. The next day, the total value soared to $1.3 million. The largest wallet received more than $90,000 in bitcoin from 13 transactions.
YouTube
channel
A quick look at all the current scam videos revealed that the scammers stole another $100,000 on May 7, and nine YouTube channels were luring cryptocurrency users into scam sites, almost all of which included Tesla, Elon Musk, ARK Investment, and other words.
Some of these channels promoting cryptocurrency scam sites have large numbers of followers, with subscribers ranging from 71,000 to 1.08 million. The number of subscribers to these channels seems to be artificially exaggerated to increase the credibility of the scam videos because they have nothing else to post
Some channels have deleted the edited video by removing the shelves or restricting the viewing of paid members.
This type of scam is very common, and YouTube reviews and removes it every day, but not fast enough. There are currently at least 40 such videos. These live streams run multiple times a day and are deleted once they are finished.
Cryptocurrency users have been targeted by threat actors who seek new ways to trap victims. Although the promise of doubling cryptocurrency assets is an outdated trick, it is still profitable for scammers.