Bad actors are using aged YouTube accounts to give authenticity to advertisements of a crypto trading bot that conceals a smart contract designed to drain crypto, says cybersecurity firm SentinelLABS.
The scam is “widespread and ongoing” since at least 2024 and spread through YouTube videos shared on social media offering tips and a smart contract code to deploy a crypto trading bot, Alex Delamottea, a senior threat researcher with SentinelLABS, said in a report on Tuesday.
After the victim deploys the smart contract, the attacker’s wallet is added, hidden by disguising it as a trading address. When the user funds the contract, the scammer has access to drain the funds. The victim must fund the contract for the scam to work.
“The cryptocurrency ecosystem is increasingly complex, and scams like these will inevitably succeed against victims who do not thoroughly analyze how related tools work by scrutinizing what the inputs and outputs are,” Delamottea said.
Over 256 Ether stolen so far
Victims are urged to deposit at least 0.5 Ether (ETH), currently worth $1,829, to cover the cost of gas fees and ensure the profits are sizable enough to be worthwhile.
Delamottea said her investigation found that “the scams have had varying degrees of success,” with the most recently identified scammer wallet receiving 7.59 ETH, another had 4.19 ETH, and a third held 244.9 ETH, collectively worth more than $939,000.
“We observed the same wallet being used across multiple weaponized smart contracts; however, there are many unique addresses in use, so it is unclear how many unique actors are behind the scam,” she added.
Videos shows scam red flags
All the YouTube accounts operating the scam are older and have a history of posting crypto news, investing tips or other pop culture-related content to boost the accounts’ rank, and appear credible, according to Delamottea.
It’s unclear if the bad actors created the channels or just purchased them for the scam because old YouTube channels can be found for sale through Telegram and in search engine results.
“Several videos appear to be AI-generated based on audio and visual tells, which makes it easier for actors to create multiple scam videos without…
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