A fraudulent PlayStation 5 revealing event on YouTube ran a fake Bitcoin giveaway, stealing over $13,000 in Bitcoin before it was brought down. A fake “PlayStation Live” YouTube channel hosted the fake live-stream and promised viewers in Bitcoin up to 5,000, if they first sent their Bitcoins.
Fake Bitcoin scams have been common in social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook , and YouTube for a long time. It is surprising that these classic scams are still working today. Just recently, TWJ reported about scammers who have adopted the same strategy to imitate Elon Musk’s SpaceX to steal bitcoin from unsuspecting victims.
“To participate you just need to send 0.1 BTC to 20 BTC to the contribution address and we will immediately send you back 0.2 BTC to 40 BTC to the address you sent it from,” claimed the fraudulent PlayStation launch.
Fraudulent PlayStation 5 reveal promised to double victim’s funds
The fake ‘PlayStation 5 Live’ YouTube channel used a pre-recording of the eagerly awaited launch of PlayStation 5 that was 10 hours old. In addition, the fraudulent live-stream had gained over 100,000 viewers in the two hours it was up. Besides, it was among the top six most searched videos in the search results for “p5 Reveal Trailers” on YouTube, while the hosting channel had more than 200,000 subscribers.
Based on the number of subscribers the channel had, it is possible the scammers hijacked a legitimate YouTube account at the last minute through hacking or a phishing attack. Additionally, it is likely the scammers had been amassing an audience for a long time to peddle their ill motives. The YouTube channel is still operational; however, it has no videos after the fake live-stream was taken down.
Scammers used personalized Bitcoin address
The fraudsters had one ploy in their war chest; they personalized the receiving Bitcoin address to start with 1Sony. “Bitcoin addresses are known to involve random alphanumeric digits, unlike those used by the fraudsters.
Customizing your BTC address is not simple since you have to create blockchain addresses until you get the one you want. Alternatively, you can also purchase one from someone who has already done a job for you.