Sentinellabs, a cyber security company, warned that malicious actors operate ancient, seemingly legal YouTube accounts to promote a cryptographic bot, which hides an knowledgeable contract aimed at exhausting user funds.
The fraud is “common and lasts” since at least 2024 and has spread through YouTube films shared on social media and the Code of Clever Contract to implement the cryptographic commercial bot, Alex Delamottea, senior threat researcher from Sentinellabs, he said In the report from Tuesday.
After the implementation of the victim of an knowledgeable contract, the attacker’s wallet is added, hidden by hiding him as a trade address. When the user finances the contract, the fraudster has access to the removal of funds. The victim must finance a fraud contract.
“The cryptocurrency ecosystem is increasingly complex, and frauds like these inevitably will be successful towards victims that do not analyze exactly how related tools work, analyzing what input and exits are,” said Delamottea.
Until now, over 256 ether
Victims are called to deposit at least 0.5 ether (ETH), currently worth USD 1,829, to cover the costs of gas fees and ensure that the profits are vast enough to be profitable.
Delamottea said that her investigation showed that “fraud had different success”, and recently the fraudsters’ portfolio was identified, he received 7.59 ETH, another had 4.19 ETH, and the third had 244.9 ETH, a total of over USD 939,000.
“We have observed that the same wallet is used on many intelligent armed contracts; however, there are many unique addresses, so it is not clear how many unique actors are behind the fraud,” she said.
The films show the red flag fraud
All YouTube accounts are older and have the history of publishing cryptographic, investing guidelines or other content related to pop culture to escalate the account of the account and seem credible, according to Delamottea.
It is not clear whether the bad actors created channels or just bought them for fraud, because the ancient YouTube channels can be found for sale via telegram and in search results.
“Several films seem to generate artificial intelligence based on audio and visual stories, which makes it easier to create many fraud without having to take a new identity,” said Delamottea.
Negative comments on films are deleted, and references in the comments section say that they personally drew a profit from the bot.
“The actors probably manage the YouTube comments section to remove all negative comments, and more experienced users turn to platforms such as Reddit to get an additional bot context,” said Delamottea.
Do not operate bots sent in movies
Delamottea said that such fraud is becoming more and more common because they work for bad actors, which is why cryptography users should treat commercial tools promoted through unverified social media or video content with exceptional caution.
Related: Hackers from North Korea addressed to cryptographic projects with an unusual exploit Mac
“To defend themselves against this kind of fraud, cryptographic traders are recommended to avoid implementing the code provided using influencer films or social media posts, especially if it offers a way to quickly earn money,” she added.
Delamottea said that it is vital to examine what the tool does and confirm how it works before its implementation, and avoid everything that sounds too good to be true, such as promising quick, basic profits without effort and risk.
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