Cryptocurrency hackers have taken over the Supreme Court of India’s official YouTube channel to run a Ripple and XRP (XRP) scam.
On Sept. 20, the official YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India, with over 217,000 followers, was rebranded into a Ripple-themed account to run a cryptocurrency scam.
The hacked YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India. Source: YouTube
The hackers used the channel to play a fake livestream video featuring Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse. It also urged potential victims to invest in the scam, promising unrealistic returns.
YouTube shuts down hacked account
In addition, the hackers renamed the channel, changed the URL and deleted all the previous videos uploaded by the account’s original owner.
However, YouTube later had to delete the compromised channel, citing, “This channel was removed because it violated our Community Guidelines.“
YouTube temporarily deleted the hacked channel of the Supreme Court of India. Source: YouTube
The fake XRP livestream events are often accompanied by phishing links, which, when clicked, urge the users to connect their crypto wallets. Once a user approves the request, hackers gain complete access to the wallet and are able to withdraw funds without further authentication.
In April, YouTube helped neutralize a similar XRP scam involving the account of a prominent gaming channel, DidYouKnowGaming.
Source: YouTube
The XRP scammers at the time had taken a similar approach to rebranding the account and deleting all of the older videos.
Fortunately for DidYouKnowGaming, YouTube was able to recover the hacked account and its deleted content.
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While the process of hacking into YouTube accounts remains a mystery to most, the number of breaches on the video streaming platform is on the rise.
Crypto hackers continue to hack YouTube accounts
In July, the YouTube account Ben&Ben, a nine-piece pop band with over three million followers, was hacked to livestreaming a fraudulent XRP advertisement.
On their official Facebook page, the band said their YouTube channel was hacked, and their team was working to recover the page. While the band tried to recover the page, the account live-streamed a common XRP scam.
Following YouTube’s intervention, the band restored and recovered part of their account from the hijackers.