The Bitcoin scam that hackers implemented when they broke into the Twitter accounts of political leaders and business titans last week looks a lot like similar schemes in the past used on YouTube.
In the July 15 Twitter attack, hackers hijacked accounts belonging to Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Joe Biden and Jeff Bezos and asked their Bitcoin fans for their cryptographic wallets promising to double the amount. Within hours, the hackers had amassed more than $100,000.
But before compromising those accounts, the hackers targeted Twitter accounts for the exchange of popular cryptocurrencies, such as Coinbase Inc., Gemini Trust Company LLC and Binance Holdings Ltd. In this case, the attackers tweeted a link to a so-called “CryptoForHealth”, which also promised to duplicate donations to a crypto wallet.
The resolution has attracted the attention of computer security researchers, who say similar scams have been perpetrated on Google’s YouTube in recent months. One of the researchers, who like his colleagues asked for anonymity because it was not legal to speak in public, said it was not yet clear who the Twitter hack was, but said youTube scams gave the impression of being coordinated.
Previous attacks obviously show that stealing user accounts to dedicate cryptocurrency scams is not a Twitter issue. The option that incidents may be similar would likely give investigators more means to identify perpetrators, according to other people familiar with the scams. In online forums, several others claimed to know the identity of the user’s CryptoForHealth websites.
A file of cryptoforhealth.com
One used in the obvious YouTube scams, “btc-gemini.info”, is almost the same as the site “CryptoForHealth”. Beyond visual similarities, sites have percentages of technical details, such as IP addresses and code, according to a Bloomberg knowledge review.
The links between the systems on Twitter and YouTube are final, according to researchers and Bloomberg’s analysis. But at least it shows how easily they can be duplicated, they said.
A btc-gemini.info file, which is visually for CryptoForHealth.
Alex Joseph, a YouTube spokesperson, said the company takes account security very seriously by automatically protecting users and informing them when suspicious activity is detected. “If a user has an explanation as to why their account has been compromised,” he said, “they can inform us to protect the account and regain control.”
YouTube refused to know if the alleged cryptographic scams on its site were related to Twitter hacking. On Tuesday, Apple Inc.’s co-founder Steve Wozniak filed a lawsuit in California state court, alleging that YouTube allowed fraudsters to use their call and image for months as a component of a fake Bitcoin gift.
Read more: Steve Wozniak Sues YouTube for Bitcoin Twitter Scam
In the alleged YouTube scams, a hacker regularly took an account and made it look like an official page of a cryptocurrency exchange or a celebrity. Supporting a YouTube account with an established audience allows hackers to succeed in a wide audience. It was the same purpose with last week’s Twitter hack, which hijacked accounts with tens of millions of followers.
After taking an account, the hacker regularly broadcasts a live interview with Bill Gates and transmits data about the fake cryptocurrency gift next door. The alleged scam was used with video interviews by the Winklevoss twins (who founded the popular cryptocurrency exchange Gemini) and Vitalik Buterin, the author of the Ethereum cryptocurrency.
In June, the cybersecurity blog BleepingComputer reported that 3 YouTube accounts had been hijacked to launch a crypto-gift scam, this time broadcasting an interview with Tesla Inc.’s CEO, Elon Musk, along with false data about the scam. In this case, the culprit raised more than $150,000.
Live streams tend to appeal to a giant audience for alleged scams before they are detected via YouTube. In some cases, the authors absolutely forget about the theft of an account and simply buy classified YouTube ads that sell the alleged scam.
One of the scams on YouTube.
Cryptocurrency company Ripple Labs Inc. filed a lawsuit in April against YouTube for the so-called “gifts” scam. “For each and every scam, gifts and fake conspiracies that are removed, several others seem almost immediately,” the company wrote in a blog post. “The truth is that the giant generation and media corporations will have to take on their day-to-day jobs and be responsible for customer protection.”
In one case, a YouTube user with 282,000 subscribers hacked and replaced their account to appear to represent the “Ripple Foundation,” according to demand. The attackers then began posting videos of the hacked account that sold the cryptocurrency scam. The user, Mesa Sean, who makes videos of himself playing video games, did not respond to a request for comment.
“Last week’s Twitter hack is just the latest dramatic example of a persistent and widespread social media platformer: malicious scams on Twitter, YouTube, Medium, Instagram and others have proliferated for years without a genuine solution,” said Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple. in a prayer.