A preferred YouTube channel has been hijacked and is presently live-streaming a purported ask-me-anything (AMA) with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
A preferred YouTube channel has been hijacked and is presently live-streaming a purported ask-me-anything (AMA) with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
Nonetheless, the stream, which seems to have been working for 12 hours at press time on April 6, is a rip-off, encouraging customers to ship Bitcoin (BTC) funds, with the promise of a non-existent 5,000 BTC giveaway.
Traditional crypto rip-off will get a contemporary coat of paint
The YouTube rip-off follows an analogous format to the well-known Twitter con, whereby a spoof account will likely be set as much as mimic a widely known crypto or celeb determine. Stated determine has a considerable amount of Bitcoin or Ether (ETH) to provide away, and by sending a few of your personal cryptocurrency to a given handle, victims are promised between two and ten instances the quantity in return.
On this event, someone has managed to hack into an already established YouTube channel, TopTenz, which boasts 1.63 million subscribers. The channel has been rebranded as “CoinbasePRO English.”
The channel has been live-streaming the AMA utilizing previous, looped footage of Brian Armstrong answering viewers’ questions.
The stream additionally has a Bitcoin handle and QR code, promising that any Bitcoin despatched will instantly have double the quantity returned. In fact, sending Bitcoin to this handle will end in nothing greater than dropping your cash.
Over $50,000 stolen… and counting
In line with the Blockchain block explorer, just one transaction, with a worth of 0.44 BTC has been despatched to the handle presently being promoted by means of the “giveaway.” The handle has solely been reside for two hours, whereas the 2 earlier addresses marketed obtained 2.548 BTC and 4.209 BTC respectively.
This makes a complete of just about 7.2 BTC stolen thus far — with a worth of over $51,200 at press time.
Maybe a extra pertinent query than how a lot the rip-off has gained can be, “How can this nonetheless be occurring reside after 11 hours?”
YouTube, Coinbase, and the TopTenz YouTube didn’t instantly reply to Cointelegraph’s requests for remark. This text will likely be up to date ought to they reply.