- Crooks exploit trendy subjects to encourage viewers to lose crypto
- Bitdefender warns millions at risk of the accounts of creator of diverted content
- Cyberattacks now target influencers on YouTube, Instagram and beyond
Cybercriminals divert popular YouTube channels at an alarming rate, exposing viewers to scams, malware and data theft – and with billions of views and millions of followers at stake, a bad click can have devastating consequences.
New research by Bitdefender Labs claim that social media control has increased throughout 2024 and continued to evolve at the beginning of 2025.
The creators of content and influencers with significant follow -ups and counts have become primary targets.
Verification before interaction
Bitdefender detected more than 9,000 malicious defamations on YouTube in 2024. These are often hosted on diverted channels which pretend to be trusted brands and public figures to spread fraud and malware.
One of these compromised accounts had a total counting of 12.4 billion; If only 1% of viewers were deceived, 124 million users would be assigned.
The attackers frequently imitate popular marks like Tesla, Ripple or Spacex, welcoming false lives with deep taxes of public characters such as Elon Musk or Donald Trump to promote cryptocurrency scams and phishing links.
Beyond Youtube, Instagram was also a major target. The pirates pretend to be Meta or Instagram support in phishing emails, clone connection pages and manipulate creators in sharing SMS verification codes.
Another method of infiltration is malware. Cybercriminals attract creators to download malware disguised as promotional content. Malvertling – Advertisements for false AI tools or games like GTA VI – which install information thieves and Trojan horses remotely on the devices of the victims are also common tactics.
Events that attract large public public public, such as Apple Keynotes, the XRP-Sec, or CS2 tournaments, are frequently exploited. The attackers use these peak moments of interest to launch live disguised scams or official competitions.
For example, at the top of the cryptography of the White House 2025, false YouTube flows favored fraudulent air parachts to encourage viewers to hand over sensitive or cryptocurrency information.
How to stay safe
To stay safe, creators are invited to use the best browsers with integrated safety features, activate multi-factory authentication (MFA) and to closely monitor account activity for suspicious changes. It is also essential to examine unexpected sponsorship offers, in particular those linked to trendy subjects.
It is recommended to implement the best DDOS protection to protect yourself against service disturbances after taking account and use a reliable proxy service to add a layer of anonymity and security when managing all platforms.
Bitdefender also advises creators to train team members on current threats and stay up to date thanks to official security bulletins for cybersecurity platforms and researchers.
Tools like Bitdefender security for creators offer dedicated protection, including monitoring 24/7 accounts, email filters in the scam and guided recovery options in the event of a violation.
