It’s not your traditional malware scam.
The modus operandi of crypto scammers differ in each case as it happens with the rest, but this time, a popular Youtuber who has 2.43 million subscribers explained on August 20 how his channel was seized by hackers to launch an XRP fake giveaway campaign.
According to a video published by David Damasceno, who runs Universo Curioso, cybercriminals took control of his account after receiving a contact request from an individual offering him a video editing tool.
The fake software was called Zenium Editor, which also handles advertising revenues, and when Damasceno downloaded and installed the app, the damage has been done. The malware was deployed, taking control of the channel.
Afterward, his YouTube channel—which talks about history, science, and mystery topics—got flooded with several live broadcasts and recorded videos related to a fake XRP 100 million giveaway, asking users to send from 2,000 to 150,000 XRP.
But the scammers didn’t have enough by seizing the popular channel, as Damasceno claimed the hackers asked him for a ransom payment of $10,000 worth in Bitcoin (BTC) if he wanted to regain the ownership of Universo Curioso.
Six hours after the attack, Damasceno took back control of the channel without paying them for the reward asked, who then proceeded to remove all the videos related to the scam.
YouTube has been the focus of the crypto industry’s players, as people like Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, have actively accused YouTube of being negligent in taking down scams.
