- YouTube warns users of a current phishing scam
- The scam includes a video generated by the AI-AI of its CEO
- Pirates use stolen accounts to disseminate cryptographic scams
YouTube warns its users of a new phishing campaign using a video generated by the AI of its CEO Neal Mohan as bait.
In an article on its official community website, the company said that it was “aware that the phishers have shared private videos to send false videos, including a video generated by the IA of the CEO of YouTube, Neal Mohan, announcing modifications of monetization.”
“YouTube and its employees will never try to contact you or share information via a private video. If a video is shared in private with you claiming to be from Youtube, the video is a phishing scam, “said YouTube in the post pinned. “Do not click on these links because the videos will probably lead to phishing sites that can install malware or steal your identification information.”
Victim
The attack takes place like this: the crooks used the AI to create a Deepfake video of the youtube CEO discussed monetization changes on the platform. They then shared it as a private video with their targets. In the description of the video is a link that leads the victims to the PHISHING DESTINATION page – Studio.youtube-plus[dot]com.
There, they are invited to “confirm the updated terms of the YouTube Partner Program (YPP)”, to continue to monetize their content and access YouTube’s features – but obviously, by “confirming” the terms, the victims would simply share their references with the attackers.
In addition, in the real way of phishing, Crooks added a false sense of urgency, threatening the victims that their accounts will be limited for a week if they do not respect the new rules. This includes the inability to add videos, receive monetization, etc.
Once the victims have seized their identification information, the page indicates that the account is being examined.
The campaign seems to have been active since the end of January 2025, and “many creators” have already been victims, reporting that their channels had been diverted and used to broadcast live cryptocurrency.
Via Bleeping Compompute
