YouTube confirms what Redditors have been saying all along – scammers are exploiting private videos to hack creators
Hackers have been sending fake emails that include deepfake videos of YouTube’s CEO to announce fake changes to YouTube’s monetization – only to hack into creators’ accounts.
Image by Cybernews.
Hackers have been sending fake emails that include deepfake videos of YouTube’s CEO to announce fake changes to YouTube’s monetization – only to hack into creators’ accounts.
“PSA: “A private video has been shared with you.” E-mail from @youtube.com is a scam, you will get hacked,” said one Reddit user who had been sent a seemingly legitimate email from “YouTube” regarding a change in monetization.
The post said that there’s an email going around that asks you to download a malicious file in the YouTube description.
“It’s simply someone using the share feature maliciously,” the Reddit user said, which is why the email looks to come from YouTube’s official email.
The video looks like it’s giving creators information about monetization policy change and directs you to download a file and fill out a form.
However, this is a phishing scheme where the malicious download will gain access to your device, steal your session cookies, and access your channel, the Redditor claims.
PSA: "A private video has been shared with you" E-mail from @youtube.com is a scam, you will get hacked.
byu/JokuIIFrosti inPartneredYoutube
This post is over two weeks old, and Google has only now issued a warning to creators regarding fake private videos, some of which contain deepfake depictions of YouTube’s CEO.
YouTube said that it’s aware of phishers using private videos to send fake videos to “announce” changes in monetization.
“YouTube and its employees will never attempt to contact you or share information through a private video,” Google said, and if a video is shared privately claiming to be from YouTube, “the video is a phishing scam.”
Phishing is a technique used by fraudsters that trick victims into giving away their personal information.
Scammers will often email victims pretending to be from an official organization, prompting them to click a link or install malicious software onto your device to harvest your sensitive information.
In this case, hackers may have been trying to take control of the creator’s YouTube channels to potentially spread other scams to a wider audience.
A Reddit post found by 91Mobile, which first reported the story, was posted a month ago and said that “fake YouTube scam mail almost hacked” their account with 500,000 subscribers.
The email screen was the same as the instance Google is describing: a private video scam from a channel called “Channel for Creators,” which is pretending to be from YouTube.
Fake YouTube Scam Mail that almost hacked my 500k subs channel
byu/Bubbly-Marionberry-5 inPartneredYoutube
Since then, other Reddit users have come out to say that if creators receive an email from YouTube that contains a private video, then it’s a scam, and don’t click any links or download any files.
A user below clarified that it’s not the sender who is illegitimate. Instead, its an “ingenious scam” that allows a scam channel, i.e., “Channel for Creators,” to send victims private videos, which prompts YouTube to send the creator an email.
Scammers are simply exploiting the share feature, as a previous Redditor said.
“YouTube never sends private videos to creators…they send an email to notify you in the YouTube studio,” the post concludes.