- An unapproved video was uploaded to the hacked channels.
- Richard Heart, said that his channel had been blocked amid a broadcast.
Throughout the afternoon of January 23, hackers launched an assault on several notable cryptocurrency YouTuber accounts. Users were directed to the hacker’s wallet via unauthorized video broadcast on the accounts’ social media pages. The video was a scam, a fake crypto giveaway offer.
BREAKING: Dozens of Crypto YouTubers have had their accounts hijacked by hackers promoting a fake crypto giveaway scam. Hacked accounts include:@IvanOnTech@boxmining@aantonop@themooncarl@Bitboy_Crypto@mmcrypto@Altcoinbuzzio@FloydMayweather@crypto_banter@CoinMarketCap pic.twitter.com/ykXkZUh9cO
— Mr. Whale (@CryptoWhale) January 23, 2022
Many popular Twitter accounts, including ‘BitBoy Crypto,’ ‘Altcoin Buzz,’ “Box Mining,” “Floyd Mayweather,” “Ivan on Tech,” and “The Moon,” among others, seem to have been targeted by the assault. The Binance Smart Chain wallet address stated on the bogus videos has only received a total of nine BNB transactions, with a total value of around $850.
The user “9Oh8m8” commented on a Reddit thread that it looks as if the hackers were able to access the accounts via the use of a SIM swap fraud, which would have allowed them to circumvent two-factor authentication (2FA).
Youtube Responsible?
Michael Gu, the owner of the YouTube channel Boxmining, said that he had conducted an internal investigation and had discovered no viruses or defects that may have provided the hackers with access to his account. “Seems like YouTube might be responsible,” he speculated.
Many Crypto Youtubers (including me) got hacked today – all publishing a scam video at around the same time – @IvanOnTech @aantonop @Bitboy_Crypto @Altcoinbuzzio @FloydMayweather @crypto_banter @CoinMarketCap
— Boxmining (@boxmining) January 23, 2022
I have 2FA enabled. pic.twitter.com/c8z5qmJ3bT
In addition, Shash Gupta, the founder and CEO of the Altcoin Buzz YouTube channel, said that they were aware of something being wrong at approximately 1 a.m. Singapore time on Sunday night when an unapproved video was uploaded to their channel.
In a tweet at 9:30 p.m. UTC, another crypto YouTuber, Richard Heart, said that his channel had been blocked amid a broadcast, showing that YouTube was likely aware of the situation.
