Crypto scammers have stepped up their acts in devising new means of defrauding their victims as new research has revealed that they now doctor YouTube videos of influential people in the crypto industry to promote fake crypto giveaways.
Crypto scammers got $9 million through doctoring YouTube videos
According to the research conducted by Tenable, crypto scammers were able to defraud unsuspecting individuals of around $9 million in October through the fake promotions of giveaways involving crypto-assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Cardano, Ripple, and Shiba Inu.
Tenable revealed that the scammers tend to use old, irrelevant, and unrelated YouTube interview videos featuring popular individuals in the crypto industry like Elon Musk, Vitalik Buterin, Michael Saylor, and others while accompanying the videos with tweets detailing the fake giveaway event.
It continued that the scammers usually have a dedicated section in the video comment section where they promise to double the number of crypto donations sent by the viewers to their desired crypto wallet address.
A more cursory look at the research showed how the scammers profited from the fraud. Per the report, fraudsters got over $8 million from Bitcoin-related scams, while they got $413,000 from giveaway scams on the second largest crypto asset by market cap, Ethereum.
It was also revealed that the scammers profited from the growing popularity of the meme coin, Shiba Inu as they were able to defraud people off around $240,000.
The Tenable research went on to add that the scammers also tend to leverage newsworthy events in the crypto space to carry out their nefarious operations. Citing when Elon Musk made an appearance on the Saturday Night Live show, the report revealed that the scammers hijacked a number of YouTube videos to promote fake giveaways scams of the show and they were able to steal over $9 million then.
You’ll recall that we have reported a number of crypto-related scams in which the perpetrators of the crime have been able to swindle unsuspecting individuals. Crypto investors and enthusiasts are advised to be wary of giveaways promising to double their assets and they should strive to carry out their personal research before investing in any crypto coin or participating in any event.
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