Elon Musk scam on YouTube! Hackers made $243,000 in a week via Bitcoin, Ethereum!

Fake Elon Musk videos are streaming on YouTube to dupe people with cryptocurrency scams. Here’s how this Elon Musk scam on YouTube is being carried out using Bitcoin and Ethereum as a lure.

Beware of Bitcoin or Ethereum scams being powered through fake Elon Musk videos! (AFP)

You can find dozens of Elon Musk videos on YouTube that appear to be Bitcoin price predictions or his viewpoint on various cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. But the reality is that all such YouTube videos are fake! There is a whole network of cybercriminals who have uploaded fake Elon Musk videos on YouTube to scam viewers. And what's more shocking is that the scammers made $243,000 in just over a week! A report by BBC confirmed as many as 23 transfers of Bitcoin and 18 transfers of Ethereum. So, how is this Elon Musk scam being powered on YouTube?

Fraudsters are hacking YouTube accounts and promoting fraudulent cryptocurrency giveaways with fake videos. Thousands of people watched these bogus videos this month, according to BBC. For months, a number of individuals have been duped into transferring cryptocurrencies to criminals via these video live stream on YouTube for months. According to the BBC, the hackers alter the names and images of dozens of YouTube channels to imitate official Tesla channels, of which Musk is the CEO.

A BBC report mentioned that Elon Musk said on Tuesday that YouTube was not tackling "scam ads" properly. While YouTube says it removes all those channels that are reported. There is one of the most common videos on YouTube that claims that people can double their money by sending Bitcoin or Ethereum to a digital wallet. Shockingly, Chilean musician Aisack has also been a victim of this fake video-streaming of Elon Musk videos on YouTube. Two weeks ago, cybercriminals hijacked the musician's YouTube channel.

"My followers on other social networks started asking me what is going on with the name of my channel and were very confused about why I was streaming Tesla content," BBC report quoted Chilean urban-music artist Aisack as saying. He further adds, "I feel completely violated and insecure. YouTube is not doing enough on security issues to prevent hacker attacks, since many users are in the same situation as me.”

YouTube says that it had removed one of the reported channels while adding, "We have strict Community Guidelines prohibiting scams, including Impersonation and hacking." Surprisingly, Whale Alert founder Frank van Weert mentioned that, scammers are having less success than the previous year - but still, there are plenty of victims falling for it.