Bad actors use their YouTube accounts to give credibility to ads for crypto trading bots that hide smart contracts designed to eject crypto, said Sentinellabs, a cybersecurity company.
The scam has been “wide and continuous” since at least 2024 and spread through YouTube videos shared on social media, Stinelabs’ senior threat researcher Alex Delamottea said in a report Tuesday.
After the victim deploys a smart contract, the attacker’s wallet is added and hidden by disguising it as a trading address. Once users fund the contract, fraudsters have access to discharge the funds. Victims must fund the contract for the fraud to work.
“The cryptocurrency ecosystem is becoming increasingly complex and such frauds will inevitably succeed against victims who don’t thoroughly analyze how the relevant tools work by scrutinizing what their inputs and outputs are,” Delamothea said.
This video provides tips on how to deploy Crypto Trader Bots, a trick to stealing codes from unsuspecting victims. sauce: Sentinelabs
Over 256 ether has been stolen so far
The victim is urged to deposit 0.5 ether (ETH) currently worth $1,829 to cover the cost of the gas fee, and deposit the profits quite well worth it.
Delamottea found in her investigation that “the fraud has had a variety of successes,” and said the recently identified scammer wallet received 7.59 ETH, the other earned 4.19 ETH and the third earned 244.9 ETH, totaling over $939,000.
“We observed that the same wallet is being used in multiple weaponized smart contracts. However, there are many unique addresses in use, so the number of unique actors behind the scam is unknown,” she said.
Video shows the red flag of fraud
According to Delamottea, all YouTube accounts that manipulate scams are old and have a history that looks trustworthy, with crypto news, investment tips, or other pop culture-related content that raises the account’s rank.
As older YouTube channels are sold in Telegram and Search Engine results, it is unclear whether the bad actor created the channel or bought it for scams.
Older YouTube channels are sold online and are easy to use by scammers. sauce: Sentinelabs
“Some videos appear to be generated by AI based on audio and visuals, which makes it easier for actors to create multiple fraudulent videos without grasping their new identity,” Delamothea said.
Negative comments on the video have been removed, and testimony in the comments section claims that they personally benefited from the bot.
“Actors may be managing the YouTube comment section to remove negative comments. Because of the added context of the bot, more savvy users will resort to platforms like Reddit,” says Delamottea.
The video comment section is full of fake comments claiming that the trading bot works as if it was advertised. sauce: Sentinelabs
Do not use bots silted in the video
Delamottea said that such scams are becoming more common as they work for bad actors, so crypto users should be very careful with trading tools promoted through unverified social media or video content.
Related: North Korean hackers targeting crypto projects with rare MAC exploits
“To protect against these types of fraud, we recommend that crypto traders avoid rolling out code silles through influencer videos and social media posts, especially if they offer a way to make money quickly,” she added.
Delamottea said it is important to investigate what the tool does, examine how it works before it is deployed, and avoid what appears to be too good, such as quick and easy benefits without effort or risk.
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