Scammers deceiving their victims with easy money-making methods and promises of free crypto money have proliferated on YouTube lately. According to the statement made by Kaspersky, the fraud method spread from the comment section of popular YouTube channels has victimized many people.
Scammers are inviting their victims to earn free cryptocurrency by commenting under popular videos on YouTube. He invites those who want to learn how to earn free crypto money on his channel. In the video on the channel, he is directed to a fake cryptocurrency exchange and hijacks victims’ personal information or cryptocurrencies in their wallets.
In another method, it is stated that you can make a lot of money with a small amount of transactions by taking advantage of the exchange rate error on a site. In this method, some Bitcoin is requested from investors, and the end of Bitcoin senders ends in frustration.
Scammers throw positive comments with bot accounts to get the comments to the top. Although it is quite a simple trap, those who see the comments at the top and those who see the positive comments below can fall into this trap with the desire to make easy money. YouTube has not yet taken any effective action against these scammers. It is possible to see such comments under many videos.
Statement from Kaspersky
Kaspersky Security Specialist Mikhail Sytnik said:
“Cryptocurrency is going through tough times due to the constant decline in exchange rates. Those who want to buy at the best price are often the target of scammers. Our latest research shows that attackers are using new and more common ways to reach their victims, taking into account YouTube usage. We recommend that users carefully check the crypto sources they refer to and do not rely on random comments on YouTube.”
Considerations to avoid phishing traps
Kaspersky experts recommend these tips to avoid scammers using Phishing:
- Any link should be checked before clicking. Hover to preview the URL and look for typos or other irregularities. It’s also good practice to only enter a username and password over a secure connection. The site URL must be preceded by the HTTPS prefix, which indicates that the connection to the site is secure.
- Sometimes fake emails and websites can look just like the real ones. There will most likely be typos, especially in the links. However, links can be disguised to appear as valid links and may redirect you to a different page by impersonating the legitimate site.
- To protect your data and finances, make sure that the online payment and payment page is secure. It should be checked whether the URL of the web page starts with HTTPS instead of normal HTTP. It should be noted that there is a lock symbol next to the URL. In some browsers the address bar turns green. If these features are not available, it should not be continued.
- A reliable security solution should be used that can help control the security of the URL visited, prevent theft of sensitive data, including financial information, and provide the ability to open sites in a protected container.