Hackers have attacked YouTube channels of many crypto bloggers

Scammers hacked several dozen crypto bloggers’ accounts on YouTube. After gaining access to the channels, they published a video on behalf of the bloggers with a call to send money.

In the video the bad actors asked subscribers to send money to an address on the Binance Smart Chain and get twice as many tokens or a new cryptocurrency – OWCY. Hackers attacked such popular channels as Altcoin Buzz, The Moon, FloydMayweather, aantonop, BitBoy Crypto and Boxmining.

The malefactors managed to obtain 2.28 Binance Coin (BNB) and about $200 in various cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. BNB was transferred to another wallet, but cryptocurrencies and stablecoins remain on the account that was named in the video.

Michael Gu, the owner of the Boxmining channel, said that he noticed the fraudulent video in time and deleted it a few minutes after publication. However, several users managed to watch and comment on the video even in such a short time.

Gu stated that he used the multi-factor authentication for his channel. Moreover, there were no evidence of hacking or viruses found on his computer and no logons from third-party IP addresses were recorded in the account activity log. For this reason Gu thinks that YouTube platform should take credit for hacking. The owners of the other channels that were attacked also swiftly deleted the video posted by scammers.

According to a Reddit user called 9Oh8m8, attackers could use the re-issuing a SIM card hookup and so bypass two-factor authentication

This is not the first case of hacking popular accounts related to cryptocurrencies. In 2020, hackers accessed the Twitter accounts of Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Elon Musk. They released a message about the distribution of bitcoins and attached a link to an unknown site there.

Attackers not only use social networks to steal funds. Last year, the FBI went public about a new fraud form related to Bitcoin ATMs. Criminals also make heavy use of DeFi services.

According to the data from the analyst company Chainalysis, Eastern Europe ranks second in the crypto market fraud numbers.