(YouTube)
Scammers are exploiting the attempted assassination of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump by pushing a cryptocurrency scam on YouTube.
Antivirus provider Bitdefender spotted “dozens” of live-stream videos that claim to come from Tesla and show CEO Elon Musk revealing insights about the Trump assassination attempt.
The videos, some of which have since been removed, might hook Republicans and conservatives since Musk publicly endorsed Trump for president right after Saturday’s assassination attempt. But in reality, the live streams feature an AI-generated deepfake of Musk asking viewers to participate in a cryptocurrency giveaway.
“You have a unique opportunity to double your crypto assets. And I’m not joking,” the fake Musk says. “This is absolutely safe.”
The video displays a QR code that links to a site that asks users to deposit to one of several cryptocurrency addresses with the promise of receiving “2X” back.
(Credit: Scam site)The videos are full of red flags, especially since some of the live streams play on a loop, without offering any insights on the Trump shooting. However, at least one of the videos shows a deepfake of Musk discussing his thoughts about the incident before urging users to adopt cryptocurrency.
“America needs a strong and decisive leader and I believe Trump is that person,” the fake Musk says. “The Secret Service, which failed to prevent the attack on Trump, must reassess its actions. We cannot allow such incidents to continue. Unfortunately, I’ve also been targeted in two assassination attempts over the past eight months.”
YouTube’s parent, Google, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, making it unclear how the videos bypassed the company’s safeguards. But Bitdefender says it appears the scammers have been hijacking YouTube channels from existing users to promote the scam.
Bitdefender was also unsettled by how many viewers the live streams can potentially attract. “One of the hijacked channels that began promoting the scams has 1.26 million subscribers. Other instances show a subscriber count of over 700,000 and in the lower ranges of 100,000,” it said.
The live streams have also received tens of thousands of viewers in real-time, according to what PCMag saw on Thursday.
This has happened before. Last month, a YouTube Live video displayed a video of Musk with an AI-generated version of his voice suggesting that users go to a website to deposit Ethereum, Dogecoin, or Bitcoin.
UPDATE: Google appears to have removed the videos. In a statement, the company told PCMag: "We have strict policies in place to protect our users from scams and have terminated multiple channels for violating our Community Guidelines, which prohibit cryptophishing schemes. Our enforcement teams regularly remove content intended to deceive the YouTube community, including by impersonating public figures."