Recently, scammers broke into the official YouTube channel of the Supreme Court in order to advertise an XRP investment hoax. Using the platform, the hackers livestreamed phony material including Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse, pushing users to make investments in a virtual currency product.
Rebranding the channel on September 20, the hackers removed all previously posted material and gave it the impression of being formally linked with Ripple. They changed the name and URL of the channel, deleting over 217,000 original members and converting the account into a fraud vehicle.
Soon after the hack was reported, YouTube deleted the hacked account. Additionally alerting the public of the attack, the Supreme Court of India published a public notification. Though the channel was recovered the same day, YouTube was unable to restore its former subscriber base or material, therefore leaving the account with just a few followers and a new name, ‘Vansh.’
As this event shows, high-profile YouTube channels are progressively targeted for crypto frauds. Earlier last month, deepfake livestreams of Apple’s CEO Tim Cook inundated YouTube, also endorsing bogus crypto schemes. Using its reporting features, the support team of the platform has advised users to document dubious material. We quickly deleted the bogus videos and closed the pertinent accounts.
Although the Supreme Court of India has taken back control of its YouTube channel, complete restoration of its former reach and content is still doubtful.
