YouTube account hacked

A warning: New Social Hack YouTube Trojans are circulating

How scammers try to compromise your YouTube account security with YouTube scam, phishing, and Trojans.

YouTube account hacked? You got your YouTube account stolen? You’re worried about your YouTube account security? A warning against nasty methods that aim to steal your YouTube account with a nasty mix of social hack and YouTube Trojan.

Hi, dear YouTuber,

German Version:

I would like to give you a short warning because at the moment a lot of YouTubers have their YouTube accounts hacked and stolen according to a new pattern.

!! Very important, please read carefully if you like your account !!

Different ways, that your YouTube account gets hacked:

Option A): Phishing (Light, not quite new):

The more common way your YouTube account can be hacked: A fake sender email that looks like a support email from YouTube itself. Either a claim, an account suspension or other problems with the YouTube account will be pointed out there. You will then be asked to contact the support immediately, and of course, there is a button underneath which suggests you contact the support directly with one click.

This opens a phishing page, which asks you to enter your YouTube account data. Of course, the YouTube account will be completely rebuilt within a few hours, different passwords, different branding. Most of the time the channel is used for advertising Bitcoin/Etherum etc. Scam. But I’ve also seen cases where suddenly political campaigns for Free Hong Kong but also Pro Hong Kong is supposed to belong to China again.

Option B) Sponsoring Scam (heavy and very new)

You get a sponsorship offer from a company that congratulates you on how great your channel is. They offer to pay you a few hundred dollars/Euro for a 30-second advertising special or even more for a whole advertising video for their new software. I have already received such emails myself. If you google for the company, there is the company with a small website, there are even pictures of CEO and programmers, etc., but the site didn’t even rank correctly for their own company name.

Here is an example mail that I received personally:

Eva Vontex <eva.vontex@gmail.com>

Di., 14. Jan., 15:08


Good afternоon! Mу nаme is Eva, I аm a reprеsentativе оf VоnTex comраny.
Wе аrе vеrу interested in уоur YоuTubе сhаnnеl, wе liked hоw уour vidеos were reсord and edited wеll, wе аlsо аnаlуzеd yоur stаtistiсs and are ready to offеr уou оur аdvertising оffer – wе оffer you an аdvеrtisemеnt for our sеrviсe.

VоnTex – sеrviсе that lеts уоu invite уour friends to рlay gamеs with уоu оnlinе еven if the gаme dоеsn’t hаve оnlinе multiplayer. You сan рlaу tоgethеr, wаtсh them plау, or takе оvеr thе сontrоller tо show them hоw it’s dоne.

Оur rates:

А shоrt vidео before stаrting your vidео – 190 $

Seрarate cоmmеrсiаl – 240 $

Beispiel YouTube Account gehackt – Scam eMail / Social Hacking / Phishing

I have already received this offer in 3 variations. If you reply, you will be sent a link to a website that advertises an alleged gamer software that offers multiplayer games in a kind of couch-coop. Otherwise, you will not get any information. So many people seem to download this “software” to try it. The fraud exists in several variations, with VPN software, security suites, etc.

Thank God I stopped at this point because it seemed fishy to me. A woman writes to me via a google email account, although she allegedly represents a high-tech company? They have a cobbled-together website and no own email server, even though they allegedly program high-speed network software? When I asked about it, there was no answer. And fortunately, I have NoScript and other security tools in the Browser, which probably protected me from direct attacks through the website.

Today I read in an international FB group, where >10k Creators are present, that lots of people have lost their complete YT account. And on Twitter, I also read about several cases where creators lost their channels due to these scams.

The software on those websites is a trojan. Victims report, within less than an hour after installation all Google data was stolen, the YouTube account was transferred to another account and the actually related google mail account was rendered unusable. The latter prevents that you can contact the support with the original email account, which normally can help in case of account theft.

YouTube has numerous security features to prevent account theft. However, most of them are tied to the Google account and if this account is destroyed in the end, many security features are lost. Getting the channel back will be extremely difficult and complex, as it is difficult to prove that you are the original owner. It probably works, but then it is much more time and effort required.

This type of Social Hack / Trojan Phishing is probably offered with numerous different settings, previously known company names:

• nexxzy
• Kryptmix
• Elegyz
• AnyDefender
• gelezy
• Systemforce (there is a real company called System Force, they are legit)
• Hypercleaner (there is an existing melding cleaner machine, that is legit but different)
• vclickbox
• Mygalaxypc
• Trahony (seems to be a name in Egypt, but no company)
• Fentor
• Best Speeder (PC optimization software, there is a maybe legit software, but be careful)
• IP Floky (VPN service)
• & VonTex (they almost got me with this one)

So be careful out there when you get emails regarding your channel. Never click on the links in the mails and never install any software just because someone is waving banknotes in your face. Always open the Google services directly from your known links and if you get offers from companies, search the web in detail if these companies really exist, how long they have been around, if other people have made experiences with them, if product reviews exist, etc.

Reading Recommendation:

Here at ZapZockt.de, there will always be more YouTube news and information about YouTube and also some YouTube tips and tricks or YouTube Guide

It got some bigger channels, among others I know of a quite well-known Gaming and Tech YT account called “Joker Productions”, >100k subscribers. This account is now called Etherium News and the owner is in great distress, as he made his channel for a living and is now more or less left with nothing. I hope for his sake that YouTube can get the channel back for him.

Here is the affected one, who thanks to good connections to some channels with several million subs, had a fast connection to YouTube and got his account back quickly. Others wait there for weeks, months or forever.

If you have further information about such scams or know of other methods how crooks hacked your YouTube account, please write me in the comments, or discuss with many more YouTube Creators here at YTForum.de (German)

take care of yourself and your accounts,
greetings

yours Zap